Nineveh Governorate

Nineveh Governorate
Governorate
Country	Iraq
Capital	Mosul
Occupation of part	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Government
• Governor	Nofal Hammadi (al-Nahetha)
Area
• Total	37,323 km2 (14,410 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	3,270,422
• Density	88/km2 (230/sq mi)

Nineveh Governorate (Arabic: نینوى‎‎) is a governorate in northern Iraq that contains the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. It was an integral part of Assyria from the 25th century BC to the 7th century AD, It has an area of 37,323 km² (14,410 sq mi) and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient Nineveh. Tal Afar is the second-biggest city. Before 1976, it was called Mosul Province and included the present-day Dohuk Governorate.

An ethnically, religiously and culturally diverse region, it has been subject to attacks by the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with Mosul being captured on 10 June 2014, and many places of worship and historic ruins and monuments destroyed. A massive offensive to retake the city, dubbed Operation "We Are Coming, Nineveh" (قادمون يا نينوى; Qadimun Ya Naynawa), began in October 2016.

Recent history and administration

Former governor al-Nujaifi 2014 in the Yezidian Academy, Hanover, Germany

Its two cities endured the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and emerged unscathed. In 2004, Mosul and Tal Afar were fierce between US-led Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents moved to Nineveh after the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

After the invasion, the military of the province was led by (then Major General) David Petraeus of the 101st Airborne Division and later by (then Brigadier General) Carter Ham as the multi-national brigade for Iraq. During the American civil head of the local office of the Coalition Provisional Authority was a US Foreign Service Officer and former Kurdish refugee to the States. Mustafa administered her nominees on the provincial council and through members of the Kashmoula family.

In June 2004, Osama Kashmoula became the interim governor of the province and in September of the same year he was assassinated en route to Baghdad. He was succeeded as interim Governor by Duraid Kashmoula, who was elected governor in January 2005. Duraid Kashmoula resigned in 2009. In April 2009, Atheel al-Nujaifi, a hardline Arab nationalist and member of Al-Hadba, became governor. While al-Nujaifi's Arab Muttahidoon bloc lost its majority to the Kurdish Brotherhood and Coexistence Alliance List in the 2013 provincial election, al-Nujaifi was reelected as governor by a larger Sunni Arab coalition that was later formalized as the Nahda Bloc.

In June 2014, insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIS or ISIL) overran the capital Mosul, forcing an estimated 500,000 refugees to flee the area, including governor al-Nujaifi, who was subsequently deposed by the Iraqi Parliament.

While the Kurdish list proposed Hassan al-Allaf, an Arab affiliated with the Islamic Party, the provincial council elected Nofal Hammadi (formerly Loyalty to Nineveh List) with the votes of the Nahdha bloc.

An offensive to retake Mosul from ISIL control began in October 2016, with Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers supported by a U.S.-led coalition of 60 nations.

Provincial elections

Main article: Ninawa governorate election, 2013

  Summary of the 20 June 2013 Ninawa governorate election results

Party/coalition		Allied national parties	Leader	Seats	Change	Votes	%	±%
	Brotherhood and Coexistence Alliance List	KDP PUK		11	1	173,687	29.87%	2.39%
	Muttahidoon	al-Hadba Iraqi Islamic Party	Usama al-Nujayfi	8	14	129,556	22.28%	27.54%
	Loyalty to Nineveh List	Iraqi National Dialogue Front al-Hal	Ghanim al-Baso Saleh al-Mutlaq Jamal al-Karbouli	4		66,517	11.44%
	United Nineveh		Abdullah al-Yawer	3		45,971	7.91%
	Iraqi Construction and Justice Gathering		Dildar Zebari	3		39,126	6.73%
	Al Iraqia National and United Coalition		Ayad Allawi	2		31,276	5.38%
	Nineveh’s Bravery Coalition			1		23,361	4.02%
	Nineveh’s National Alliance			1		22,734	3.91%
	Oum Rabih Tribes’ National Gathering		Hassan Khulayf	1		21,349	3.67%
	Al Shabak Freemen Council			1		12,689	2.18%
	Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress			1		10,397	1.79%	1.17%
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Gathering Coalition	Gathered Force Movement Chaldean National Council Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council Assyrian National Party Rafidain List National Bet-Nahrain Union		1		8,635	1.49%
	Iraqi People’s Coalition			1		8,633	1.48%
	Iraq’s Benevolence and Generosity List		Dr Rushdi Said	1		8,076	1.39%
	Iraqi Freemen Coalition
	Iraq’s Advocates for State Support
	Reformers Gathering
	National Moderation Front
	United National Christian Assembly
	Iraq’s Unified Gathering		Younis al-Rammah
	Oum Rabih National Independent Gathering
	United Democratic ِArabic Movement
	Yuhanna Youssef Tuma Buta
	Future Path for Yazidis Party
	Free Yazidi Gathering
	Yazidi Democratic Front
	Yazidi Progress Party
	Shabak Independent Party
Total				39	2	581,449

