Alwaght- The Iraqi parliament has approved a ban on raising the Kurdistan flag on state buildings in Kirkuk province in a move that infuriated Kurdish members who left the parliamentary session discussing the issue.
The Iraqi parliament approved a decision on Saturday to ban the Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk, stating that only the Iraqi flag should be raised over the government institutions across the city.
The parliament has also decided that only the central government in Baghdad is authorized to deal with Kirkuk oil.
The decision led to tensions between the Kurdish factions and the Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri. The Kurdish MPs as a result withdrew from the session to show their objection to the parliament’s decision, and described the decision as “unconstitutional”.
Kirkuk provincial council voted on March 28 in favor of the decision by governor Najmaddin Karim to hoist the Kurdistan flag alongside the Iraqi flag on the state buildings in the city.
Meanwhile, the independence referendum in Kurdistan Region will be held this year with the UN and the US expected to have a supporting role in the move, Muhammed Haji Mahmud, Secretary General of Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party has said.
Mahmud told BasNews on Saturday that Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani is insisting on organizing an independence referendum in 2017, a move supported by all Kurdish factions.
The Iraqi government has called on the Iraqi Kurdistan to scrap any plans for independence reiterating the need for preserving the country’s territorial integrity.
