Increased demands to establish a Sunni region in Iraq

Recent weeks have seen an unprecedented increase in calls for the establishment of a Sunni region in Iraq. This follows the appointment of tribal figure Raad al-Sulaiman al-Dulaimi, who plans to hold a conference next September in Anbar Governorate in western Iraq to discuss the issue. Many representatives from the Sunni-majority governorates – Anbar, Nineveh, Diyala and Salah al-Din – will attend.

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Calls to establish a Sunni autonomous region have surfaced several times over the years, beginning with the sectarian war of 2006. However, due to various internal and external circumstances, these efforts have not succeeded.

This time the initiative is led by the Sunni Muslim politician Thaer al-Bayati, the secretary general of the Arab Tribal Council and the founder of the Iraqi Salvation Front.

Sunni politicians are divided between supporters and opponents of federalism, depending on their political orientation. Politicians allied with Shiite forces and those affiliated with the Turkish-backed ones Muslim Brotherhood the movement has rejected the idea of establishing a Sunni region.

Politicians from Sunni tribes, especially those with significant influence or who belong to large tribes in the Sunni provinces, have agreed to the call for a Sunni region.

The region could represent 50% of Iraq

Article 119 of the Iraqi Constitution gives each governorate, or group of governors, the right to establish its own region through a referendum, carried out in two ways: “First: A request from one-third of the members of each of the provincial councils that For the second: A request from one-tenth of the voters in each of the provinces seeking to form a region.”

Flag of Iraq (illustrative). (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Despite this constitutional provision, the establishment of the Basra region, Iraq’s southernmost province, was previously rejected even though Shiite parties governed it. No Shia region has been allowed.

If established, the Sunni region would represent 50% of Iraq’s geographic area and share borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. This region would be home to about 11 million people, making up about a quarter of Iraq’s population.

Previously, the governorates that would comprise the Sunni Muslim region – Anbar, Salah al-Din, Nineveh and Diyala – were volatile and referred to as the Sunni Triangle. Al-Qaeda and ISIS were active there, as were movements resisting the US presence in Iraq, particularly in Fallujah, a city in Anbar governorate.

The Iraqi government has not officially commented on the recent call to establish a Sunni region or the upcoming September conference in Anbar province.

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Muwaffaq Al-Sulaiman, a member of the Sunni Muslim Regional Conference’s organizing committee, told The Media Line: “We are seeking freedom. The Shiite parties have largely marginalized Sunnis in Iraqdon’t give them their rights and take most of the budget for the Shiite provinces.”

He said, “We do not want to separate from Iraq; it is only a region similar to the Kurdistan region, where we govern ourselves. All four provinces agree on this principle; the difference is only in the details. National figures issue these calls, and we are the ones who implement them.”

He continued, “We don’t get any international support. We are a purely Iraqi initiative, and we don’t want any support from abroad. Our provinces are living in poverty because of the bad distribution of the federal budget.”

Regarding the region’s funding sources, Al-Sulaiman said: “In Anbar, Salah al-Din, Diyala and Nineveh, there are many benefits, whether oil, agriculture, tourism and other minerals, trade and others. We will be the ones who manage these resources .”

He also said: “Even the police are not appointed from the people of the province; they appoint people from remote areas, and our children do not get jobs.”

Regarding external support and the opinion of Iraq’s neighboring countries, Al-Sulaiman said: “Iran does not want a Sunni region. It will get lost. to Syria. Currently, there are Iranian-backed militias in our areas, which are the border areas with Syria, and through them militias, weapons and fighters are transferred to Syria.”

He added, “Turkey also does not want a Sunni region because they do not want the Kurds in Syria to join the Kurdistan Region and establish a Kurdish state, which also means the possibility of southern Turkey joining the new Kurdish state because it has a Kurdish majority state.”

He also said, “Jordan and the GCC countries may not be opposed to establishing a Sunni region, but we have not communicated with them yet.”

Jaafar al-Mandani, an Iraqi Shiite politician, told The Media Line, “The attempts to establish a region are being carried out under Israeli and American orders. They want to divide Iraq, and the Sunnis are not agreeing to that.”

Al-Mandani added, “There is only one region, the Kurdistan region. The rest is unacceptable. The Sunnis enjoy their constitutional rights, and we will not allow the establishment of a region, even if it requires military intervention.”

He continued, “Kurdistan wanted to separate completely from Iraq, but the referendum failed, and all these attempts failed.”

Ahmed al-Hammani, an Iraqi political analyst, told The Media Line, “The Sunnis themselves are divided. There will be no Sunni region. There will be disagreements about leadership and who will take over the presidency of the region. There are no true Sunni parties.”

“Even the neighboring countries reject this. These are just attempts supported by Mohammed al-Halbousi, the former speaker of the parliament, who wants to pressure the government and the ruling parties to return to the parliament seat after the federal court’s decision to strip him of his membership last year, Al-Al said. Hammani added.

A source in the governing Coordination Framework in Iraq, who declined to be named, told The Media Line: “The establishment of a Sunni region in Iraq is unacceptable, and it is not even discussed behind closed doors. The Coordination Framework and all Iraqis will reject it. ”

He continued: “It’s just an attempt to blackmail to get more budget and increase the shares in the Sunni-majority provinces.”

Omar al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi political activist, told The Media Line, “It is not a sectarian region. Its official name will be the Central and Western Iraq region.”

“The establishment of the region is an attempt to save what is left of the Sunnis in Iraq and protect them from the Shiite wave. Currently, major sectarian practices are going on in the Sunni provinces by the Popular Mobilization Forces – Iranian-backed militias created to fight ISIS – and they are killing based on identity and controlling all the resources in the Sunni provinces,” he said.

“They are also trying to change the sect of the people in the region, so the Sunnis in Iraq must be preserved through this region,” he added.