26.05.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

People of Telafer in need of security ("original document (English)") [ID 10486]

"President Jalal Talabani has received a memorandum issued by three Turkmen members in the National Assembly requesting increased safeguards against terrorist attacks for the people of Telafer. In talks with his deputy Adel Abdul Mahdi and other senior officials, the president agreed that the Telafer civilians needed protection. Multilateral forces are said to be willing to provide the necessary military assistance.
(Addustour is an independent daily published by former journalist Basim
al-Sheikh.)"

Document(s): original document (English)

09.05.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Iraqi Turkoman Front broke up / Turkish interference in Iraq ("original document (English)") [ID 10487]

Information about the break up of the Iraqi Turkoman Front since the January elections, die influence of Turkey in Ira, the ethnic question and the relation to Sunnis, Schiits and Kurds.

Document(s): original document (English)

05.05.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

President wants role for Turkomans ("original document (English)") [ID 10488]

"President wants role for Turkomans
(Al-Ittihad) Receiving a delegation from the Turkoman Front, President Jalal Talabani said the Turkoman community must have a role in the political process, and voiced support for the idea of assigning them one of the posts of deputy prime minister. He urged them to live at peace with the Kurds in Kirkuk, and pledged to see that their rights are underpinned in the new Iraqi constitution.
(Al-Ittihad is published daily by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.)"

Document(s): original document (English)

17.03.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Kirkuk: Ethnic tension on the rise in Kirkuk ("original document (English)") [ID 10489]

"Political and social tensions between Kurds, Arabs and Turkoman could be escalating again in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 255 km from Baghdad, as Kurdish officials renew calls for the city to be part of an autonomous Kurdistan."

Document(s): original document (English)

28.01.2005 - Source: International Crisis Group

Report focused on escalating crisis in Kirkuk ("Iraq: Allaying Turkey's fears over Kurdish ambitions") [#28629],  [ID 10490]

Information regarding the situation of Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans and Chaldo-Assyrians in Kirkuk

Document(s): Open document

10.11.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Kirkuk: political parties blamed for rising tide of ethnic tension between Kurdish, Turkoman and Arab inhabitants of the city ("Political Parties Stir Unrest in Kirkuk") [#26922],  [ID 10491]

Document(s): Open document

27.10.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Kirkuk: Arabs / Turkmens plan counter demonstrations ("original document") [ID 10492]

"(Al-Mutamar) - Arabs and Turkomen in Kirkuk are taking steps to stage a large demonstration in reply to the repeated demonstrations staged by the Kurds who have called for the removal of Arabs from the city. A source in Kirkuk's Arabic Gathering said the Kurdish demonstrations, which had not been spontaneous but staged and partisan, included a large number of demonstrators from outside of the province. Demonstrators' demands focused on removing the Arabs, which is an insult to the government, the source said.
(Al-Mutamar is issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress.)"

Document(s): original document

25.10.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Kirkuk: Political, ethnic tensions halt IDP resettlement in Kirkuk ("original document") [ID 10493]

"International NGOs planning major projects to help internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the northern city of Kirkuk have had to suspend work after an agreement reached by the city's three main ethnic groups collapsed amid mutual recriminations.

In the absence of any leadership on the part of the central government in Baghdad, and with the number of families returning since last year's war swelling to an estimated 14,000, the leaders of Kirkuk's Kurdish, Turkoman and Arab communities came together this July to set up an IDP committee.

At first, the new body's work went well. But with over 3,000 families, mainly Kurdish, living in tents, and the city's stadium and 20 of its schools full of IDPs, the situation became untenable.

By mid-August, committee members had agreed that they should work with the international forces and NGOs to concentrate IDPs in two places in the city: the disused military camp at Faylakh and an area on the Kirkuk-Laylan road, freeing up public buildings and land occupied by squatters, in some cases, since the previous summer.

NGOs were to be given free rein in constructing houses and basic infrastructure at the two sites. Then, a month ago, the agreement broke down.

In a city where inter-ethnic politics often reportedly resembles a game of Chinese whispers, the details of the split are not entirely clear. One senior US military official closely involved in the committee described it as a "silly quibbling over details".

"Kurdish representatives argued that areas of temporary settlement should be extended beyond the two agreed areas," he told IRIN in Kirkuk. "Their Turkoman colleagues insisted Faylakh and Laylan should be filled with IDPs before looking elsewhere. The Arabs backed them up."

It was at that point that the Turkoman representatives walked out of the committee.

Widely seen as a moderate, Tahsin Kehiya, secretary of the Kirkuk branch of the Iraqi Islamic Turkoman Union and head of Kirkuk's city council, gave a similar analysis.

