Ammar Al Saleh - Basrah
With caution and anticipation The residents of Basra province in southern Iraq will follow the coming days of developments on the project to turn their province into a territory.
The local government was quick to adopt the idea of the region in anticipation of the decision to freeze the work of the central authorities in Baghdad after the expiration of its mandate since 2017.
The project, which voted for 22 members of the provincial council of Basra out of 35 earlier this month, is the fourth attempt after three trials ended in failure as a result of reluctance of citizens to vote for them and some of them were received by former heads of government.
| Basra Governorate Council Building (Al Jazeera) |
Central dictatorship
"The idea of forming the province of Basra represents a dream for the Egyptians, and we will not retreat unless it is done to protect Basra from the dictatorship and the abhorrent centralization that has tired us a lot," said Basra provincial council head Sabah al-Bezouni.
Al-Bazzouni said in an interview with al-Jazeera Net that the formation of the region would guarantee the rights of the people of the province of injustice and injustice, which was inflicted on them, noting that the Basrien are not involved in the Iraqi government.
According to the Iraqi constitution, each province or more is entitled to form a region at the request of the referendum, and is submitted either at the request of one third of the members in each of the provincial councils or through the request of ten voters in each of the provinces that want to form the territory.
The draft of the province of Basra officially on the third of this month to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, and if approved will be sent within 15 days to the Electoral Commission to determine in turn a date for the referendum, according to Albzoni, who pointed out that "stinging voices" Basra will not stop the investigation of the province of Basra.
| General image of the city of Basra (Al Jazeera Net) |
External Command
Basra Governor Karim Shawak criticized the current situation, noting that Basra is absent from representation in the current political system, and its local government led by leaders in Najaf and Karbala.
Shawak pointed out that the provincial council of Basra follows the federal government, arguing that the 35 members of the Council of political fronts all the leaders and leaders outside Basra.
He said that this reality necessitated the orientation towards the territory, which does not represent the demand to achieve a departure from the Constitution and legislation.
The high aspirations of supporters of the project collide with the current balances and conditions that do not coincide with the formation of a visual region, says writer Abbas al-Jourani.
He said that this issue as far as the Council of the province, but the visual public does not believe its actions, this is not the first time to announce his quest for the establishment of the region, but quickly abandon their demands in response to his party leadership.
| Three previous experiments to pass the project of Basra province ended in failure (island) |
Popular demands
For his part, considered the political activist Tariq al-Barism that the call for the region comes to absorb some of the demands and popular protests in Basra, as well as the end of the legal period of the mandate of the provincial council.
"The current stage is not ready to become a province of Basra, because of the instability of the security situation and the proliferation of weapons and militias."
The university professor Abbas al-Jumaili found that the Basrien needed the system of the region to rebuild their province "Khirbet", but he felt that the province of Basra in the event of formation will be different from Iraqi Kurdistan because Kurdish politicians more sophisticated and intelligent in achieving public gains compared to "politicians of Basra, who focused on private interests during Take over. "
Basra is the main port of Iraq and its sole maritime outlet. It stores about two thirds of Iraq's oil reserves and holds huge oil fields, as well as natural gas fields, and is the main source of production and export of Iraqi oil.