“We tried to enter from the main gate, but they told us that we were not allowed,” a geography student at Kirkuk University who dressed up in traditional clothing alongside scores of his fellow Kurdish students told Rudaw English on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They prohibited us from entering the campus from all three gates, telling us there was no such thing as national dress day. We remained in the parking lot until the school day was over,” he said.
Rudaw reached out to the university, but they declined to comment on the ban.
Iraqi security forces are responsible for campus security and they routinely enforce a general dress code, prohibiting students from wearing bright colors or clothing with slogans. Kurdish students are routinely barred from wearing their national costume to campus.
Government offices in Kirkuk also banned the wearing of Kurdish clothing, though Kurdish primary and high schools across the city marked the occasion with festive outfits.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Kurds held the city until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
Less than two months later, violent altercations broke out between students of Kirkuk University when Arab students attempted to provoke the Kurds on Peshmerga day, which honors Kurdish armed forces, by playing nationalist Iraqi music over loudspeakers and waving the Iraqi flag in front of their Kurdish schoolmates.
Kurds in Kirkuk have not been able to freely celebrate their national events or display the Kurdistan flag since October 16, 2017.
“One year, they ban raising the Kurdistan flag. Then, they ban Kurdish clothing. If it continues like this, in a couple of years they will forbid Kurds from entering the university altogether,” said another student.
