Shafaq News / The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) warned, on Wednesday, of “systematic nationalist plans to marginalize the Kurds in Jalawla.”

A PUK official, Khalil Khudadad told Shafaq News Agency that there are no Kurdish representatives in all government departments in the sub-district, adding, "We haven’t taken neither our electoral nor national entitlement in the administrative and security sectors of Jalawla and all other administrative units."

"The continuous targeting and marginalizing of Kurds in Jalawla and the disputed areas is still in effect despite the significant fall in the population of Kurds... 3800 Kurdish families were displaced from Jalawla between 2003 and 2008, and the number increased to more than 7000 families fled from the national and terrorist targeting with bombs and assassinations to Kurdistan and other regions.” Khudadad emphasized.

Jalawla, 70 km northeast of Baqubah, one of the disputed areas under the Iraqi constitution, is a sub-district of about 80,000 Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen just south of Diyala’s border with Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. It has a long experience with confronting ISIS.

The signs of war are still visible on its streets; thousands of homes were destroyed, while its residents did not receive any compensation.

Jalawla has been witnessing continuous security tension since late 2017 due to the Peshmerga’s withdrawal, as well as its location within the Hemrin Basin, which is still considered a large stronghold for terrorist groups.