Meanwhile, member of the KRG parliament Salar Mahmoud supported raising the flag and did not believe such a move violated the constitution because none of its articles stipulate that the KRG flag should not be raised in other provinces. He told al-Sumaria news agency that terrorism in Kirkuk was defeated under the KRG flag.
Both supporting and opposing points of view keep mentioning the constitution, although the Iraqi Constitution includes no mention of this issue and does not specify whether or not the KRG flag is allowed to be raised along with the Iraqi flag. This may imply that this issue can only be resolved by a political consensus over whether to keep the flag or take it down.
It should be noted that the KRG flag has been raised along with the Iraqi flag in provinces affiliated with the KRG and over official institutions in Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaimaniyah. The KRG flag has also been placed in buildings affiliated with Kurdish parties in other provinces, but never on top of buildings for the public to see.
Before Kirkuk’s provincial council voted on the decision to raise the KRG flag over government buildings, the governor of Kirkuk, Najmiddin Karim, called in a press conference on March 14 to raise the KRG flag over government buildings in the province, provoking controversy within Iraqi political circles.
“The Iraqi Constitution does not include a text preventing Kirkuk from raising the KRG flag. Raising the flag will deepen the brotherly bond between the province’s components,” Karim noted.
It was somewhat unexpected for Kirkuk to take such a decision, particularly since Karim, who holds the highest executive authority there, is a leader in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani, who has close ties with Iran and is known to be on good terms with the federal government’s policies.
On March 22, the United Nations expressed “concerns” about raising the KRG flag in Kirkuk and warned against taking steps that threaten the peaceful coexistence in the province. The UN mission in Iraq noted in a press statement, “The Iraqi government has made it clear that according to the constitution, Kirkuk falls under the central government’s jurisdiction, and only the Iraqi flag should be raised in the province.”
Comments are closed.