The Role of Hewa Magazine in writing the modern and contemporary history of the Kurds(1957-1963)

Abstract

The 14th July 1958 was a turning point in the history of contemporary Iraq on political, social and economic levels. One of the main changes was in the acquisition of agricultural lands through the enactment of "Agrarian Reform Act" in 1958, which continued until the enactment of another act, i.e. the Agrarian Reform Act of 1970. The above mentioned acts aimed to put an end to large ownership of agricultural land by Iraq by distributing it between the farmers.     This study aims to highlight the application of the two acts and their effects on the governorate (Liwa) of Hawler (Erbil). It dealt with the subject through two topics; the first one tackles the application of 1958 Agrarian Reform Act in Hawler governorate. In this topic we mentioned the main articles of 1958 act, and then we referred to the land ownership in the governorate, the area of lands confiscated from land lords and the process of distributing those lands to the peasants. The topic also highlight the effects of land distribution on production relations , in the end the topic dealt with the effects of Kurdish Revolt of September 1961 on the application of Agrarian Reform Act of 1958 in the area .                                                                                                        The second topic devoted to the application of Agrarian Reform Act of 1970 in Hawler governorate on the same lines of the first topic, with reference to some differences between the two acts, the area of the land that was distributed and the number of beneficiaries in Hawler governorate. The topic focused on some of the shortcomings of 1970 Act, especially that some of its articles did not take into account the specific situation in Kurdistan generally, including Hawler.