Human geography

Borders

Neighboring Iraqi regions are Dohuk Governorate to the north, Erbil Governorate to the east, Saladin Governorate to the south-east, and Al Anbar Governorate to the south. In the west it shares a border with Syria, mostly Al-Hasakah Governorate, and also Deir ez-Zor Governorate in the south.

Administrative districts

Nineveh Governorate comprises 30 districts, listed below with their areas and populations as estimated in 2003:

District	Name in Arabic	Area in sq. km	Population in 2003
Sinjar	سنجار	2,928	166,466
Al-Ba'aj	البعاج	9,172	88,401
Al-Hadar (Hatra)	الحضر	9,738	37,655
Al-Mosul	الموصل	4,471	1,432,230
Tel Afar	تلعفر	4,453	300,878
Tel Kaif	تلكيف	1,244	167,647
Al-Hamdaniya	الحمدانية	1,155	125,665
Al-Shikhan	الشيخان	1,333	58,132
Total		37,323	2,453,116

Makhmur District, Aqrah District and the northern part of Al-Shikhan District were formerly part of Nineveh Governorate and currently under the Kurdistan Regional Government control, as Mosul has no control over these districts.. Now Makhmur District is part of Erbil Governorate. Aqrah District and the northern part of Al-Shikhan District are parts of Dohuk Governorate.

Demographics

Nineveh Province is multiethnic. There are significant numbers of Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens as well as Yazidis both in towns and cities, and in their own specific villages and regions. There are also numbers of Armenians, Kawliya and Mandeans, Shabaks.

In religion, the majority of Arabs are Sunni Muslim while Turkmen are mostly Shi'ite. Kurds are largely Sunni Muslim, although some follow the native Yarsan religion and a few are Christians. Assyrians are exclusively Christian, with the, following either the Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, or the Ancient Church of the East. Armenians are also exclusively Christian and mostly followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans follow their own religious beliefs: Shabakism, Yazidism, and Mandaeism. However, Arab Sunnis form a majority in the province.

The main language spoken is Arabic. Minority languages include Neo-Aramaic dialects spoken by the Assyrians, Kurdish (to include dialects of Kurmanji like Shengali), Shabaki, Turkman, Mandic and Armenian.

Proposed Assyrian autonomous region

Main article: Nineveh Plains

Many Assyrian leaders advocate an autonomous Assyrian homeland within Nineveh Province for the indigenous Assyrians. Most National Iraqi leaders have not taken this plan seriously, but it has a strong proponent in the Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Finance Sarkis Aghajan, himself an Assyrian and a prominent figure in the Kurdish dominated government. Sarkis has claimed that the autonomous region he envisions would stretch from the Syrian border to the north at Faysh Khabur to Bakhdida. He says it would have its own parliament, executive council, constitution, budget, logo, and flag.

See also

• Ninawa governorate election, 2005
• Nineveh plains
• Ezidkhan
• List of churches and monasteries in Nineveh
• Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
• Genocide of Christians by ISIL
• Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq