Turkmen official: Kurdish flag in Kirkuk may ignite fire that burns everyone

KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region — The Kirkuk Provincial Council is set to vote Tuesday on a motion tabled by governor Najmaldin Karim to raise the Kurdistan flag over state buildings in the province, amid concerns from a Turkmen representative that, if approved, the move may spark a conflict affecting all parties, calling on the governor to retract his decision.

 

“Kirkuk is a fire that if ignited will burn everyone,” Arshad Salihi, the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), told Rudaw on Saturday, commenting on raising the Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk, “That is why I say ‘Mr Najmaldin you are wrong and I hope that you reconsider your decision.’ Otherwise, we cannot control angry youth when they take to the streets.”

 

Governor Karim raised the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi one over the castle of Kirkuk on the eve of the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, on March 20, after he signed a decree to raise the Kurdistan flag a week before. He then asked the Kirkuk Provincial Council to consider raising the flag over state institutions.

 

Kurdish factions have the majority of the seats in the Kirkuk Provincial Council. 

 

The governor told Rudaw that that he is sure that the motion will pass, and that he has also called on the council to allocate a budget to raise Iraqi and Kurdistan flags side by side in Kirkuk.

 

An Arab member of the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw that he thinks the move by the governor is unconstitutional.

 

“This province is still part of the [Iraqi] central government,” Khalid Mafraji, an Arab MP for Kirkuk said. “It is described as a disputed area in the constitution as well. That is why if the Kurdistan flag were raised, it would be in violation of the constitution,” Mafraji said, referring to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which calls for normalization of areas it refers to as disputed, to be followed by a referendum on whether or not those regions want to be part of the Kurdistan Region. 

 

Baghdad has said that the local government in Kirkuk does not have the right to raise the Kurdistan flag, claiming that Kirkuk is under the authority of the central government, and therefore should abide by its regulations. 

 

Governor Karim said on Wednesday that the Iraqi constitution does not stipulate that only the flag of Iraq should be raised. 

 

Turkish officials and the United Nations office in Iraq expressed concerns that the move was against the province’s ethnic harmony and peaceful coexistence.

 

Governor Karim dismissed the concerns on Wednesday, saying: “It doesn’t say in the constitution that only one flag can fly in Kirkuk or that only one party can rule."

 

“In fact, what is being said about raising the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk is neither constitutional nor appropriate,” he added.

 

Karim said on a different occasion that the flag of Kurdistan represents all the communities of the multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk. 

 

“Kurdistan’s flag is not only the flag of the Kurds, it is the flag of all the social elements of Kirkuk. We tell those who want to instigate chaos: this flag is that of the Arabs and Turkmen, as well as the Kurds. It is the flag of Kurdistan, which is a place for everyone,” Karim said.

 

In other recent decrees, Kirkuk province stopped processing applications for new national identity cards in protest of Baghdad’s use of the Baath party-era name for the province, Taamim.

 

The multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, home to one of Iraq's largest oil fields, has been secured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces since mid-2014, after Iraqi government troops abandoned the city ahead of a feared attack by radical Islamic State fighters, who took over large swathes of the country.