Disputes erupt in Kirkuk over flying of Iraqi flag on public buildings

Above: Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division, based in Hawaii, stand in front of the Kurdistan and Iraqi flags.

The lowering of the Iraqi flag at the municipal building in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk about two weeks ago stirred tensions between Kurds on the one hand and Arabs and Turkuman on the other.

While Arabs and Turkuman insisted on flying the flag, even over houses and stores in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Kurds have called for it to be lowered at all public buildings in the city.

Leader of the Arab Obeid Tribe and Chairman of the Arab Consultative Council (ACC) in Kirkuk, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman Munshid al- Assy said that lowering the Iraqi flag from some public premises or not raising it at some parts of these buildings posed a risk to Kirkuk's national identity.

"The flag is the base for national unity and co-existence among the different sects and religions," al-Assy said.

Turkuman Parliament Member for the Iraqi National Accord Front Fawzy Akram predicted serious consequences of what he described as "an illegal act," that was likely to "jeopardize the security situation in Kirkuk."

For its part, the secular Turkuman National Party in Kirkuk issued a statement requesting an explanation, calling for the Iraqi flag to be flown over the municipality building, which symbolized the central authority.

"I would like to ask Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki whether lifting the flag is part of the four-way agreement," Akram wondered. The agreement was signed among the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Islamic Daawa party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) on August 16 to revive the political process in Iraq.

Read the rest at AINA

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