ISO recognizes Kurdistan Region, paving way for creation of Kurdish flag emoji

Karwan Faidhi Dri

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recognized the Kurdistan Region on Thursday, with a top Kurdish official saying this will pave the way for the birth of the Kurdistan flag emoji. 

ISO, an independent and non-governmental organization with 167 members, added IQ-KR code for the Kurdistan Region in its system on Thursday. It also gave three different codes for the Region’s Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok provinces. 
 
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed the news in a statement on Friday, saying it followed a request by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani to the ISO. It added that they are trying to add Halabja as a province to the ISO as well. 

“A few years ago I promised a Kurdistan Flag emoji. Today we took a big step towards that goal. ISO has officially recognized the Kurdistan Region. This recognition will also help our governments digitization process, including support for e-trade, Int’l postal & banking services,” Talabani later said in a tweet. 

“This recognition will not only introduce the Kurdistan flag as a region in Unicode Standard but will also pave the way for the connection of Kurdistan Region’s institutions to the international institutions,” KRG said in its statement. 

ISO, founded in 1947, develops and publishes commercial, technical and industrial standards across the world. 

Many Kurds on social media expressed their happiness at the news that they will finally be able to use the Kurdistan flag emoji. Ruwayda Mustafa, a Twitter user, said she had been using the Tajikistan flag emoji for years due to its similarity to the Kurdish flag. 

Kurdistan is recognized as a region in the Iraqi constitution, and Kurdish is an official language in the country.