Erdogan: Take down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk or pay a price
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kirkuk is not Kurdish alone, but also Turkmen and Arab, and that if the Kurdistan flag is not taken down in the city, a price will be paid.
The controversial raising of the Kurdistan flag has stirred up heated debates among Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen in Iraq as well as neighboring countries, notably Turkey where Ankara has expressed strong opposition to it.
In a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart in March, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim raised concerns about flying the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk and called it a "Turkmen city."
"We are supporting the Iraqi government on this issue,” Yildirim said in a recent television interview with Turkish TV. “If need be, we can enter dialogue with the UN and other institutions," he added, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Yildirim also claimed on Saturday that raising the flag is both in violation of the Iraqi constitution and is against the history of Kirkuk, “a Turkmen city” he said in a tweet.
The local government in Kirkuk raised the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi one over the Kirkuk governorate building last month after a vote by the provincial council. Some Turkmen and Arab representatives in the Kirkuk council boycotted the vote.
Shortly afterwards, the move received praise from Kurdish leaders of all the parties and among them President Masoud Barzani who described it as "normal and legal." Arab and Turkmen parties have called the decision "unconstitutional."
The multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen among others. It has been secured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces since mid-2014 after Iraqi government troops left the city ahead of a possible attack by radical Islamic insurgents when they took over large swathes of the country. The province has one of Iraq’s largest oil fields within its borders.
“Hoisting the second flag in Kirkuk is a mistake. It is hypocrisy for those who did this thing in the Provincial Council,” Erdogan said on Tuesday in the province of Zonguldak when addressing his supporters at a rally campaigning for the April 16 referendum on amendments to the country’s constitution.
Erdogan “warns them that Kirkuk is not a Kurdish city alone but a Kurdish Turkmen and Arab city.”
“I call upon the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq to review the decision,” he said. “If the flag is not lowered, a heavy price will be paid.”
He said if the flag was not immediately removed, “you will ruin good ties between Ankara and Erbil. Remove your flag immediately and continue on your path with only the Iraqi flag.”
In a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart in March, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim raised concerns about flying the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk and called it a "Turkmen city."
"We are supporting the Iraqi government on this issue,” Yildirim said in a recent television interview with Turkish TV. “If need be, we can enter dialogue with the UN and other institutions," he added, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Yildirim also claimed on Saturday that raising the flag is both in violation of the Iraqi constitution and is against the history of Kirkuk, “a Turkmen city” he said in a tweet.
The local government in Kirkuk raised the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi one over the Kirkuk governorate building last month after a vote by the provincial council. Some Turkmen and Arab representatives in the Kirkuk council boycotted the vote.
Shortly afterwards, the move received praise from Kurdish leaders of all the parties and among them President Masoud Barzani who described it as "normal and legal." Arab and Turkmen parties have called the decision "unconstitutional."
The multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen among others. It has been secured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces since mid-2014 after Iraqi government troops left the city ahead of a possible attack by radical Islamic insurgents when they took over large swathes of the country. The province has one of Iraq’s largest oil fields within its borders.