Mahmoud Othman: Khanaqin is Kurdistanian and Maliki's decision comes after tensions with Erbil
Saturday, 15 October 2011 09:05

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan Alliance bloc said, that Khanaqin area is Kurdistanian and Nuri al-Maliki's decision of bringing the flag of Kurdistan down from the official buildings in the district comes in the midst of the tension that exists between the region and the federal government. The independent MP of the coalition of Kurdish blocs, Mahmoud Othman, said in an interview with "Shafaq News", "The decision of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Nuri al-Maliki to take down the flag of Kurdistan from official buildings in the district of Khanaqin comes in the midst of the tension that exists between the Region and the federal government,".

" The decision comes before the coming of the Kurdistan Regional Government delegation to Baghdad. " He said
The head of the Diayala governorate council, Mr. Talib Mohammed said in a statement to "Shafaq News", the commander of the armed forces Nuri al-Maliki ordered the local authorities in the district of Khanaqin to drop the flag of Kurdistan from official government buildings, in the district , while the Mayor of Khanaqin declared, he refused the request of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to take the Kurdistan flag down from all government buildings in the district .
"The Khanaqin area is Kurdistanian and the situation will not be affected if both Kurdistan and Iraqi flags are raised together," Othman added stressing that "this is part of the tension that existed between the parties before the coming of the governmental delegation from the Kurdistan region to Baghdad, and it was supposed not to do such action after the coming of the delegation. "
Othman said that "The situation now between the parties is calm and there is a positive atmosphere, and the issues will be resolved through dialogue between the two sides."
It should be noted that the spokesman of the Kurdistan Regional Government Kawa Mahmoud expressed in a statement the support of the "government of the Region to Khanaqin authority decision of raising the Kurdistan flag over the government buildings in the district , noting that the action does not violate the federal permanent constitution.
The request of Maliki to take the Kurdistan flag down from the government buildings in Khanaqin came after the visit of a Kurdish high-level delegation to Baghdad and its meeting with political parties and officials including Maliki himself, and it came before an expected visit to be carried out by a government delegation headed by Barham Ahmed Saleh to Baghdad to discuss outstanding issues between Arbil and Baghdad, and the ways to solve them.
The area of ​​Khanaqin is one of the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil in Article 142 of the Iraqi Constitution .It is inhabited by a Kurdish majority while Arabs and Turkmen ,inhabit it in varying degrees.

https://www.shafaaq.com/en/news/39-ne...ith-erbil.html