Diyala Province
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Diyala Governorate محافظة ديالى |
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|---|---|
| Governorate | |
 |
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| Coordinates: 33°53′N 45°4′E / 33.883°N 45.067°ECoordinates: 33°53′N 45°4′E / 33.883°N 45.067°E | |
| Country |
 Iraq |
| Capital | Baqubah |
| Governor | Muthana Al-Timimi |
| Area | |
| • Total | 17,685 km2 (6,828 sq mi) |
| Population (2011 ) | |
| • Total | 1,443,200 |
Diyala Governorate (Arabic: محافظة ديالى Muḥāfażah Diyālā) or Diyala Province is a governorate in eastern Iraq.
Diyala Governorate extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baqubah. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometres (6,828 sq mi).
A large portion of the province is drained by the Diyala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diyala's main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large groves. The province also contains one of the largest olive groves in the Middle East. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. The Hamrin Mountains pass through the governorate.
The population and the ethnic composition of this province has been in a major state of flux since the Coalition invasion of 2003 and the removal of the Sunni Arab government of Saddam Hussein from Baghdad. That government and those before it, had all been Sunni Arabs and as such, supportive of the Sunni Arab interests at the expenses of all other ethnic and confessional minorities such as the Shia, Kurds and even Iraqi Turkmen. This changed drastically starting in 2003. It is now the Sunni Arabs that are exposed to expulsion and loss of house and home all over the province.
Presently, an estimated population of some 1,224,000 people live in this province. Sunni Arabs, once a solid majority until 2003, have been losing their positions due to violence of the Iraqi Civil War (2006–07) and since summer of 2014, due to resurgent Ba'ath in the company of the ISIS. Nearly half the Sunni Arab population has been pushed out of the province. Presently, they constitute no more than 40 percent of the population of the Diyala Governorate. In contrast, the Feyli Kurds who were deported from this area from the 1960 to 1990s by various Sunni Arab governments in Baghdad are returning-as have other Kurds. They now dominate the entire Khanaqin district and all others bordering on Iran in this province. At the lowest point during the rule of Saddam Hussein, their numbers had fallen to just 7% of the total. Today, they boast to around 20% and increasing as they take up their old homes in places such a Jalula/Jalawla and Al-Sadiyah. The rest of the residents are Iraqi Sunni Turkmen (around 5%) predominantly in Kifri, but in smaller pockets at Jalawla, Al-Sadiyah, Miqdadiya and other smaller pockets dispersed around the province.
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