Diyala Governorate

Diyala Governorate
محافظة ديالى
Governorate
Coordinates: 33°53′N 45°4′E / 33.883°N 45.067°E / 33.883; 45.067Coordinates: 33°53′N 45°4′E / 33.883°N 45.067°E / 33.883; 45.067
Country  Iraq
Capital Baqubah
Governor Amer al-Majmai
Area
 • Total 17,685 km2 (6,828 sq mi)
Population (2011 [1])
 • Total 1,443,200

Diyala Governorate (Arabic: محافظة ديالى Muḥāfażah Diyālā‎ and Kurdish: Parezgay Diyala‎) or Diyala Province is a governorate in eastern Iraq.

Provincial government

Council

Party Seats Ideology
United Accord and Reform Front in Diyala 6Sunni Islamism
National Iraqi Project Gathering6Sunni Islamism
Kurdistan Alliance6Kurdish Nationalism
Iraqi National List5Secularism
State of Law Coalition7Shia Islamism
National Diyala Alliance6Shia Islamism
National Reform Trend1Shiaa Islamism
Total29

Geography

Diyala Governorate extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baqubah. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometres (6,828 sq mi).

A large portion of the province is drained by the Diyala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diyala's main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large groves. The province also contains one of the largest olive groves in the Middle East.[4] It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. The Hamrin Mountains pass through the governorate.

Population

The population and the ethnic composition of this province has been in a major state of flux since the Coalition invasion of 2003 and the removal of the Sunni Arab government of Saddam Hussein from Baghdad. That government and those before it, had all been Sunni Arabs and as such, supportive of the Sunni Arab interests at the expenses of all other ethnic and confessional minorities such as the Shia, Kurds and even Iraqi Turkmen. This changed drastically starting in 2003. It is now the Sunni Arabs that are exposed to expulsion and loss of house and home all over the province.

Presently, an estimated population of some 1,224,000 people live in this province. Sunni Arabs, once a solid majority until 2003, have been losing their positions due to violence of the Iraqi Civil War (2006–07) and since summer of 2014, due to resurgent Ba'ath in the company of the ISIS. Nearly half the Sunni Arab population has been pushed out of the province. Presently, they constitute no more than 40 percent of the population of the Diyala Governorate. In contrast, the Feyli Kurds who were deported from this area from the 1960 to 1990s by various Sunni Arab governments in Baghdad are returning-as have other Kurds. They now dominate the entire Khanaqin district and all others bordering on Iran in this province. At the lowest point during the rule of Saddam Hussein, their numbers had fallen to just 7% of the total. Today, they boast to around 20% and increasing as they take up their old homes in places such a Jalula/Jalawla and Saadia. The rest of the residents are Iraqi Sunni Turkmen (around 5%) predominantly in Kifri, but in smaller pockets at Jalawla, Saadia, Miqdadiya and other smaller pockets dispersed around the province.

Administrative districts

Diyala Governorate comprises six districts, listed below with their areas[5] and populations as estimated in 2003:[6]

District Name
in Arabic		 Area in
sq. km		 Population
in 2003
Ba'quba بعقوبة 1,630 467,895
Al-Muqdadiya المقدادية 1,033 198,583
Khanaqin خانقين 3,512 160,379
Al-Khalis الخالص 2,994 255,889
Kifri كفري 1,139 42,010
Balad Ruz بلد روز 6,280 99,601
Total 17,685 1,224,358

Cities and towns and villages

Infrastructure

The Diyala Province also boasts the Diyala Media Center which has one of the Middle East's tallest radio and television antennas at 349 metres (1,047 ft). The Diyala Media Center was built under contract by a Japanese architectural firm in 1989. It is one of Iraq's few independent radio and television stations that offer local television and radio news coverage as well as rebroadcasting state-run television.

Civil unrest

There is evidence that Al-Qaeda in Iraq has recently moved its base of operations from Anbar province to Diyala. During late 2006 Baqubah and much of the Diyala province were reported to have come under Sunni insurgent control.[8] This insurgent control is reported to have continued through 2007 and into early 2008.[9]

On May 11, 2007, Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Multination Division North said he needed more troops in order to contain the current level of violence in the Diyala province, this coming in the recent wake of a troop "surge", involuntary recalls by the U.S. military, and the public debate about the level of commitment from the U.S. government.[10] By mid-2007 the Islamic State of Iraq, already holding Baqubah and most of the province under its control, declared its capital to be Baqubah. There is already strong evidence the Islamic State of Iraq has moved most of its command and control operations to Diyala.

In June 2007, US forces launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper with night air assaults in Baquba. By August 19, Baquba was largely secured, although some insurgent presence remained in the city and surrounding areas. Fighting continued in the Diyala River valley but by the beginning of October, US and Iraqi forces held most of the province while the insurgents were in retreat to the north and west. Diyala is still a contested province. On October 27 the Islamic State of Iraq attacked a police base in Baqubah, killing 28 Iraqi policemen and police recruits, showing that insurgent cells still remain in the province.

In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remaining insurgents following the Diyala province campaign between 2006 and 2007.

Mid-2008 saw many changes in Diyala province with an increased effort by U.S. Forces and a substantial Iraqi Army presence, and in the Baqubah region, Al Qaida in Iraq activity was dramatically hampered, and the Sons of Iraq program served only to further weaken Al-Qaida in Iraq.

Declaration of autonomy

In December 2011, the governing council in Diyala province declared itself a semi-autonomous region within Iraq.[11] This comes two months after Salahuddin Governorate made a similar declaration. The council in Diyala, using Article 119 of the Iraqi Constitution as justification, made the declaration because of suspicion of the Shi'a-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Unlike Salahuddin province however, Diyala province is more ethnically and religiously mixed, and such an announcement led to the outbreak of protests in the province.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Citypopulation.de
  2. ↑ http://www1.almejlis.org/eng/more/5163-1/The-Governor-of-Diyala-Briefed-Sayyid-Ammar-al-Hakim-about-the-Efforts-Made-to-Bring-Back-the-Displaced-People-and-to-Reconstruct-the-Province-after-Clearing-It-from-Terrorism
  3. ↑ http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/11/iraqi-deputy-governor-sentenced-for-armed-attacks.html
  4. ↑ Biggest Olive Groves in Middle East – in Diyala
  5. ↑ COSIT (Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology), Baghdad.
  6. ↑ NGO Co-ordination Committee.
  7. ↑ "Republic of iraq (IQ): Asia/Iraq/Diyala". Tageo.com. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  8. ↑ Engel, Richard (December 27, 2006). "Reporting under al-Qaida control". Blogging Baghdad: The Untold Story (MSNBC). Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  9. ↑ Engel, Richard (January 17, 2007). "Dangers of the Baghdad plan". Worldblog. MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  10. ↑ "DoD Special Security Operations Briefing with Maj. Gen. Mixon from Iraq". News Transcript. U.S. Department of Defense. May 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  11. ↑ "Iraq's Diyala province demands semi-autonomous status". Xinhua. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  12. ↑ Hammoudi, Laith. "A second Iraqi province seeks autonomy from Baghdad". Miami Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2011.


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