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Barzani attacks Arab politicians over
Iraqi flag
4.9.2006 |
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Erbil,
Kurdistan-Iraq, September 3, 2006 ,-- The president
of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region launched a
scathing attack on Iraqi Arab leaders Sunday over
their opposition to his order banning the national
flag from public buildings.
"Those who condemn it are chauvinists, escaping from
internal problems," Massoud Barzani told members of
the Kurdish regional parliament in the northern city
of Erbil.
"They are losers. They are not rulers or statesmen.
They can't run their region and they want to make
Kurdistan just like their regions. The time of
threats is over, no one has the right force his will
on the Kurdish people."
Barzani was talking shortly after Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite Arab, had ordered
that: "The present Iraqi flag should be hoisted on
every inch of Iraqi soil until parliament takes a
decision about it."
This was in response to Barzani's ban on the flag's
use in the Kurdish region, where many see the red,
white and black national banner as a symbol of Arab
nationalism and of ousted president Saddam Hussein's
hated Sunni Arab-dominated regime.
"The decision to raise only the Kurdish flag instead
of the present Iraqi flag in Kurdistan came after
consultation with both President (Jalal) Talabani (a
fellow Kurd) and the Iraqi prime minister. I did not
take the decision myself," Barzani insisted.
"I ask for a new flag for Iraq to be raised,
according to Item 12 of the Iraqi constitution -- a
new flag and a new national anthem which represents
all the components of Iraq," he told the Kurdish
assembly.
Iraq's new constitution will allow regional
governments to strengthen their autonomy, but many
Arabs fear a break-up of their country and the row
over the flag is seen as proxy for the struggle for
an independent Kurdistan.
Referring to atrocities committed under the previous
regime, Barzani said "the present flag is not the
flag of Iraq, but of the Baath party and chemical
strikes, drainage of the marshes, putting down
uprisings and mass graves." |
Iraq's Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani is
flanked by an Iraqi flag from the 1960's (R) and the
present Kurdistan flag (L) as he speaks during a
conference in Erbil, September 3, 2006. The leader
of Iraq's ethnic Kurds brandished the threat of
secession on Sunday as a row with the Baghdad
government over the flying of the Iraqi national
flag exposed an increasingly bitter rift. After the
Kurdish regional government banned the use of the
Iraqi flag on public buildings
Photo: Reuters |
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On May 7, the rival administrations run by the two
Kurdish former rebel groups in the cities of Arbil
and Sulaimaniyah were united into a single
autonomous regional government for Iraq's three
northern provinces.
Before the merger, some official buildings in
Sulaimaniyah province -- which was ruled by
Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) --
would hoist the Iraqi flag along with the PUK party
flag.
Barzani's administration in Erbil and Dohuk
provinces has never flown the Iraqi flag.
Since Saddam's ouster in 2003, Kurdish politicians
have taken part in national politics and put their
historic demands for independence on hold but, as
violence rages around the country, separatist
tensions remain high.
In April 2004 the then interim government of Iraq
attempted to resolve the controversy over the flag,
which is emblazoned with three green stars and the
legend "God is greatest", by proposing a new
national banner.
A new blue and white design, however, caused much
controversy.
Some felt the colours were too close to those of the
Israeli flag while its crescent motif reminded Kurds
of their hated Turkish neighbour. It was swiftly
abandoned.
Parliament is expected to discuss a potential new
design.
The 1963 version is painted on Iraqi army vehicles
and flies above government buildings in Baghdad.
Most Arab Iraqis accept this design as their
national flag, although the design of the Islamic
slogan -- which was reportedly based on Saddam's own
handwriting -- has been changed to a generic
typeface.
"Saddam wrote the words 'God is greatest'. The words
are right but they were badly used," said Barzani on
Sunday.
"The calligraphy used now differs in each region,
but some chauvinist Arab regions still keep the
handwriting of Saddam as a souvenir. There is no
agreement on the kind of calligraphy to use," he
said.
"Even the flag that used to be raised in
Sulaimaniyah did not have the words 'God is
greatest' on it."
Kurdistan's banner is three red, white and green
horizontal bars emblazoned with a golden sun motif.
It flies across the Kurdish region over government
buildings and military bases.
Some Kurdish official bodies fly Iraq's 1958-1963
flag, which was that of Abdul Karim Qasim's republic
after he overthrew the monarchy, rather than the
later Iraqi symbol with its Baathist and pan-Arab
associations.
AFP
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