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Iraqi president supports Barzani in
brining down Iraqi flag
5.9.2006 |
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Newsdesk,
September 5, -- 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." |
  
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd (L),
Massoud Barzani (R), President of Kurdistan
Region in Iraq |
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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.
AP
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