Turkey 'concerned' about hoisting Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern on Tuesday regarding a decision by the Kurdish-majority Kirkuk Provincial Council to raise the flag of Kurdistan on official buildings.

In a press release on its website, the Turkish Ministry said they disapproved the "unconstitutional and unilateral" move.

"The raising of the IKBY flag along the Iraqi flag in Kirkuk endangers the harmony between the Turkmen, Kurds, and Arabs of the city," read the statement.

The Turkish acronym "IKBY" stands for "the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Administration," a euphemism Turkey's Presidency, Prime Ministry, Foreign Ministry as well as the government-funded Anadolu news agency employ to avoid the word Kurdistan.

"Such approaches will negatively affect efforts to [instate] lasting security and stability in the country," Turkey further said.

The Turkish ministry also noted that Turkmen and Arab members of the council boycotted the provincial council's session to vote the proposal by the Governor Najmaldin Karim.

Turkey called for "dialogue and a constitutional process" regarding the status of Kirkuk that is contested between Baghdad and the Erbil-based Kurdistan Region.

Despite the official line by the Ministry, Turkey’s leadership has kept silent on the development in Kirkuk which Turkish leaders used to describe as “a red line” for the Kurds.

Former President Abdullah Gul though voiced objection to the Kirkuk ruling, saying it put the "national unity among the Turkmen, Kurds and Arab" in danger.

"There should be no ground for new problems to Iraq that is already fed up with conflict and pain," tweeted Gul who also served as Foreign Minister between 2003 - 2007.

Turkey’s interests regarding Kirkuk stem from the presence of a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population in the city and the pre-1918 centuries-long Ottoman rule there.

Kirkuk’s city center and most of its rural environs have been under the control of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces since the 2014 Islamic State (IS) blitzkrieg across northern and western Iraq.

Although Turkey refused to be a member of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, for years Ankara maintained an active interventionist policy in Kurdish and Iraqi affairs assuming a role on behalf of the Turkmen.

The leader of the Turkey-backed Iraqi Turkmen Front Arshad al-Salihi had earlier said Governor Karim “was playing with fire," adding Kurdistan flag would "turn Kirkuk into a pool of blood.”

Editing by Ava Homa