Shafaq News- Nineveh
Nineveh's Provincial Council voted on Tuesday to lift long-standingrestrictions on construction on legally registered private land on theoutskirts of Mosul, advancing a measure intended to resolve one of the Iraqiprovince's longest-running land disputes, which intensified after the defeat ofISIS, while exposing sharp divisions over property rights and demographicconcerns.
Council Decision
The council approved, by majority vote, a package of measuresrequiring Mosul Municipality and all municipal directorates to immediatelyissue building permits to owners of officially registered freehold land withoutdelay or obstruction, council member Mohammed Ahrees told Shafaq News. Anyemployee or official found responsible for impeding the process will face legaland administrative accountability, he added.
The resolution also requires municipalities to begin land-levelingwork on privately owned plots immediately and submit a detailed implementationschedule within 30 days. During the same period, Mosul Municipality must removean earthen security barrier erected by ISIS.
The council further determined that denying construction permits onthe grounds of "demographic change" or similar justificationsviolates the Iraqi Constitution and existing laws. It instructed the NinevehPolice commander to establish a joint committee with municipal authorities toreceive complaints, examine allegations of security-related interference, andrefer violations to the judiciary.
Among the other measures adopted were a ban on the seizure ofprivate property without a prior court order and a provision calling for theremoval of any security force proven to have undermined social peace orobstructed enforcement of the council's decisions.
Supporters
Abdullah Al-Nujaifi, chairman of the council's Land Committee,hailed the vote as "a real victory" for thousands of citizens who hadspent years waiting to exercise what he described as their legal propertyrights.
Speaking with Shafaq News, he portrayed the dispute as one ofNineveh's most difficult issues over the past two decades, saying it reflectedaccumulated grievances and suspended rights rather than a purely administrativematter. In his view, the council's recommendations reaffirm the right ofregistered landowners to build, oblige municipalities to accelerate permitissuance, reject interference outside the law, establish clear implementationdeadlines, and hold accountable anyone obstructing citizens' rights.
"The period of studies and waiting has ended, and the time forimplementation has begun," Al-Nujaifi said, pledging to continue followingthe file until the decisions are fully enforced.
Opponents
The vote was swiftly challenged by Mohammed Aref, the council'srepresentative for the Shabak community —an ethnic and religious minorityconcentrated in the Nineveh Plains— who announced plans to appeal before Iraq'sadministrative and Federal courts.
During a press conference, he maintained that the decisionoverlooks constitutional protections afforded to minority areas and fails tosafeguard the rights of all communities. Warning against moving forward withthe measures, Aref argued that parts of the Nineveh Plains are protected underArticle 23 (Third/B) of the Iraqi Constitution, which prohibits demographicchange.
He added that Jliyokhan and Qaza Fakhra fall administratively underthe town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains and therefore remain subject tolegal restrictions on construction and demographic change.
Aref also accused the authorities of overlooking the rights andsacrifices of local communities, noting that more than 1,750 people fromminority groups had been killed, around 7,000 wounded, and approximately 17,000public employees from the Nineveh Plains had yet to receive residential landallocations. He further cited a final administrative court ruling awardingresidential plots to about 32 Bartella Municipality employees, saying itremains unenforced.
Arguing that the issue requires a comprehensive solution ratherthan “piecemeal measures,” the official urged political parties within thecouncil to prioritize restoring areas outside the local government'sadministrative authority and voiced confidence that Iraq's judiciary wouldensure equal application of the law.
About the Dispute
Located in northern Iraq, Nineveh was among the provinces hardesthit by the ISIS conflict between 2014 and 2017. The destruction of large partsof Mosul left thousands of families searching for new housing, while soaringproperty prices inside the city drove many residents to purchase land on theoutskirts and across the Nineveh Plains.
Although the war intensified the crisis, the dispute itself datesback nearly two decades. It affects an estimated 35,000 Iraqi families holdingofficially registered land deeds and ownership contracts issued by stateinstitutions and municipalities. The affected owners include relatives ofpeople killed or wounded in conflict, along with citizens who receivedresidential plots through official government allocations but have remainedunable to build homes or make use of their property.
Many buyers acquired officially registered freehold properties,known in Iraq as tabu titles, in areas including Bartella, Hamdaniya, Nimrud,Tall Kayf, Jliyokhan, and Qaza Fakhra after finding housing in central Mosulincreasingly unaffordable.
At the heart of the dispute are competing views over propertyrights and demographic change. Supporters of the council's decision contendthat legally registered ownership guarantees the right to build and argue thattens of thousands of landowners have been prevented from accessing ordeveloping property despite possessing valid state-issued deeds. Opponentscounter that large-scale settlement by newcomers, particularly Arab familiesrelocating from central Mosul, could alter the demographic balance of historicallyminority-populated areas and threaten their communities' identity.
Accounts presented during the council's deliberations attributecontrol of the eastern and southeastern sectors to the Shabak 30th Brigade ofthe Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state-recognized security forcecomprising multiple armed factions, while northern areas toward Tel Kaif andthe Duhok road are linked to the Babylon Movement, a Christian politicalmovement, led by Rayan al-Kildani, with an affiliated PMF formation, and its50th Brigade. Supporters of the council's decision allege that these forcesblocked construction in their respective areas, whereas opponents maintain thatthe restrictions were intended to preserve the demographic balance andhistorical identity of minority communities.
The same accounts contend that previous judicial decisions,including rulings by Iraq's Federal Supreme Court and administrative courts infavor of some landowners, have yet to be fully implemented.
Residents affected by the restrictions continued demonstrations andlegal appeals through the Nineveh Provincial Council, which formed a committeethat spent about a year and a half examining the dispute before presenting therecommendations approved on Tuesday.