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Adnan Mufti: The Iraqi constitution states
to change the Iraqi flag
4.9.2006 |
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Erbil,
Kurdistan-Iraq, September 4, -- The president of the
Kurdistan Parliament, Adnan Al-Mufti, has defended
the decision issued by the president of the Kurdish
autonomous region, Massoud Barzani, of taking down
the Iraqi flag from all the government buildings in
Kurdistan Region, the move that triggered angry
reactions both in Iraq and the Arab world. The flag
move has been criticised in some quarters as part of
an effort to establish a de-facto Kurdish state
independent from Iraq.
However Al-Mufti said the controversy was
"unjustifiable, as there is nothing new in the
Kurdistan position over the political process in
Iraq".
Al-Mufti told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an
interview that, "the Iraqi constitution states the
need to change the Iraqi flag with the approval of
the Parliament" adding that the Iraqi flag - a
symbol of Saddam Hussein regime - has not been
hoisted in Kurdistan "since its liberation in 1992,"
when Kurdish militants with US support pushed
Saddam's regular forces out in the wake of the first
Gulf War.
"There is one flag approved in the province which is
the flag of July 14 revolution which is still
hoisted in the Kurdistan Parliament and it is
hoisted at the rest of the governmental institutions
in the official occasions," he said.
Al-Mufti recalled that "the collective memory of the
people of Kurdistan is filled with many tragedies
which happened under that flag", a reference to the
atrocities and human rights abuses carried out
against the Kurdish people during Saddam's rule
The Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament added "we
should not forget that we voted for the Iraqi
constitution, to which we are all committed, and it
outlines a federal democratic country. He called on
the parliament " to carry out the special
constitutional subject of changing the previous
flag." |
Adnan Mufti, The president of the Kurdistan
Parliament
Official Flag of Kurdistan
photo:eKURD.NET |
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The president's decree issued last week says that
"only the Kurdish flag must be hoisted above the
offices and institutions of the government of Iraqi
Kurdistan, the peshmerga (local Kurdish fighters),
and at check-points."
The decree also allows for the Iraqi national flag -
red white and black horizontal stripes, with at the
centre three green stars and the words Allahu Akbar
(God is Great) - to be flown at "official
functions", but without the religious phrase.
In addition political parties active in Kurdistan
will be permitted to fly their own banners together
with the Kurdistan flag.
In another development members of the Kurdistan
regional parliament belonging to the Kurdish
Patriotic Union of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani,
have proposed the introduction of a Kurdistan
national anthem.
The Kurdish flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan, but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
adnki com
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