Shafaq News- Baghdad
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani reaffirmed Tuesday his commitment to securing the constitutional rights of Iraq's minorities, including Yazidi, Feyli Kurds, and Mandaean Sabian communities, pledging to bring them into the political process and the administration of the country.
During a meeting in Baghdad with parliamentary representatives of the three communities, held as part of Barzani's two-day visit to the capital, both sides affirmed the importance of guaranteeing active minority participation in the political process and ensuring constitutionally enshrined rights are honored in practice.
Earlier today, Barzani called for the Christian component to be allocated a ministerial portfolio in the next federal cabinet, during a separate meeting with Christian members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
Background
The three communities Barzani met with hold one reserved seat each in Iraq's 329-member Council of Representatives. Under Iraqi law, the Yazidi seat is reserved for a candidate from Nineveh province, the Mandaean Sabian seat for a candidate from Baghdad, and the Feyli Kurd seat for a candidate from Wasit province.
Following a Federal Supreme Court ruling ahead of the 2024 regional elections, the 11 minority-reserved seats in the Kurdistan parliament were dissolved, reducing the chamber from 111 to 100 seats.
Their geographic and historical circumstances could hardly be more different. Feyli Kurds —estimated at 1.5 million— live mainly in Baghdad and the eastern provinces of Diyala, Wasit, Maysan, and Basra.
Yazidis are concentrated in Nineveh province in northern Iraq, primarily around Sinjar and the Shekhan district northeast of Mosul; more than 200,000 remain displaced in camps across the Kurdistan Region and disputed areas of northern Iraq, unable to return to a district that was nearly completely destroyed during ISIS's 2014 genocidal campaign.
The Mandaean Sabians are the most endangered of the three: before the ISIS advance, their community numbered fewer than 5,000 in Iraq, concentrated in the southern provinces of Basra, Dhi Qar, and Maysan, their ancient Gnostic community hollowed out by decades of targeted violence and emigration.