KTFA: Samson: Iraq suspends official working hours on the occasion of National Day
21st September, 2022
On Monday, October 3, 2022, Iraqis celebrate their 90th national day, which is linked to the country’s declaration of independence from the British Mandate and its official entry into the League of Nations in 1932.
The Iraqi government decided to adopt this date as an occasion to celebrate in Iraq last year for the first time and consider it an official holiday, after the 9th of April was a national holiday for the country after it was officially approved at the time by the Governing Council in 2003.
However, that date, which was taken since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, lived in public debate and disagreement over the invalidity of such a day as a national holiday, as there are those who see it as a memory of “occupation” and not an occasion for “independence”. The first choice of October 3 was a national holiday, which came in February of 2008, but Parliament did not pass a law to do so.
In early December 2020, the Council of Ministers approved a project submitted by the Ministry of Culture to choose the date of Iraq’s accession to the League of Nations, which falls on October 3, 1932 as a national day.
At that time, the Iraqi government asked the Legal Department of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to prepare a special bill on the National Day that is separate and independent from the law on official holidays, and to refer the draft National Day law to the House of Representatives.
The ceremonies of the general celebration of the National Day include the launching of fireworks and the distribution of Iraqi flags among the citizens.
October 3 marks the National Independence Day, when Iraq was transformed from a British mandate territory into a sovereign state. On that date in 1932, the League of Nations issued a statement recognizing Iraq and ending the British Mandate. LINK
