Flag crisis

MHP leader Bahçeli has fallen out with his ‘Yes’ partner, the AKP, for the first time. He reacted with the words: ‘Scandal, carelessness and disgrace’ to the flying of the Kurdistan flag at the State Guesthouse and Çankaya Mansion during the course of Barzani’s visit.
Bahçeli brought Erdoğan into the dispute by asking, ‘Did he have news of this?’ Bahçeli’s comment ‘An individual spared the sword’ with reference to Abdülkadir Selvi, a Hürriyet columnist critical of the MHP, caused uproar on social media.
Prime-Minister Binali Yıldırım responded to criticisms about the Kurdish flag at the AKP group meeting. Yıldırım said that the KRG in Iraq was an autonomous structure according to the Iraqi constitution and was recognised as such in the world.
Yıldırım, saying that it was impossible to ascribe good faith to the criticism, said, ‘Turkey respects whatever is called for under the Iraqi constitution. It is unacceptable to devise any other diplomatic convention.’