Kirkuk flag distracts from Daesh fight: US envoy

BAGHDAD

U.S. ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman has called for resolving the issue of flying the flag of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Kirkuk within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.

Last week, 26 Kurdish members of Kirkuk’s provincial assembly voted in favor of raising the KRG flag alongside Iraq’s national flag outside the city’s public buildings and institutions.

But on Saturday, the Iraqi parliament rejected the decision and voted in favor of flying only the Iraqi flag on Kirkuk's buildings.

Kirkuk governor Najmiddin Karim, however, refused to apply the parliament’s decision to pull down the KRG flag.

The Kirkuk council is also set to meet on Tuesday to discuss holding a referendum on the city’s future.

Speaking to reporters in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Monday, Silliman warned that the flag issue and the referendum were drawing attention away from the ongoing fight against Daesh terrorist group.

Iraqi forces are currently engaged in fighting against Daesh group, which overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Silliman said the U.S. is troubled with the presence of PKK terrorist organization in Sinjar district in northern Iraq.

“The organization has no reason to be there. We have had several meetings with Iraqi government regarding the issue,” he said.

The diplomat said that Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has demanded a small group of U.S. soldiers to remain in Iraq to train Iraqi troops following the defeat of Daesh.

He pointed out that U.S. troops were in Iraq with the approval of the Iraqi government.

During the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have seized Kirkuk, prompting an influx of Kurds into the city.

Baghdad says Kirkuk is administratively dependent on Iraq’s central government, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party demands Kirkuk’s incorporation into the Kurdish Region.

Kirkuk’s population is mainly composed of Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish inhabitants.

Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara