Kurdistan presidency: Hoisting flag in Kirkuk shouldn't be rivalrous

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Region Presidency said in a statement that hoisting Kurdistan flag over state buildings in Kirkuk province, which drew condemnation by Turkmen and Arab parties in the city and praise by the Kurdish ones, was a "legal and normal" decision.

The statement reads “hoisting the Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk city is a normal and legal act and is not a new subject as hoisting the Iraqi flag in Kirkuk is also legal and normal.”

The statement went on to mention that “right after the fall of the ex-Baathist regime in 2003 and particularly after ISIS came, the Kurdistan flag existed in Kirkuk and this flag protected Kirkuk from the threat and onslaught of terrorists.”

Therefore “this does not need be made large and become the point of rivalry and drift apart of the components and parties. No party, should use this subject for its political intent. As the Kurdistan flag protected and Peshmerga saved Kirkuk, the co-existence and brotherhood between the Kirkuk elements should be deepened and protected.”

Although widely supported by the Kurdish population, the flag decision has prompted strong reactions and condemnations from both the Turkmen and Arab communities in Kirkuk who constitute nearly half of the population and see the move against their strategic interests. 

Turkmen lawmakers have already stated that they will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court in Baghdad and rallied their supporters in protest against the declaration. 

“We will take the provincial council decision to the Federal Court (in Baghdad),” Iraqi Turkmen MP Niazi Ughlu told Rudaw and added that the Turkmen bloc in the Iraqi parliament will consider impeaching Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim. 

Many Turkmen and Arab leaders in Kirkuk have described the flag declaration as further Kurdish efforts to integrate the province into the Kurdistan Region, a move that Kurdish leaders have said should take place after an anticipated referendum.  

Kirkuk and many other volatile areas in Iraq fall under the constitutional Article 140. The article has granted these regions the status of “disputed territories” whose future condition must be decided in a public vote in which local residents will choose to which administration their areas should belong.