The people of Hawija want a strong and independent administration post-ISIS, a man from the town said. But a tribal leader told Rudaw that the tribes of Hawija are against separating the town from Kirkuk.
“Each one has his own and different opinion. I think Hawija should not disconnect from Kirkuk. This is my special opinion, but each has their own. We as noblemen reject disconnecting Hawija from Kirkuk,” Khalaf Rwan, a member of the Hawija council, told Rudaw.
Kurds in the area believe that the decision should be made by the people, and any action should be done according to the constitution.
“The new federal Iraq accepts decentralization and all suggestions according to the constitution and law,” Rebwar Talabani, head of Kirkuk’s provincial council, told Rudaw. “This issue needs a referendum.”
Hawija, a Sunni stronghold Sunnis in Kirkuk Province, has been at the center of insurgency since 2004. Kurds are, therefore, concerned about its future as they want to make sure it does not pose a security threat on Kirkuk after it is liberated from ISIS.
Kurdish forces will participate in the military offensive to retake the town from the terrorist group.
“Kurds have already decided that they are participating in any offensive to drive ISIS out of Hawija. They must be evicted from the land of Kurdistan and we have insisted on this decision,” Kamal Kirkuki, commander of the Peshmerga forces in western Kirkuk, told Rudaw TV last week.
Kirkuki noted that Hawija is part of Kirkuk Province “and it will remain under control of the province’s authorities, just like any other town or district of Kirkuk.”
Located at a crossroads, Hawija connects the three provinces of Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahaddin. It is 55 kilometers south of Kirkuk, and is composed of a district and four sub-districts. The majority of its 450,000 population are Arabs, predominantly from the tribes of Obeid, Dlaim, Shammar and Jabour.
In ethnically diverse Nineveh Province, there are multiple calls to break up the region into distinct provinces giving each ethnic or religious group self-governance, or ensuring guarantees are given to minority groups in the post-ISIS era.
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