Kirkuk Provincial Council

The Iraqi Turkmen Front has that its members in Iraq's Kirkuk province will continue to protest by not attending provincial council sessions, as they did during the previous governorate elections.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has criticized a decision by the local administration of Kirkuk to participate in a planned referendum by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sept. 25, saying it is a "serious breach" of the Iraqi constitution. 

No party has the "sole right" to decide the future of the city of Kirkuk, Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said April 5, while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that political differences should be resolved - and national unity maintained - within a "constitutional framework."         

Members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council voted on March 28 in favor of raising the KRG flag over official buildings during a meeting that was boycotted by Turkmen and Arabs.

On April 1, the Iraqi parliament in a session voted against the decision of the Kirkuk Provincial Council.

Kirkuk governor Najmiddin Karim has refused to apply a decision by the Iraqi parliament to pull down the flag of northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the city's public buildings and institutions.

"The decision taken in the Iraqi parliament is not legal; it is a hasty decision," Karim said in a statement on April 2.

Attempts to make the raising of the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk a fait accompli are unacceptable, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said late April 1, voicing support for Baghdad's decision not to permit such flags in the city.

The Iraqi Parliament on April 1 voted against the decision of Kirkuk Provincial Council to raise the flag of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) alongside the Iraqi flag in the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the parliament session and the lawmakers voted to bring down the KRG flag on all governmental buildings in Kirkuk.  

We are face-to-face with a brand new crisis, as if there was a shortage of tension in the region. Kurds in the Kirkuk Provincial Council have voted to raise the flag of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) along with Iraq's flag over state buildings in the province. Now - as expected - all hell is let loose.

A city council in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk has approved raising the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) flag over official buildings, receiving protests from Turkmen and Arab members of the council. 

Both Turkey and the United Nations had expressed their concerns over such a move.  

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has said it is concerned by the recent decision of the governor of Kirkuk to raise the flag of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG) over the city of Kirkuk.