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Poll: Barzani's flag decree welcomed by
Kurds
6.9.2006 |
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Erbil,
Kurdistan-Iraq, September 6, -- The decree by
Massoud Barazani, president of Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region, to no longer fly the Iraqi flag
from offices and schools has generally been welcomed
by Kurds in the area. In a brief street poll, by
Adnkronos International (AKI), most of those
interviewed expressed a sense of relief at the move.
The decree says only the Kurdish flag can hang from
government buildings and checkpoints, but allows for
the Iraqi flag - red white and black horizontal
stripes, with three green stars and the words Allahu
Akbar (God is Great) - at "official functions", but
without the religious phrase.
Hoshiar Abed-Allah, 40, said the decision
represented a challenge to the new Iraqi government.
"We back president Barazani
all the way on this courageous decision to reject
this disgusting flag , under which the ugliest
genocides against our people were carried out. we do
not want an Iraqi flag in our Kurdistan even if it
were the flag of the republic of Abed Alkareem
Kaseem, because we do not want to live under the
Iraq that made us go through tragedies and horror". |
Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan
Region in Iraq |
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"When I was a child I used to see this flag on my
school books, I used to admire it when we saluted it
every morning at school, but when I grew up and
learned what happened under this flag I hated it"
said Rebeben Hassan, 25. "Today I do not want to to
see it flutter above our schools and institutions,
the Kurdish flag is enough for us , we used to dream
of hoisting it in Kurdistan and now it is time to do
just that:"
Khoder, 52, from a village in the Kwesenjak area has
darker memories: "We used to watch that flag hoisted
on tanks and military vehicles coming to destroy
nearby villages from the border. I still remember
soldiers would wave it when those military vehicles
were going back from their hellish mission. From
that moment on I started to loathe that flag, which
symbolized the evil that was brought to bear on us,
ever since Saddam Hussein took power in Iraq. It is
indeed the flag of Saddam Hussein, " he added.
Another Kurdish man, Osman, however argued that the
flag was far from a priority. "Barzani should direct
his efforts more towards solving the real crises -
lack of electricity, fuel, water and housing, and
the high cost of living in Kurdistan, instead of
going into a empty controversy about the Iraqi flag
which is nothing more than a piece of cloth".
Nader, 37, described people who oppose the decree as
backers of Saddam. "Those who want to continue with
the same method of Saddam against our people, of
killings and genocides, and probably are chauvinist
Sunni Arabs, who are responsible for the current
destruction of our country."
But for Nader - and some of the others interviewed -
seeing the Kurdish flag fluttering above the schools
and barracks in Iraq's Kurdish heartland is just a
first step.
"I want to see it flying high as the flag of an
independent [Kurdish] state above the United Nations
headquarters in New York....and I think that day is
near at hand".
Adnki com
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