Iraq declares Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmato as two provinces

At the end of the formal procedures, the two districts will be provinces No. 20 and 21 in Iraq after the Iraqi government recently approved Halabja district in Kurdistan Region as the 19th province.

Jaafar, a Turkmen said in a statement briefed by “Shafaq News" that “ the Council of Ministers have voted in today’s session to convert the districts of Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmato to two provinces.

The administration of Tuz Khurmato in Salahuddin province expressed on Tuesday, its surprised by the decision of the federal government to make the district as a province and pointed out that the decision is not within the control of its citizens and announced an urgent meeting with the provincial council for discussion, on Wednesday.

Tal Afar district is affiliated to Nineveh province on the Syrian border , while Tuz Khurmato is affiliated to Salahuddin province, Turkmen say that they are the majority in both districts and demanded several times to convert them to two provinces .

Tuz Khurmato is of the disputed areas between the federal government in Baghdad and Kurdistan Region as Kurds are expected to reject the decision to settle the dispute about it.

Kurds demand the application of Article 140 of the Constitution , which includes a roadmap to settle the disputes area over the Kurdish areas , in which Kurds say that these areas have been deducted from Kurdistan Region due to the policies of the former regime .