Rudaw correspondent Ranj Sangawi sat down with Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim. The veteran Kurdish official answered an array of questions about the raising of the Kurdistan flag over provincial buildings in Kirkuk and the reactions by local Turkmens, Arabs and Christians, as well as officials from Baghdad, the Kurdistan Region, Turkey and the United States. Additionally Governor Karim spoke about Article 140, a referendum, and Kirkuk's role in those processes. Karim also recalled former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's actions with the Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk. Rudaw: How was the decision to raise Kurdistan's flag made? Did you have prior discussions or consultations in the governorate or provincial council with the Arab, Turkmen and Christian parties, or it was a unilateral decision? Governor Najmadin Karim: No, it wasn't unilateral. Before that, I will just talk about one by one, met with the Brothers List, which besides Kurds includes Arab, Turkmen, Chaldean and Assyrians -- comprising two Turkmen, two Arab and three Chaldean and Assyrian members. In addition, we also talked to the Turkmen who have a list in Iraqi Turkmen Front, even to the Turkmen working independently outside the list. The Arab parties came to us and we talked to them. We also talked to people outside parties and political organizations, who are the majority among the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. We talked to them. This wasn't done alone. The subject was also discussed with Kurdish parties in Kirkuk. What are other parties concerned about? According to Rudaw reports, people from all social backgrounds were happy about the things you have done as governor to this city. Did you expect other ethnic groups, especially the Turkmen, to object and protest this decision? Do the protests of some of the provincial council members represent the public opinion of Turkmen, Arabs and Christians? No, it doesn't represent the opinion of all. We know that there are different sects among Turkmen in Kirkuk. And the whole world knows how dispersed the Arabs, especially Sunnis, are in terms of politics. They haven't yet been able to determine a leadership to represent them. We have met with the Turkmen. Less than 100 had staged the protests. It wouldn't have been like this if the opinion of the Turkmen population was supportive of them. And the day before the voting in the provincial council, the Turkmen Front asked Turkmen not to go to work, school and university. But people didn't listen to them. Turkmen people and the indigenous Arabs know that they are partners with the Kurds in this city. Turkmen, Arab, Kurdish people, Chaldeans and Assyrians want to live happy. They want their lives to be protected. They don't want to be assaulted at work or at home. That is what they want. And when you say that they supported us before, it was because we treated them all equally, we have served all parties without difference and we have been continuing in this kind of work and service and we will continue in the future. So the public opinion of the Turkmen and other social makeup supports your decision? I think, according to the negotiations we've had with the Turkmen and Arab people, even those who speak publicly on TV being motivated by a party or some other place, say they don't have a problem with flag of Kurdistan when they meet with us. So they want Kirkuk to be returned to Kurdistan? I don't know whether or not they like this. But if we present them a good model, I am sure they will like it because they know now that they have stayed and are protected in Kirkuk is because of the forces of Kurdistan who are here, ranging from the Peshmerga, Asayesh, assisted with the police which includes all parties. Had it not been due to these forces, Kirkuk would be like Mosul, Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and Haweja. After all, Kurdistan's flag has been here since 2003. So, the Kurdistan flag is not a new thing. Ahmet Davutoglu [the former prime minister of Turkey] passed out Kurdistan flags when he came to Kirkuk, beginning from Erbil, through Pirde until he arrived in here. Besides, there was Kurdistan flag on the citadel, and he had visited there. Kurdistan flag is not a new thing. This has been exaggerated. Did the march you led to raise the Kurdistan flag help exaggerate the matter? We didn't have any marches. If you look at your archives, we have every year been raising the Kurdistan flag on the citadel. It was raised in most places. But we wanted to make it official such that the provincial council votes on it. We had a look at the constitution and consulted constitutional experts; there is no article in the constitution barring us from raising a second flag. The Iraqi Prime Minister says that it is unconstitutional, and he says in an interview with Rudaw that the governor of Kirkuk should represent all the social makeup of the city. Has Haider al-Abadi as Prime Minister of Iraq been representing all the social makeup of Iraq? Has been impartial in dealing with the problems of Iraq? The Prime Minister of Iraq surely has a difficult task. He became prime minister in difficult conditions. I have respect for the Iraqi prime minister. He can file a lawsuit against us in the federal court if he thinks the matter is unconstitutional. There is no need to exaggerate the matter this much on the part of some parties who regard themselves to represent the Turkmen or Arab population in Kirkuk. There are constitutional and legal ways through which they can make their voices heard. Regarding the question whether he has been treating them equally, I am not in a position to answer this question. Rather, we should ask the Sunnis, the Daa'wa Party, the Sadrists and Badir group to see whether he represents and treats them all equally. These are the ones to answer the question. Does your raising of the Kurdistan flag mean not representing the whole social makeup of Kirkuk? First of all, the Iraqi flag is there in its position, and we have been respecting the Iraqi flag. If you noticed, we first raised the Iraqi flag then the flag of Kurdistan. The Kurdistan flag exists in Kurdistan. The flag of Kurdistan is not the flag of the region. It is the flag of the people of Kurdistan, people living in Kurdistan. The same Turkmen and Arab social makeup exists there too, even more of them live there. The same flag flies in Erbil and Sulaimani where all the social makeup lives. Regarding the remark that I should serve them all, I have proved that I have been serving all the social makeup of Kirkuk. And the best proof and example for this is the 2014 elections in which we won the votes of many Arab and Turkmen people. You know that Turkey has influence over Kirkuk due to the Turkmen living in the city. What do you think of the strong statements issued by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? I haven't heard his words directly. But from what I have heard, we have always in Kirkuk to which Mam Jalal, Mr Masoud and other Kurdish political leaders have come and stressed that Kirkuk is not a purely Kurdish city. Rather, there is Arab, Turkmen and Christian social makeup in Kirkuk. We all know this. We know that there Sunnis, Shiites and Sabehas in Kirkuk. It has all the social makeup that exists in Iraq. We certainly are against the position that argues only the Kurds should have power, no one else exists and no one else should have power in Kirkuk. Erdogan says: The Kurdistan flag should be lowered in Kirkuk which is the city of Turkmen, Arabs and the Kurds, if there are Kurds in the city. Do you think there is some kind of misunderstanding on the part of Turkey regarding this decision and the social makeup of Kirkuk? I hope, as you know, there is going to be a referendum in Turkey. This referendum has put a lot of pressure on the AK party there. It has many problems with Turkey and even Russia with which people thought have reconciled. What they looked to happen with Trump hasn't happened yet. There are problems inside Turkey. There are extreme parties which accuse the president and his party of being soft on the question of Kurds. Before the subject of raising the Kurdistan flag was voted in the provincial council, the MHP especially its leader Bah