Halabja Becomes Iraq's 19th Province

PUKMEDIA

Halabja Monument.

The Iraqi Parliament passed the Halabja Provincialisation Bill on Monday, 14 April 2025, officially making Halabja the 19th province of Iraq.

On this occasion the member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc in the Iraqi Parliament expressed joy and congratulated the people of Halabja, pledging to continue serving the beloved city.

Chro Hama Sharif, a member of the Iraqi Parliament from the PUK bloc, told PUKMEDIA: "The Iraqi Parliament made history today by establishing Halabja as the country's 19th province. I extend my congratulations to the people of Halabja in particular and Kurdistan in general, and I promise to keep serving them."

Badriya Hussein, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the PUK bloc, told PUKMEDIA: "Thanks to the efforts of the PUK and all other Kurdish blocs, we were able to collect the necessary votes to make Halabja the 19th province in Iraq."

Bryar Rashid, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the PUK bloc, told PUKMEDIA: "The people of Halabja deserve more service and what we have done for them is the least service for the many sacrifices that its people have made.

Halabja's acting governor also congratulated the people of the province while thanking Kurdish and Iraqi officials for making the Halabja dream a reality, while calling on them to provide more support to the new province.

"We express our gratitude to the Iraqi President, Prime Minister, Speaker, and Presidency of the Parliament, as well as the Kurdish blocs, Kurdistan Region President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Kurdistan Parliament members, and we call on them to provide more support to Halabja," Nuxsha Nasih, the acting governor of Halabja, said during a press conference.

She added: "It was the Kurdish unity in Baghdad that made Halabja a province, which we hope will provide more services and job opportunities. We also wish to use this unity to fight for our other rights."

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officially recognised Halabja as the fourth province of the Kurdistan Region on 13 March 2014.

Halabja province has one district, four sub-districts, including Sirwan, Khurmal, Biara and Bamo, and 166 villages.

The Halabja Provincialisation Law, which has been in the parliament for more than a year but has been postponed because of disagreements with Arab lawmakers, is a part of the efforts to compensate for the enormous sacrifices Halabja has made. 

On 16 March 1988, the fallen Ba'ath regime in Iraq bombarded the city with prohibited chemical weapons, killing over 5000 civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, while injuring thousands more, most of whom still suffer from their wounds to this day.



PUKMEDIA