Iraq between Kurdistan, Baghdad and the southern provinces

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Commentary circulating in Iraqi media highlights how the country’s two major political fault lines, the Kurdistan Region in the north and the federal government in Baghdad, dominate public debate while the southern governorates remain largely absent from the agenda. Cities such as Basra, Amarah, Samawah, Nasiriyah, Kut and Diwaniyah, despite sitting on Iraq’s oil and natural reserves, continue to receive insufficient basic services, the commentary says. Television coverage, it adds, tends to keep the Kurdistan file on air for hours rather than devoting similar attention to the problems of southern Iraq. The Kurdistan Region has become part of nearly every national dispute, the commentary notes, citing oil, the Peshmerga, Article 140 of the constitution, border crossings and the budget. It argues that constitutional rights are read selectively, with one article enforced while another remains suspended for years, and that federalism and centralism are invoked by whoever benefits from them. The text frames Iraq’s unity as a guarantee that the rights of one component do not erase those of another, arguing that rights are not a finite resource to be divided like bread. It urges Iraq to treat its internal differences not as a zone of conflict but as part of the country itself, drawing a parallel with the Tigris, which crosses its two banks in Baghdad, Karkh and Rusafa, without asking which side they belong to.