Kurds want their city back. Aging residents pushed into street.

From the Washington Post:

As Hussein relocated Arabs to northern Iraq, Kurds and Turkmen were deprived of the right to purchase property, while poor Arabs who moved to Kirkuk were rewarded with cash and real estate.

&#8220;It was a political decision to Arabize this area,&#8221; said Ali Hussein Salman. &#8220;It was a good opportunity for us, because we had no piece of land where we were.&#8221;



So Salman, 82, was alarmed when Kurdish men came to his house and gave him three days to leave &#8212; or see his furniture put in the street, he said. With a dozen other Arab men, all middle-aged or older, he petitioned foreign journalists after being turned away from the local government building where U.S. officers had replaced Kurdish officials only a day earlier.



&#8220;We are poor,&#8221; Salman said. &#8220;When we came, we were given furniture and money. Give us money and furniture and we can go back.&#8221;