"I don't think anybody would oppose the return of people forced out by the former regime," he told IRIN in Kirkuk. "But that return must not be done at the expense of anybody else. That is why we agreed on Faylakh and Laylan, both state-owned land, to build temporary accommodation."

But he also complained that IDPs continued to return in an arbitrary way, cooperating only with the Kurdish authorities that are strong in the northern half of the city, rather than with the local government as a whole.

Like everybody else, he added, Iraq's Kurdish parties had political designs on oil-rich Kirkuk. It was this, he explained, that made their ongoing distribution of land in Faylakh and elsewhere so provocative.

"My feeling is that the dispute can only be resolved by good cooperation," he said. The Turkoman delegates on the IDP committee had another suggestion: the formation of a multi-ethnic commission to verify IDPs' claims to have lived in Kirkuk before allowing them back to the city.

The form to be used by the commission is in the process of being drafted. It is the concept, though, that irks the Kurds.

Kurdish officials deny giving Kirkuk returnees the money and building materials they have handed out to families returning to other Arabised areas whose Kurdishness is beyond doubt. But they acknowledge that, faced with the failure of either the Coalition authorities or Baghdad to do anything to "remedy the injustices" of Arabisation as promised in this March's Temporary Administrative Laws, they have done nothing to prevent people going back.

"That doesn't mean some of the returning families have never lived in Kirkuk," said Rizgar Ali, IDP committee member for the Sulaymaniyah-based Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). "The only people claiming that are former Baathists and the racist Turkoman parties."

He was referring to the Iraqi Turkoman Front, an umbrella of staunchly nationalist parties known for their close links to Turkey.

"I was kicked out of Kirkuk in 1963 and my children were born in Sulaymaniyah, with Sulaymaniyah written on their ID cards," he added.

"According to this form they are preparing, I would be allowed to come back, but they would not. Is that fair?"

Despite the two sides' strong language and apparently diametrically opposed positions, officials said they thought a new compromise was not far off. Others are less sure.

As one international NGO worker following the negotiations put it: "On paper, there is a new agreement, but it appears the old cracks are just papered over. We need a stronger resolution than that, before we can start working."

It's a pessimism shared by Irfan Kerkukli, secretary of the Iraqi Turkoman People's Party and a member of Kirkuk's city council.

"The major issue in Kirkuk is that both Kurds and Turkomans feel that historically they have been wronged," he said. "To overcome the problems that causes, we need as much outside help as we can get, starting with Baghdad.""

Document(s): original document

21.10.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Kirkuk: Turkoman struggle for rights could cause ethnic tensions in north ("original document") [ID 10494]

"In a country of mixed religions and cultures the Turkoman are
searching for rights equal to those they see given to Arabs and Kurds, but political disagreements over land could fuel tensions in the north where all three groups live.

According to the Turkoman National Front (TNF), there are about 3 million Turkomans in Iraq, especially in the northern areas between Tal Afar and Mandily and in north Baghdad. In Kirkuk, according to the census of 1957 - the last one before Saddam Hussein's Arabisation policies distorted the ethnic make-up of the region - they represented 75 percent of the city's population. "We are just searching for respect and our rights. We hope that the new government won't make differences between us and other cultures, but consider all of us as one; the same laws and same rights for all Iraqis," Maysun Mustafa Hamid, a spokeswoman for the TNF, told IRIN in Kirkuk.

Hamid said that since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime they have seen very little in the way of aid. Only the Turkish Red Crescent Society (TRCS) has delivered aid to them, and then only in the Tal Afar area and not in Kirkuk, where many Turkoman live. She added that this aid was brought from a camp set up by the TRCS at the border, where camps had been established to help those homeless after the war.

But in the end little help reached the Turkomans as most of the people in this area were in fact Kurds. Ahmet Betali, director of Mideast Waqf relief, told IRIN that Turkey and Mideast Waqf for Relief are raising funds and collecting donations from Turkish people, including foodstuffs and medicines, to be transferred to the northern Iraqi cities of Tal Afar, Kirkuk and even heavily battered cities like Fallujah and Ramadi, in an effort to meet the needs of the Turkoman people.

The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and the Iraq Red Crescent Society (IRCS) say they haven't been informed of those needs yet. According to Turkoman Shi'ite Council (TSC), the country's largest group of Shi'ite Turkoman, since 1922 Iraqi governments have done nothing to help the third biggest ethnic group in Iraq, rather they have tried to suppress them. Saddam Hussein's regime, in his Arabisation process, made most of the Turkoman people leave from the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala, accommodating Arabs on their places to achieve political ends.

