ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A vote on elevating Halabja to provincial status is the first item on the agenda for Monday’s parliamentary session, following a collective decision by Kurdish factions to boycott the legislature until the long-delayed subject was included.
The agenda published by the parliament on Friday lists the vote as top of the agenda.
In December 2013, the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved a proposal to make Halabja the country’s 19th province, separating it from Sulaimani province. However, political tensions between Erbil and Baghdad, as well as disputes among Sunni and Shiite lawmakers, have delayed the bill’s passage for over a decade.
Last week, Kurdish politicians issued an ultimatum to their fellow members of parliament.
“Unless voting on Halabja’s governorate status is included in the agenda, we will not take part in any session,” Chro Hamasharif, a Kurdish MP, told Rudaw on Thursday.
She explained that the Kurdish factions are “unified” on this matter and they will not accept “tying the Halabja draft law to any other draft law.”
The boycott was announced after the parliament postponed a vote on Halabja in March.
“No other projects should accompany the Halabja issue,” Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Parliament, said at the time. He added that future sessions would seek to separate the Halabja bill from other contentious legislation - particularly a disputed draft law concerning the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that has sparked divisions between Sunni and Shiite blocs.
The Halabja bill has already passed the two mandatory readings under Iraqi parliamentary procedure and is awaiting a final vote.
The Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers declared Halabja a province in 2014, making it the Region’s fourth. Four years later, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior formally recognized Halabja’s provincial status, even though parliament has yet to ratify it.
Halabja remains a symbol of Kurdish suffering and resilience. On March 16, 1988, near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, forces of Saddam Hussein attacked the city with chemical weapons. The massacre killed at least 5,000 people - mostly women and children - and injured thousands more.
The chemical assault was part of the Baath regime’s broader Anfal campaign in which more than 182,000 Kurds were killed. It remains one of the darkest chapters in modern Iraqi history.
The agenda published by the parliament on Friday lists the vote as top of the agenda.
In December 2013, the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved a proposal to make Halabja the country’s 19th province, separating it from Sulaimani province. However, political tensions between Erbil and Baghdad, as well as disputes among Sunni and Shiite lawmakers, have delayed the bill’s passage for over a decade.
Last week, Kurdish politicians issued an ultimatum to their fellow members of parliament.
“Unless voting on Halabja’s governorate status is included in the agenda, we will not take part in any session,” Chro Hamasharif, a Kurdish MP, told Rudaw on Thursday.
She explained that the Kurdish factions are “unified” on this matter and they will not accept “tying the Halabja draft law to any other draft law.”
The boycott was announced after the parliament postponed a vote on Halabja in March.
“No other projects should accompany the Halabja issue,” Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Parliament, said at the time. He added that future sessions would seek to separate the Halabja bill from other contentious legislation - particularly a disputed draft law concerning the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that has sparked divisions between Sunni and Shiite blocs.
The Halabja bill has already passed the two mandatory readings under Iraqi parliamentary procedure and is awaiting a final vote.
The Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers declared Halabja a province in 2014, making it the Region’s fourth. Four years later, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior formally recognized Halabja’s provincial status, even though parliament has yet to ratify it.
Halabja remains a symbol of Kurdish suffering and resilience. On March 16, 1988, near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, forces of Saddam Hussein attacked the city with chemical weapons. The massacre killed at least 5,000 people - mostly women and children - and injured thousands more.
The chemical assault was part of the Baath regime’s broader Anfal campaign in which more than 182,000 Kurds were killed. It remains one of the darkest chapters in modern Iraqi history.
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