The Constitution of Iraq

Constitution of Iraq

The Constitution of Iraq is Iraq's fundamental law.-History:Iraq's first constitution, which established a constitutional monarchy, entered into force under the auspices of a British military occupation in 1925 and remained in effect until the 1958 revolution established a republic...

 that was adopted in 2005 defined Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 for the first time as a federal

Federal republic

A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. A federation is the central government. The states in a federation also maintain the federation...

 country.

History

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in 1919, Iraq became a League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 mandate under temporary British control. Mahmud Barzanji

Mahmud Barzanji

Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji or Mahmud Berzenji was the leader of several Kurdish uprisings against the British Mandate of Iraq. He was sheikh of a Qadiriyah Sufi family from the city of Sulaymaniyah, which is now in Iraqi Kurdistan...

 led a Kurdish revolt against the British and in 1922 attempted to establish a state

Kingdom of Kurdistan

The Kingdom of Kurdistan can refer to two short-lived unrecognized states formed in the 1920s in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, in the territory officially under the jurisdiction of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia.-Northern Iraq:During the collapse...

 in northern Iraq. In 1924 the British defeated Mahmud, and the Mosul region was incorporated into the Kingdom of Iraq

Kingdom of Iraq

The Kingdom of Iraq was the sovereign state of Iraq during and after the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The League of Nations mandate started in 1920. The kingdom began in August 1921 with the coronation of Faisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi as King Faisal I...

. After the British occupation, Kurdish leaders continued to press for autonomy within Iraq. In 1970 the Iraqi government agreed to create the Kurdish Autonomous Region covering three provinces of northern Iraq.

After the end of the Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

 in 1991 the Kurdish region rose up against President Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

 and gained de facto independence under the protection of a no fly zone

Iraqi no-fly zones

The Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect the Kurdish people in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones...

. After the invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

 in 2003, the short-lived Transitional Administrative Law recognised the existing Kurdish regional government and defined Iraq for the first time as a federal country.

Article 118

Article 118 of the constitution of Iraq provided that no new region may be created before the Iraqi National Assembly has passed a law which provides the procedures for forming the region. This law was passed in October 2006 after an agreement was reached with the Iraqi Accord Front

Iraqi Accord Front

The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni-Islamist political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election...

 to form the constitutional review committee and to defer implementation of the law for 18 months. Legislators from the Iraqi Accord Front

Iraqi Accord Front

The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni-Islamist political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election...

, Sadrist Movement

Sadrist Movement

The Sadrist Movement is an Iraqi Islamist national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important person in setting the goals and the philosophy of the movement was Grand Ayatollah...

 and Islamic Virtue Party

Islamic Virtue Party

Islamic Virtue Party is an Iraqi political party. It follows ayatollah Muhammad Ya`qubi a student of Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and thus represent a branch of the Sadrist Movement, however the party is not affiliated with Muqtada al-Sadr and is in fact a rival to his branch of the Sadrists...

all opposed the bill.