Saladin Governorate
The Saladin, Salah ad Din, or Salah Al-Din Governorate (Arabic: محافظة صلاح الدين) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of 24,363 square kilometres (9,407 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with the capital being Tikrit. Before 1976 the governorate was part of Baghdad Governorate.
The governorate is named after the Kurdish Muslim leader Saladin or Salah ad Din, who hailed from the governorate. This Sunni-dominated governorate is also known as the home of Saddam Hussein, who hailed from the village of Al-Awja. Salah Al-Din governorate, a traditional stronghold of Saddam and his Al-Bu Nasir tribe that is located in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, has been rocked by insurgencies, sectarian violence and tribal rivalries ever since Coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003.[2]
Autonomy[edit]
In October 2011, the governorate's administration declared itself a semi-autonomous region, explaining that the declaration was in response to the central government's "domination over the provincial council authorities".[5] Saladin, which is a largely Sunni governorate, is also hoping that by declaring themselves an autonomous region within Iraq, it will entail them to a larger portion of government funding.[5] The council cited "article 119 of Iraq's constitution" in its call for autonomy, which states that "one or more governorates shall have the right to organize into a region" if one third of the Provincial Council members or one tenth of the voters request to form a region".[6]