Kurds in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province threatened Sunday to divide the province in two over a dispute with the ruling council.
In what has led Kurdish councilors to boycott all contact with the Arab governor Atheel al-Nujafi, Kurdish residents say that parts of the majority Arab Nineveh belong to their ancient homeland and want them as part of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan.
Kurds make hold 16 of 37 seats in Nineveh’s parliament.
“If no solution is found, we will be forced to form the Nineveh council to run the 16 administrative units,” said Kurdish councilman Derrman Khitari.
Al-Nujafi, however, told Reuters, “Their demand is illegal and the constitution will not endorse it. It violates the provincial council law. If any local council within these areas violates the constitution, we have the authority to dissolve it and form a new one.”
