Iraq is moving toward administrative decentralization and the expansion of powers granted to provincial authorities—an essential component of a healthy democratic system. This direction enables provinces to take on greater responsibility for their own development across various sectors. Given that Iraq’s population now exceeds forty million, it is both timely and necessary to reassess the country’s administrative structure in a way that serves national interests and accommodates newly emerging administrative regions.
In this spirit, we commend the decision to elevate the district of Halabja to provincial status and, at the same time, call on the Iraqi Council of Representatives to pass legislation establishing the Nineveh Plain as a separate province. This call is grounded in the decision of the Iraqi Council of Ministers during its session on January 21, 2014, and is supported by Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution as well as Law No. 21 of 2008 concerning governorates not organized into a region.
Our demand seeks to promote justice and equality among all segments of the Iraqi population. It is rooted in the principle of administrative fairness—not in privileging one group over another, nor in engaging in ethnic or sectarian discrimination against the country’s diverse national and religious communities. Such discrimination echoes the very practices of the former fascist dictatorship, which the people of Iraq have worked so hard to overcome.
Our Chaldean Syriac Assyrian people have long struggled and sacrificed to overthrow tyranny and build a democratic system founded on justice, freedom, and equal rights for all. Now is the time to honor these sacrifices—not only those of our people but also of all the communities of the Nineveh Plain who have endured injustices, massacres, and forced displacement—by recognizing their legitimate rights and safeguarding their unique cultural, linguistic, religious, and national identities.
We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to this constitutional, political, and historical right.
Signatory parties
- BethNahrain Patriotic Union
- Assyrian Democratic Movement
- BetNahrain Democratic Party
- Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council.
