BAGHDAD, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi parliament voted on Monday in favor of a bill to formally recognize Halabja as the country's 19th province.
A statement issued by the media office of the Iraqi Council of Representatives (parliament) said the approval came during a parliament session chaired by Acting Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi with the attendance of 178 lawmakers.
Halabja, located within Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and once administratively affiliated with the Sulaymaniyah province, has symbolic significance for Iraqi Kurds, particularly after a large-scale chemical attack on the area in 1988, which claimed the lives of thousands of Kurds.
The Kurdish parliament approved Halabja as the fourth province in the Kurdistan region over a decade ago. However, it was not officially recognized by the federal government as the Iraqi parliament failed to approve its provincial recognition. ■
