“A New Controversial Actor In Post-ISIS Iraq: al-Hashd al-Shaabi

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The launch of the report entitled “A New Controversial Actor In Post-ISIS Iraq: al-Hashd al-Shaabi” published by ORSAM took place on 9 June 2015 in Ankara with the participation of Hamza Shareef, the President of Al-Nahrain Center and Osman Ali, faculty member at Salahaddin University. The conference attracted high level of participation from diplomatic mission representatives of foreign countries, academicians, experts, bureaucrats in Turkey and people interested in the topic.

The conference was moderated by ORSAM President Şaban Kardaş and began with the presentation of Bilgay Duman, the author of the report. Mr. Duman underlined that al-Hashd al-Shaabi is composed of the volunteer Shiite fighters and was founded as reinforcements for the security forces in Iraq. According to Duman, there are local people who want to protect their regions as well as the militias within al-Hashd al-Shaabi and these militias dominate the fighting process against ISIS and the structure of al-Hashd al-Shaabi. Duman stated that studies to institutionalize al-Hashd al-Shaabi were initiated by Iraq and it is tried to include the formations apart from the Shia, notably the Sunnis in the institutionalization process, yet the process has not produced effective results so far. In this context, the uncertainty in the future of al-Hashd al-Shaabi causes worries. For, it is controversial whether these forces will be integrated in the Iraqi security forces. Duman indicated that providing the balance in the population of Iraqi security forces and initiating the political integration process instead of consolidating the militias’ power would play a more effective role in the fight against ISIS.

Hamza Shareef who took the floor after Duman underlined that all debates on al-Hashd al-Shaabi are sectarian based, however, the same discussions were not made about the Sahwa movement founded from the Sunni tribes to fight Al-Qaeda by the USA. Hamza Shareef stated that the fatwa of jihad by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on all Muslims and Iraqi people to fight against ISIS and advocated that this was not a sectarian call. After Shareef pointed out that the militias are not new formations in Iraq, he underlined that the main problem is the reason why the militias are needed.

The other speaker of the conference Osman Ali argued that al-Hashd al-Shaabi and ISIS do not differ from each other in terms of objectives, behaviours, structures and implementations. According to Ali, while the Iraqi people live in peace as Sunnis and Shiites, some external factors like Salafi movements undermined this peace. Ali argued that the presence of Iranians in Iraq and their plans on the Middle East have been consolidated by means of al-Hashd al-Shaabi. Ali stated that Iraq is in the process of Hezbollah-ization and in the upcoming process the militias in Iraq will have the power and authority similar to Hezbollah in Yemen along with the wealth petroleum brings. Ali underlined the fact that a polarization process began in Iraq in terms of the Turkmens and the Sunnis.

Debates with regard to the implementations of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in the Sunni regions, its future and the influence of Iran on al-Hashd al-Shaabi stood out during the question-answer period after the presentations. Uncertainties regarding how the militias in al-Hashd al-Shaabi will be eliminated in post-ISIS Iraq or whether they will be integrated into the system are drawn attention to in the conference.