Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has condemned the recent attack on the Kurdish-populated Palkana village in Kirkuk, in which nearly 400 resettled Arabs attacked the village resulting in at least 10 casualties. In a statement, Barzani said the attack was an attempt to disrupt the positive atmosphere being created by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani to resolve issues and bring about stability and peace.

Barzani called for the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution to resolve outstanding issues, emphasizing that attacking Kurdish residents through fear and terror is unacceptable. The article outlines a mechanism to settle the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, with a due date for implementation set in December 2007.

The resettlement of Arabs in the Kurdish-majority Kirkuk province and other territories as part of the former Ba'athist regime's Arabization program led to the eviction of Kurdish denizens and the confiscation of tens of thousands of hectares to change the province's demography. Following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, those resettled were awarded compensation to return to their places of origin.

After the withdrawal of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in 2017, resettled Arabs began claiming the lands whose Kurdish ownership had been documented by Ottoman Empire authorities, according to Kurdish farmers. The recent attack on the Palkana village is another example of the ongoing tension over the disputed territories and the need for a resolution through constitutional mechanisms.