September 5, 2006
Iraqi president supports Barzani in brining down Iraqi flag
AP
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday defended the Iraqi Kurdistan region leader's move in the flag dispute, citing a "constitutional vacuum" on the issue, referring to the decision of Iraq's first interim Governing Council not to adopt a new official flag after Saddam Hussein was toppled.
President Talabani's office issued a statement late Sunday denouncing what he described as "exaggerated noise" on the flag issue. "It was that blunder that's led to the Kurdistan regional Parliament taking this step," the statement said, referring to Kurdistan region President Massoud Barzani's order to replace the country's national flag with the Kurdish one on Friday.
It added that the flag the Iraqi Parliament will adopt will become "sacred" and be flown throughout Iraq, "including Kurdistan's mountaintops."
The dispute began when Barzani ordered the country's national flag to be replaced with the Kurdistan one, a move sparking harsh words in Baghdad and creating concerns in Turkey and among Sunni Arabs.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a terse statement Sunday, saying that only the national flag should be hoisted throughout the country. "The current Iraqi flag is the only one which should be flown on each part of Iraqi territory until a decision has been made by Parliament according to the Constitution," the statement from his office said. It did not directly mention the flag dispute.
Barzani reiterated his stance on the dispute on Sunday and threatened secession. "If we want to separate, we will do it, without hesitation or fear," he said during an address to the Kurdish regional Parliament.
The Kurdish region has gradually been gaining more autonomy since the 2003 U.S.-led liberation, a worrying development to many Iraqi leaders, especially Sunni Arabs. If the Kurds were to become independent along with the Shiite majority in the oil-rich south, the Sunnis would be left with little more than date groves and sand.
The Kurdish area had been out of Saddam Hussein's control since the 1991 Gulf War, when the Iraqi Kurds set up their region under the protection of U.S. and British warplanes.
