ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— At least 100 Iraqi lawmakers have now signed a petition that calls for the parliament to impeach and possibly remove Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim from his post after raising the Kurdistani flag in the contested province, several MPs have told Rudaw.
The move follows Karim’s polarising decision in March to hoist the Kurdistani flag at government buildings alongside the Iraqi national flag, setting off a bitter row at the multi-ethnic Provincial Council, with some Turkmen and Arab members furiously opposing the decision.
The Turkmen and Arab provincial lawmakers have threatened to bring the case to the Supreme Court in Baghdad which is the highest judiciary office in Iraq and could reverse the decision.
“We have so far the signatures of around 100 MPs to remove the governor,” Abdulhadi Muhan, a Shiite lawmaker from the State of the Law Coalition told Rudaw.
Turkmen lawmaker Niazi Miemaruglu said they plan to collect over 200 signatures in the Iraqi parliament in condemnation of the flag decision and impeachment of the embattled governor who has vowed not to lower the flag.
A high-ranking Kurdish delegation visited the Iraqi capital last week partly in a bid to reduce the ethnic tensions that could derail an anticipated referendum for Kurdish independence and possible integration of Kirkuk with the Kurdistan Region.
“The Kurdish visit to Baghdad was positive," said Abdulqahar Samarayi, a Sunni lawmaker and member of the United Iraqi Bloc which currently enjoys strong relations with the Kurdistan Region. "It paved the way for an appropriate solution to the flag issue and we think the (Iraqi) parliament can solve this issue in a way that meets the satisfaction of all parties,”
Under Iraqi constitution, the prime minister has the executive power to remove a governor after securing legal support from the parliament, according to Iraqi MP Rebwar Taha.
“But for the parliament to support a removal, then the governor must have breached three cardinal laws; obstruction of justice, involvement in corruption, misuse of power for personal benefit,” Taha told Rudaw.
“The governor has not breached any of these rules.”
The Iraqi parliament set a precedent in 2015 when it removed Mosul’s exiled governor Atheel al-Nujaifi in 2015, in light of the fall of Mosul the year before when the ISIS militants were able to control the city in a very short time.
