ANKARA - The angry debate over a ban on Iraq's national flag in the Kurdish region grew increasingly rancorous yesterday as tempers frayed along the ethnic fault line dividing the war-torn country.

The controversy and threats of secession by Kurdish provinces in the north come even as the Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict in Baghdad creeps toward civil war.

Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlak, standard bearer for the pro-flag movement, described the ban as an insult to the nation's honor and a violation of the sanctity of the constitution. He called on Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to defend the sovereignty of the country he had sworn to uphold.

"This is also a message for the president to keep his word because when we elected him he recited his oath with the Iraqi flag behind him and swore to protect the sovereignty of Iraq," Mutlak said.

It was with that same flag behind him, however, that Talabani admitted on Tuesday that he did not like the flag either. "It's a Saddamist flag," he said at a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. "A lot of crimes have been committed under this flag in the south, in the north and against our neighbors."

He was quick to say, however, that Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani's moves were not a precursor to secession. "There is no idea of a separate Kurdistan, we are not for separatism, there is no truth in these reports," he said.

Bahros Galali, Ankara representative of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said in a written statement that Barzani's remarks were misunderstood. He did not say that he did not want the Iraqi flag in the Kurdish region, said Galali and added that Barzani meant he did not want the flag that had belonged to the former Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein, and which had represented his bloody Baath regime.

The Kurds struggled for decades for autonomy and independence during the reign of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and were brutally repressed. Memories of this were recently revived with the opening of Saddam's trial for the anti-Kurdish Anfal campaign in 1988.

On Sept. 1, Barzani banned all government offices from flying the old flag, sparking the controversy. In his latest salvo he described the Arab leaders of the country as failures.

In Ankara, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül warned Barzani that his decision to replace the Iraqi flag with the Kurdish one was "dangerous."

Gül said the Iraqi government had to take action against the order given by Barzani, which was interpreted by many as a symbolic step toward the separation of the Kurdish region from the rest of the country. "Those who are doing this must see how dangerous this course is," he said. "If Iraq is willing to accept a flag that is not its own to fly on its own territory, it's over."

Mutlak said he and his countrymen would stop at nothing to keep Iraq united. "Our hands are broken, our ribs are broken, but in the name of God, we will not give up the unity of Iraq, whatever it takes," he said, adding, "We don't want a fight between Arabs and Kurds."

Kurdish officials, despite the occasional threat to secede, have mostly said they want to stay part of Iraq, just not under the flag brought in by Saddam's Baath party in 1963.

"The new Iraqi flag should represent Iraqi variety and its components," Sheikh Mustafa Jaafar, leader of the Kurdish "peshmerga" or military forces, told Agence France-Presse.

"It should be a symbol of unity and brotherhood in order to preserve our unity. We don't want a Kurdish state, our region is part of Iraq in a federal way. We don't want a special flag for us, we want a flag that unifies us," he said.

The constitution provides for a new flag and national anthem, but parliament has been addressing more urgent legislation, and has yet to get to that provision. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered that all government offices should continue flying the Saddam-era flag until parliament comes up with a new one.

The two sides are not that far apart on the issue, with both calling for a new flag, the debate being only whether to fly the old one in the interim.

"Nobody can make such a decision without consulting with the government or the parliament," said Sheikh Hatem Abu Allam, a Shiite tribal leader from the holy city of Najaf, at a news conference with Mutlak.

But with the country teetering on the brink of civil war and many Iraqis chafing under the presence of coalition forces, the Kurdish stance seems to them like one more step to final dismemberment.

"We all live on the soil of Iraq, drink from its water and live under its sky," said Sheikh Wahid al-Issawi of the Issa tribe from the western Anbar province. "If Barzani wants to haul down the Iraqi flag, then let him leave Iraq and find another flag for himself," he said.

The controversy comes at a critical time for both the Kurdish regional government and for the central government. In the north, the long-divided administrations of the two main Kurdish parties have only recently been united, and many attribute Barzani's sudden order to an attempt to assert his Kurdish Democratic Party's authority. Meanwhile, the central government continues to struggle with daily violence and inadequate services.

"We want the politicians to think of the hundreds of Iraqis killed every day and the bodies thrown in the streets. We want them to think about fuel and electricity, and not to think about dragging Iraqis into something unimportant," urged Mutlak.

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