Iraq: Kirkuk council postpones planned meeting

By Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD (AA) – Iraq’s Kirkuk provincial council on Sunday postponed a scheduled session this week amid Christmas celebrations.

The move comes one day after the Arab political council in the province called on the federal general prosecutor to take legal actions against a number of provincial officials over their participation in the controversial independence referendum in September.

The Kirkuk provincial council was scheduled to convene on Tuesday.

“At the request of council members, the meeting has been postponed until further notice,” council spokesman Emad al-Amiri said in a statement.

In March, the Kurdish-majority council voted in favor of raising the flag of the Kurdish Regional Government alongside Iraq’s national flag outside Kirkuk’s public buildings and institutions.

The council also voted in favor of holding a referendum on regional Kurdish independence from Iraq, which was decried as “illegitimate” by Iraq’s central government and neighboring countries.