Kirkuk provincial council decides to hold referendum for annexation to KRG

Members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council voted on March 28 in favor of raising the KRG flag over official buildings during a meeting that was boycotted by Turkmen and Arabs.

On April 1, the Iraqi parliament in a session voted against the decision of the Kirkuk Provincial Council.

One day after, Kirkuk Gov. Najmiddin Karim refused to apply the decision by Baghdad to pull down the flag of the KRG in Kirkuk. 

During his meeting with Iraqi Turkmen Front leader Ershad Salihi late April 3 in Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Turkey would not accept any attempt to declare independence in northern Iraq and to incorporate Kirkuk into the KRG, vowing that they would continue to stand with Iraqi Turkmen groups.
 
Yıldırım told Salihi that attempts on the referendum will not be approved by Ankara and that Turkey would stand with its kin in Iraq, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Kirkuk is officially outside of the KRG's borders but was occupied by KRG fighters during the ISIL occupation of Mosul in June 2014.