ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kirkuk is a diverse city with many nations living there and all its peoples should decide its future, but had it not been for the Kurdish Peshmerga, it would have been an ISIS flag flying over the city, not an Iraqi or a Kurdistan one, said the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani.
“Kirkuk is the city of Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs. It is the city of all. This is a fact,” Barzani said, taking questions during a memorial for Rudaw’s Shifa Gardi in Erbil on Wednesday.
He said he agrees with comments from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Kirkuk is not only a Kurdish city, but stressed outside parties cannot decide on Kirkuk's future. “Kirkuk now, in the past, and in the future should become a city of coexistence for all the nations living in Kirkuk, who should decide on the future of Kirkuk. No other party can decide on the future of Kirkuk.”
Erdogan on Tuesday issued a warning to the Kirkuk Provincial Council that voted to fly the Kurdistan flag over the city’s government institutions alongside the Iraqi banner. The Turkish president said the city is not Kurdish alone but is also Turkmen and Arab and that a heavy price would be paid if the Kurdistan flag was not lowered.
Barzani contended that the issue of the Kurdistan flag was not a new one, noted that it has been flown in Kirkuk since 2003 and claimed the issue was being exaggerated.
Though the Kurdistan flag has flown in Kirkuk for years, Barzani said it was the Peshmerga who protected the city from ISIS when the extremist group captured large areas of Iraq, including Mosul, in 2014.
“Had it not been due to the Peshmerga, there would be neither Iraq’s flag in the city nor that of Kurdistan. There would have been ISIS’ flag there. This is a fact,” Barzani said.
Barzani also responded to questions on the defeat of ISIS in Mosul. He said that trade had already begun with parts of the city that have been liberated and was optimistic that defeating ISIS in Iraq “will surely have a very big impact on the Kurdistan Region, a direct impact on the Kurdistan Region in terms of security and economy.”
“We have passed three very unpleasant years, sharing 1,100 kilometers of borders with the greatest terrorist organization in the world. We lost nearly 1,600 to 1,700 lives and nearly 10,000 were wounded defending this land on the frontlines. And it is due to these martyrs and the endeavors of the Peshmerga that the Kurdistan Region is peaceful now,” Barzani said.
“But this came at a heavy cost for the Kurdistan Region, stopping it from the developments it was going through before. It paralyzed many of the programs the Kurdistan Region earlier had to further reconstruct the region.”
The Kurdistan Region is past the phase where ISIS “in control of cities can be a threat to the Kurdistan Region,” and the primary problem now is a political one, he explained.
“Unless this political problem is resolved in Iraq, ISIS will remain in this country under a different name, guise or form.”
“Kirkuk is the city of Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs. It is the city of all. This is a fact,” Barzani said, taking questions during a memorial for Rudaw’s Shifa Gardi in Erbil on Wednesday.
He said he agrees with comments from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Kirkuk is not only a Kurdish city, but stressed outside parties cannot decide on Kirkuk's future. “Kirkuk now, in the past, and in the future should become a city of coexistence for all the nations living in Kirkuk, who should decide on the future of Kirkuk. No other party can decide on the future of Kirkuk.”
Erdogan on Tuesday issued a warning to the Kirkuk Provincial Council that voted to fly the Kurdistan flag over the city’s government institutions alongside the Iraqi banner. The Turkish president said the city is not Kurdish alone but is also Turkmen and Arab and that a heavy price would be paid if the Kurdistan flag was not lowered.
Barzani contended that the issue of the Kurdistan flag was not a new one, noted that it has been flown in Kirkuk since 2003 and claimed the issue was being exaggerated.
Though the Kurdistan flag has flown in Kirkuk for years, Barzani said it was the Peshmerga who protected the city from ISIS when the extremist group captured large areas of Iraq, including Mosul, in 2014.
“Had it not been due to the Peshmerga, there would be neither Iraq’s flag in the city nor that of Kurdistan. There would have been ISIS’ flag there. This is a fact,” Barzani said.
Barzani also responded to questions on the defeat of ISIS in Mosul. He said that trade had already begun with parts of the city that have been liberated and was optimistic that defeating ISIS in Iraq “will surely have a very big impact on the Kurdistan Region, a direct impact on the Kurdistan Region in terms of security and economy.”
“We have passed three very unpleasant years, sharing 1,100 kilometers of borders with the greatest terrorist organization in the world. We lost nearly 1,600 to 1,700 lives and nearly 10,000 were wounded defending this land on the frontlines. And it is due to these martyrs and the endeavors of the Peshmerga that the Kurdistan Region is peaceful now,” Barzani said.
“But this came at a heavy cost for the Kurdistan Region, stopping it from the developments it was going through before. It paralyzed many of the programs the Kurdistan Region earlier had to further reconstruct the region.”
The Kurdistan Region is past the phase where ISIS “in control of cities can be a threat to the Kurdistan Region,” and the primary problem now is a political one, he explained.
“Unless this political problem is resolved in Iraq, ISIS will remain in this country under a different name, guise or form.”
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