Displaced Iraqi Christians settle at St. Joseph Church in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 (Photo: AP)
ishtartv.com - kurdistan24.net
ERBIL,
Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Parliament voted in favor of
maintaining the administrative border of the province of Nineveh on Monday.
The
Iraqi parliament held the session with the presence to discuss several laws,
including the vote to maintain the administrative border of the Nineveh
province.
The
parliament vote was requested by Ahmed al-Jarba, a Sunni MP, representing
Nineveh province.
“The
Iraqi people reject any decision that partitions the Nineveh province. The
people of the city determine the destiny of their city in the post-Islamic
State (IS) stage,” al-Jabra said.
Al-Jabra
added that any changes against the legal and administrative status quo will be
unconstitutional.
This
decision by the Iraqi parliament is against the demand of the components of
Nineveh, especially Ezidis and Christians who ask for turning Shingal, mostly
Ezidi-populated area, and Nineveh Plain, majority Christian populated area,
into new provinces.
Viyan
Dakhil, a Kurdish Ezidi MP in the Iraqi parliament told Kurdistan24 on Monday
that Kurdish Ezidis will not return to the evacuated city of Shingal without
changes in the administration of Nineveh Province.
Dakhil
noted some ethnic and religious groups in Nineveh are demanding changes in
the administration of the province and want to create separate provinces.
The
President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani previously stated the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would promote the city of Shingal to a
province in the Region.
Nineveh
Plains should be liberated from the Islamic State (IS) and
Christians' rights and future shall be secured, a Christian political party
leader told Kurdistan24.
Romio
Hakkari, the Secretary-General of the Assyrian Bet al-Nahrain Party who visited
Washington to gain the US support in liberating Christian areas in the province
of Nineveh located in northern Iraq which is often called "Nineveh
Plains."
In
June 2014, IS emerged in Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. The group
controlled large swaths of territory in the northern country, including
Christian populated areas that according to Hakkari displaced about 200,000
Christians, mostly are staying in the Kurdistan Region.
“We
do not want to be part of the possible Sunni autonomous region in Iraq,”
Hakkari stated, claiming the Sunnis in Nineveh discriminate against Christians
in the area.
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