Iraqi Parliament Postpones Approval of “Real Estate Return” Law to End of Week
Iraqi Parliament Postpones Approval of Real Estate Return Law to End of WeekShafaq News/ The Iraqi Parliament postponed, on Monday, the law of “returning properties” to their owners, especially in Kirkuk Governorate, until the last session to be held during the current week.
The MP for Kirkuk Governorate, Dilan Ghafour, told Shafaq News Agency, “The decision to postpone came after a number of observations and opinions were raised, and they will be discussed, agreed upon, and the law will be re-submitted for voting in the last session of this week.”
For his part, MP Arshad Al-Salihi revealed to the agency that the Turkmen and Kurdish blocs agreed to postpone the cancellation of the Revolutionary Command Council’s decisions related to lands until the end of the week as the last date, to reach an agreement on it within the next 72 hours.
Before that, an informed source reported that the head of the “We Build” coalition, “the head of the Supreme Committee for the Implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution,” Hadi al-Amiri, attended Parliament to study the possibility of approving the “Returning Properties to Their Owners” law or not.
The source told Shafaq News Agency, “The head of the Supreme Committee for the Implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution, Hadi Al-Amiri, has been present in the House of Representatives since 1 pm until now.”
He added that “Al-Amiri held a meeting immediately upon his arrival to the Council building in the Constitutional Hall with the Acting Speaker of the Council, the Second Deputy Speaker, and the heads of the political blocs, in the presence of members of the Parliamentary Committee and representatives of Kirkuk Governorate.”
According to the source, after the meeting ended, it was agreed not to talk to the media about what happened in the meeting, from the agreement regarding voting on the law to return properties to their owners, especially in Kirkuk Governorate.
The source pointed out that “another meeting was held after 3:30 pm today, in the office of the acting head of the council, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, in order to reach an agreement on whether to pass the law or not,” without mentioning further details.
In the context, an official statement issued by the House of Representatives, received by the agency, explained that today’s meeting with Al-Ameri discussed the results of the work of the government committee, and the completed stages of implementing Article 140 in cooperation with the ministries and relevant authorities.
The statement quoted Al-Mandlawi as confirming that “Kirkuk Governorate enjoys a special status in the draft law to return properties to their owners included in some decisions of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council, and that its stability requires maintaining cooperation between the three authorities, and taking into account the sensitivity of this file by the various political forces.”
The Iraqi parliament was scheduled to vote today, Monday, on a draft law regarding the disputed areas, especially Kirkuk, by “returning properties to their owners that are covered by some decisions of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council.”
The session’s agenda also included the second reading of the draft law amending the Personal Status Law and the general amnesty.
Kurdish MPs and officials say that the draft law concerns properties that are to be returned to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners, and that were confiscated under 8 decisions issued by the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council during the years from 1975 to 1979, and the aim of which was to carry out demographic changes in the disputed areas.
Shafaq.com