Mushreq Abbas write in Al Monitor,
Iraqi Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Torhan al-Mufti (Turkoman) caused confusion among the media and the public when he announced on Jan. 21 that the Iraqi government had agreed to transform two districts — Talafar in the Ninevah province and Tuz Khurmato in the Salahuddin province — into provinces. Both of these districts have a Turkmen majority.
Yet, Mufti, who belongs to the Turkmen minority himself, only mentioned the parts that related specifically to Turkmen when speaking about these decisions. In fact, the decisions — issued in a statement on the same day — referred to two points:
First: “[The Iraqi government] has agreed, in principle, to turn the districts of Tuz Khurmato, Fallujah and the Ninevah Plains into provinces, and the cabinet will decide on this after the fulfillment of the necessary requirements. A committee will be formed that is headed by the concerned minister of state [Mufti], and includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Municipalities and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. This committee will develop the controls and standards to support transforming the districts into provinces.”
Second: “[The Iraqi government] has agreed on a draft law to create the province of Talafar in the Iraqi Republic, and it will be referred to the parliament based on the provisions of Article 61 (Item I) and Article 80 (Item II) of the constitution.”
Articles 61 (Item I) and Article 80 (Item II), which the government decision referenced, stipulate that the government has the right to propose draft laws to parliament, and that parliament has the right to ratify these laws. Meanwhile, the other clauses of Article 80 specify the government’s jurisdictions.
The constitution does not stipulate the mechanisms for transforming an administrative unit into a province, but a part of Article 120 does describe the provinces and their administration. The article notes:
From a legal perspective, the Iraqi parliament must first pass the law on “the demarcation of administrative borders of the provinces,” which to this day is still under study. It is not expected that this law will be passed any time soon, because of the disputes that could result from redrawing borders and restoring them to what they were in 1968.
It was understandable that these governmental decisions about forming new provinces caused confusion. Before announcing the names of those districts may be turned into provinces, it would have been better had the government finished determining legal controls and conditions, as well as geographic, demographic, economic and service-based standards that would frame such a step.