Iraq’s diverse Khanaqin spotlights coexistence

Shafaq News- Diyala

A cultural center in Khanaqin, a multiethnic city in Iraq’s Diyala province, on Wednesday honored more than 30 residents for contributions to social cohesion, in the first initiative of its kind in the area.

The event at Dar Al-Shaheed Salam Cultural Center brought together government officials, security personnel, educators, artists, journalists, and religious figures from across the city.

Abbas Muhyiddin, a member of the organizing committee, told Shafaq News that the honorees were selected for professional and humanitarian service provided during 2025, regardless of political, ethnic, or sectarian affiliation. Those recognized included state employees, police officers, Kurdish Asayish members, Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces personnel, and civil society figures.

In September 2024, thousands in the city also took part in a joint Shiite–Sunni procession marking the Prophet Muhammad’s death anniversary, with clerics emphasizing unity, and a youth bazaar drew more than 80 participants from the Kurdistan Region and Iran in April 2025 to encourage cultural exchange and local economic activity.

Located near the Iranian border, Khanaqin has an estimated population of 135,000 to 250,000 and is one of Iraq’s disputed territories between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region under Article 140 of the constitution. Kurds accounted for about 72% of Khanaqin’s population in 1965, but the share fell to 45% by 1977 after Arab families were relocated under Saddam Hussein’s Baathist policies, according to historical census data. Many displaced Kurds returned after 2003, but the 2017 withdrawal of Kurdish Peshmerga forces following a failed independence referendum led to renewed displacement and security pressures.