BAGHDAD, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Kurdish leading party on Thursday rejected the decision of the Iraqi parliament to remove the governor of Kirkuk province from his office.
"The Iraqi government is punishing the Kurdistan region. The dismiss of Kirkuk governor is illogical, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) strongly rejects this decision," Sa'di Ahmed Biera, PUK spokesman said in a statement.
"That the solution of the outstanding problems between Baghdad and the Kurdish region cannot be in this way, and the governor of Kirkuk must not pay the tax of holding referendum in Kurdistan region," Biera said.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi parliament voted with majority to remove the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk province from his post, after the parliament followed a demand from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asking the lawmakers to vote to remove Najm al-Din Kareem from his post.
Kareem, a Kurd, has made several controversial decisions in Kirkuk, including raising the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk city and supporting the independence referendum of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
The Kurds want areas including the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk as well as parts of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahudin to be incorporated into their territory, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs, Turkmens and Baghdad.
On June 7, the Kurdish President Masoud Barzani announced his intention to hold a referendum on the independence of the Kurdish region from Iraq on Sept. 25.
The referendum has been opposed by Baghdad because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and would distract the ongoing fight against the Islamic State (IS) militant group by the Iraqi forces.
The neighboring countries of Turkey, Iran and Syria also feel that the move would threaten their territorial integrity, as large numbers of Kurdish population live in those countries.
