ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—As the launch of the offensive to liberate Mosul inches everyday closer, religious and ethnic minorities of the Nineveh plains are discussing what their future will be post-Islamic State (ISIS). Many Christian officials and people want to establish a Christian province in the plains, though they disagree on whether their future lies with the Kurdistan Region or Iraq. Yunadim Yusuf Kana, head of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, has warned that a fight over the proposed province could lead to new conflict in Nineveh and between Erbil and Baghdad. “The will of the people should be respected,” Kana told Rudaw. “Applying pressure and imposing a de facto state will cause negative consequences. It might not be helpful to normalize that area’s situation. This could turn to war between Erbil and Mosul or Erbil and Baghdad.” Bait Nahrain, a Christian political party with an armed, reported that some Christian parties had a secret meeting in Erbil with Brett McGurk, US Presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter-ISIS. They discussed the proposed province in the Nineveh plains. “That province will be established in the Nineveh plains and it should be annexed with the Kurdistan Region, not Baghdad,” a party source said. At a camp for internally displaced (IDPs) in Ankawa that houses 5,500 displaced Christians, their future post-ISIS is a hot topic. “Most of the Christians are with Nineveh plain to be with Kurdistan, because Kurdistan did its job with us, the Iraqi government did not do anything,” one camp resident told Rudaw. “We want to live with the Kurds, because they protected us,” another said. There are also calls within the United States to establish a province in the Nineveh plains. “The Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) have recognized the need for the Nineveh Plain Province. It’s time for United States to do the same,” said Robert Nicholson, Executive Director of the Philos Project, Asbarez Newspaper reported on September 8. “The problems of the Middle East never stay there,” Nicholson continued. “When ISIS is rolled back, we will need a vision, a long-term plan and Christians should be part of this plan. New provinces, based on a decentralized, federated Iraq, will allow Christian and minority communities to feel empowered in the post-ISIS future.” Some US congressmen have been calling for a new province to be established in Nineveh since 2014. The organization In Defense of Christians is running an initiative called The Haven Project, the aim of which, according to the organization’s website, is “to influence international actors, investors, and refugees to economically revitalize the Nineveh Plain region – the historic homeland of Iraq’s Assyrian and Chaldean Christian population, and other ethnic and religious groups – after northern Iraq is liberated from ISIS occupation. A haven is a place where security fosters productivity.” Within Sunni and Shiite circles, there is some acceptance of meeting the political needs of minorities, but others consider dividing up Nineveh province as completing ISIS’ work. Athil al-Nujeifi, former governor of Nineveh, recently said “There is a project that, according to population numbers and ethnicity, Nineveh will be divided into 6 to 8 provinces. The Nineveh plain will become a province or two, and the same for Tel Afar that includes Arab and Turkmen, Shiite and Sunnis; also a province for Shingal.” But Haitham al-Jabouri, MP from the state of law bloc, said in a statement on Wednesday, “Those who are acting under pretext of minorities and not coexistence want to divide Nineveh. They are completing the ISIS project.” As the Kurdistan Region became a safe haven for displaced Christians, the majority of Christian community members and parties support staying within Kurdistan. Even if they have a province in the Nineveh plains, they believe it should be incorporated into the KRG. “There is a social and political environment to establish such a province,” Ziryan Rojhelati, a researcher at the Rudaw Research Center, told Rudaw on Wednesday. “There is a Kurdish Christian entity encircling Mosul that has always faced threats from extremist groups. Even if ISIS is defeated in the future, Shiite or Sunni extremist groups can again become a threat to religious and ethnic minorities.” “The interests of the US, Kurdistan and some European countries require such an area to be established in the Nineveh plains. This could be very useful for the Kurdistan Region,” he added. Rojhelati believes that if separate provinces are established in the Nineveh plains, even if they do not incorporate with the Kurdistan Region, “Their presence can play a very important role in providing strategic security for the Kurdistan Region and could become a shield for the problems the Kurdistan Region may face in the future, whether with Sunnis over land or threats from Hashd al-Shaabi.”
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