Sadiyah (; ) is a town in

Diyala Governorate Diyala Governorate ( ) or Diyala Province is a Governorates of Iraq, governorate in northeastern Iraq. Provincial Government *Governor: Muthanna al-Tamimi *Deputy Governor: Mohammed Jassim al-Jubouri Council Geography Diyala Governorate ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. It is located near the

Diyala River The Diyala (Arabic: ; ; Farsi: , ) is a river and tributary of the Tigris. It is formed by the confluence of the Sirwan and Tanjaro rivers in Darbandikhan Dam in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of Northern Iraq. It covers a total distance of . ...

8 km (5 mi) south of

Jalawla Jalawla (, also known as Jalula) is a town in Diyala Governorate, Iraq. It is located on the Diyala River, north of Sadiyah. The town is populated by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. It experienced significant Arabization during the Saddam era. T ...

. The town is populated by

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

and

Turkmens Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...

. It is

disputed Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an oppo ...

and experienced significant

Arabization Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociology, sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arabs, Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic, Arabic language, Arab cultu ...

during the Saddam era. Sadiyah is controlled by

Badr Organization The Badr Organization ( ''Munaẓẓama Badr''), previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist and Khomeinist political party and paramilitary organization headed by Hadi al-Amiri. The Badr Brigade, formed in ...

History

Sadiyah has been the center town of Sadiyah Sub-District since the Ottoman era. Sadiyah was used as winter pasture by the Kurdish Kalhor and Sanjâbi tribes who would pay pasturage dues to the Ottomans. As part of the revolt of 1920, Sadiyah fell on 14 August 1920 largely due to the work of the Kurdish Dilo tribe.

constituted 50% of the town in the 1947 census and 40.5% in 1957. Arabs constituted 47.1% of the population in 1957, while

Iraqi Turkmens The Iraqi Turkmen (, عراق تورکمنلری; Arabic: تركمان العراق), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, (, عراق توركلری; ) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. They make up to 10%–13% of the Iraqi population. I ...

were 12.4%. In the 1965 census, Arabs were the majority with 58.4% while Kurds constituted 24.7% and Turkmens were 9.6%. In the 1977 census, the Arab population increased to 90.2%, while Kurds and Turkmens were 5.1% and 4% respectively. In 1987, Arabs were 87.8% of the population, Kurds were 16.8% and Turkmens were 5.4%, while the numbers were 83.1%, 9.9% and 7% for Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens, respectively in 1997. More recent estimates state that Kurds constituted 38% in 2003 and 12% in 2012. After the fall of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

in 2003,

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

pressured Arab settlers in

Khanaqin Khanaqin (; ) is the central city of Khanaqin District in Diyala Governorate, Iraq, near the Iranian border (8 km) on the Alwand tributary of the Diyala River. The town is populated by Kurds who speak the Southern Kurdish dialect. Khan ...

to settle in Sadiyah which increased the Arab population further.

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

was deployed to the town in 2011 after request from the federal government in Baghdad to counter the attacks on the local Kurds. The dire security after the overthrow of

in 2003, forced more Kurds to leave the town.

ISIS and aftermath

In the early hours of 13 June,

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

seized Sadiyah, after

Iraqi security forces The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) is a term used by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to describe law enforcement and military forces of the federal government of the Republic of Iraq. During the Iraq War, these entities received trainin ...

had abandoned their posts. Several villages around the

Hamrin Mountains The Hamrin Mountains (, ) are a small mountain ridge in northeast Iraq. The westernmost ripple of the Zagros Mountains, the Hamrin mountains extend from the Diyala Governorate bordering Iran, northwest to the Tigris river, crossing northern Sala ...

were also captured.Insurgents take two more Iraqi towns, Obama threatens air strikes
Sadiyah was captured by the

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF; ), also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iranian-backed paramilitary umbrella group that operates within Iraq. Although formally and legally part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and reportin ...

in November 2014. As of 2018, 80% of the Kurdish population have not returned to the town.

References

{{reflist Sadiyah Kurdish settlements in Iraq Turkmen communities in Iraq

History

ISIS and aftermath

See also

References