Thursday, March 28, 2024

Baghdad

Kirkuk votes for secession referendum, heating up Kurdish flag row

 Kirkuk votes for secession referendum, heating up Kurdish flag row

Flag of Kurdistan region.

Flag of Kurdistan region.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) The provincial council of Kirkuk voted Tuesday for running a referendum on the province’s secession from Iraq and joining the autonomous Kurdistan Region, further heating up a dispute of sovereignty between Baghdad and Erbil.

Iraqi websites said the assembly made another vote turning down an Iraqi parliament decision which had annulled the province’s decision to raise Kurdish flags alongside Iraqi ones above government facilities there.

The flag raising decision last month by governor Najmuddin Karim stirred tensions with the government in Baghdad, which deemed the measure a breach of national unity.

A spokesperson of Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday the flag measure violated the Iraqi constitution and national unity.

Turkey, an ardent backer of Turkmen minority rights in Iraq, also voiced strong opposition to the step. Turkish press quoted Prime Minister Benali Yildirim saying his country would not accept any attempt to declare independence in northern Iraq and to incorporate Kirkuk into the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Kirkuk is one area where Kurdistan region disputes sovereignty with Iraq. Its population comprises Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen ethnicities.

Kurdistan gained autonomous governance based on the 2005 constitution, but is still considered a part of Iraq. The region was created in 1970 based on an agreement with the Iraqi government, ending years of fierce fighting.

Both governments in Iraq and Erbil engaged in political spats over regions recaptured by Kurdish Peshmerga (army) troops from the Islamic State militants since campaigns against the group launched in October. While Kurdish politicians and MPs occasionally reiterated they were not going to cede those areas, Baghdad said it was expecting Kurdish troops to pull out after IS is eliminated.

Leave a Reply