Kurdish Parliament in exile

Last modified: 2002-07-20 by ivan sache
Keywords: kurdistan | kurdish parliament in exile |
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by Jaume Ollé

• The Parliament in exile
• Origin of the flag
• Other reports of the use of the flag
• Related (?) flags

See also:

• Kurds
• PKK
• Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq
• Political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan

The Parliament in exile

The TV-magazine Mediterraneo recently showed a document on the Kurdish Parliament in exile. The Parliament is located in Brussels (Belgium), but its presence (I imagine for diplomatic reasons) is only tolerated and no distinctive signs must appear outside of the building. A huge vertical flag is displayed in the main room where the Parliament meets in official sessions. A coat-of-arms is also hanging on the wall near the entrance (but inside the building, therefore not supposed to be seen from the outside).

Ivan Sache, 25 April 1999

Origin of the flag

On 12 April 1995, the first Kurdish Parliament in exile convened at The Hague (Netherlands) and flew yet another flag, a green-yellow-red horizontal tricolour. At first glance this might promise to be THE flag of Kurdistan; the Parliament is dominated by the PKK (which is trying to shed its terrorist image), and the PDK and PUK refuse to have anything to do with it.
The green-yellow-red tricolour would appear on the surface to be a PKK pretense of Kurdish universality by equally uniting the principal colours of the major liberation movements:

• green: PUK
• yellow: PDK
• red: PKK.

If the factions ever do manage to cooperate, the flag would then be truly the best and simplest flag for Kurdistan.

T. F. Mills, 27 September 1997

Other reports of the use of the flag

I have seen today in the Edmonton Journal an article from the Washington Guardian that was added to the coverage of the recent attacks. Inserted into the article was a small color graphic, including what I assume is supposed to be the 'Kurdistan' flag: a green-yellow-red horizontal tricolor.

Stoner, 04 September 1996

Related (?) flags

by Ivan Sache

In the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot of today there is a photo from the funeral of the three Kurds who were killed in the incident in the Israeli Consulate in Berlin. All coffins were covered by flags which were horizantly green-red-yellow (or the other way around).

Dov Gutterman, 25 February 1999

I did see the flag quoted by Dov frequently in the shape of hats, pullovers and the like (scarcely as proper flags though). And yes it was green-red-yellow, in that order, unlike the flag approved by the Kurdish Parliament in exile.

Santiago Dotor, 25 February 1999