KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region — The Kirkuk Provincial Council has voted on Tuesday to raise the Kurdistan flag over state buildings in the province, some Turkmen and Arab representatives boycotted the session, following earlier concerns that the move may cause conflict among the city's diverse components.
“Kirkuk is in the heart of Kurdistan,” Almas Fadhil Agha, a Kurdish member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council told reporters after the vote. “When you raise the flag of Kurdistan, this means that we are part of Kurdistan Region. Kirkuk is now in the heart of Kurdistan Region.”
Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim, the head of Kirkuk Provincial Council Rebwar Talabani, members of the council, and some of the city’s officials gathered in front of the Provincial building as the governor raised the Kurdistan flag.
The governor said that the vote is “a historic decision” for the province which represents the will of the people of Kirkuk, including Turkmen, Arab, Assyrians and the Kurds, adding that this move does not affect the “the political future of Kirkuk.”
Karim noted that among those who voted for the Kurdistan flag were Turkmen, Arab, and Assyrians as the Kurdish-led Brotherhood faction who voted in favour also includes non-Kurds.
Saad al-Hadithi, the spokesperson of the Iraqi Prime Minister, told Rudaw on Tuesday that the move by the local government in Kirkuk is “unconstitutional.”
Ahmad Askari, another Kurdish member of the council, told the reporters that the vote “is the implementation of the article 140,” 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.
Karim said that the vote was in response to a popular demand from all people of Kirkuk, although "it came late.”
Tens of Arab and Turkmen people earlier in the day visited the governor's building, in what Governor Karim said was to show their support for the local government in Kirkuk, and the Kirkuk Provincial Council, and to express the position of Arab and Turkmen people in the province with regard to the Kurdistan flag.
“We thank them. They are all our brothers,” Karim said as he received the Turkmen and Arab delegation. “This is to show the stance of the Turkmen and Arab citizens in response to those who think of the flag raising issue as though it will make the people of Kirkuk to turn against each other. This is especially [a response] to some irresponsible officials from the Turkmen Front who say this stuff and who say that this will cause a bloody war. This rhetoric does not have a listening ear among the Arab, Turkmen people, nor among the Kurds.”
Karim was referring to an earlier comment from the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (IFT) Arshad Salihi that if the council voted to raise the flag, it may spark a conflict affecting all parties.
“Kirkuk is a fire that if ignited will burn everyone,” Salihi, 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.
Rudaw understands that all eight members of the Turkmen Front did not attend council session, nor did several members of the Arab Council.
An Arab member of the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw on Sunday 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.”
Baghdad earlier in the week 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."
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) expressed its concern with the UN statement when on Sunday the head of KRG's Foreign Relations received the head of the UN mission in Iraq.
“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.
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.
“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 at last week’s Newroz event.
#Kurdistan’s flag raised in Kirkuk city’s state buildings — Christians, muslims celebrate with prayers. pic.twitter.com/4w3Bzreylu
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) March 28, 2017