It also banned the Turkic language spoken by the Turkomans. Now they are back, but according to the TSC the Kurds want to be in charge. "Kirkuk is a base of the Turkoman and not of the Kurds, if you come to the history of the town you can see that we were the majority and now they want to have control over our city," Suheyla Jihan, 56, a Turkoman civilian from Kirkuk, told IRIN. The Ministry of Human Rights, Burtiar Amin, told IRIN that they were working according to the life story of each family. He added that every Iraqi of any ethnic origin or religion would have their rights guaranteed in the new democratic government.

But with the number of Kurds in Kirkuk now increasing, Arabs and Turkomans are expressing concerns, and are even accusing the Kurds of settling thousands of non-Iraqi Kurds in the city.
TSC claims that Kurds already are "enjoying facilities and privileges from the occupiers and the government".

"It is an historic mistake and it has severe consequences, Kurds are trying to change the demographic structure in their favour prior to a census and general elections," Khudir Galib, the Turkoman representative on the Committee of the Deported Kurds told IRIN.

He also added that Kurds were working to create a "security belt" by forming residential compounds around Kirkuk. Kurdish representatives say that Kirkuk is part of the history of Kurds. "Kirkuk is Kurdish and we want to be on top," Kamal Kirkukli, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) representative, told IRIN in the city, which sits on top of some of Iraq's largest oil reserves. But many civilians of the town dispute this and claim that if things remain as they are, the risks of ethnic strife between Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans will rise. "Our position is that Kirkuk must be the town of all ethnic groups and all religions, if the coming Kurds were really from Kirkuk, our doors would be opened for them, but most of them are not," Muhammad Namak, 43, a Turkoman civilian in Kirkuk, told IRIN."

Document(s): original document

29.09.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Kirkuk: President YAWER ASSURES TURKMEN ("original document") [ID 10495]

"(Azzaman) - Kirkuk is the safety valve of the unified Iraq, said President Sheikh Ghazi Ajil al-Yawer, who praised the peaceful relations among the various peoples of the city. In a meeting with the delegation of the Turkmen National Movement Party, Yawer asked them to live in brotherhood as did during the 1960s when all Iraqis lived under one big tent called Iraq. There are 27 million Iraqis of different groups and sectors, he said, adding that they are unified under the big banner of Iraq. He assured the Turkmen that the Kurdish leadership is willing to live peacefully with them.
(London-based Azzaman is issued daily by Saad al-Bazaz.)"

Document(s): original document

28.09.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Tel Afar: Turkmen residents return to Tal Afar ("original document") [ID 10312]

"Fighting between foreign fighters and US-led Coalition troops three weeks ago caused between 20,000 and 100,000 people to flee from their homes, aid officials said. The Turkish Red Crescent set up tents 5 km outside the city to provide temporary shelter, food and water to the predominantly ethnic Turkmen community residing there."

Document(s): original document

22.09.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Kirkuk: kidnapping of Kurds and Turkmens ("original document") [ID 10313]

"(al-Mutamar) - Kirkuk police claim to have arrested two kidnapping networks. Police chief Tarhan Yousif said the networks were responsible for kidnapping 38 Kurd and Turkmen persons for ransom and for political motives. Yousif added that investigations are underway to get more information about the networks' activities.
(Al-Mutamar is issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress.)"

Document(s): original document

16.09.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Tel Afar: Turkomans claim Kurdish forces behind massarcre ("original document") [ID 10314]

"TURKOMANS CLAIM KURDISH PESHMERGA FORCES BEHIND TEL AFAR MASSACRE. The Turkish government expressed concern this week over U.S.-led military operations in the Iraqi Turkoman-dominated town of Tel Afar. Turkoman representatives have claimed that Kurdish peshmerga forces have launched a campaign in the town as part of a larger program to "ethnically cleanse" Turkomans from northern Iraq.

U.S. officials have said that the operations in Tel Afar are aimed at eliminating the terrorist presence in the town. Western media reports indicated that the town, located near the Syrian border, had been taken over by Sunni militants, foreign fighters, and possibly Ba'ath Party supporters in recent weeks, while some Turkish newspapers reported that the town had become a safe haven for terrorists fleeing Al-Fallujah. Istanbul's "Milliyet" reported on 11 September that Kurdish peshmerga forces wearing Iraqi National Forces uniforms laid siege to the town demanding that Turkoman residents surrender all weapons, and prohibiting males over the age of 18 from leaving the town.

Iraqi Turkoman Front representative Ahmet Muratli told Istanbul's "Star" in statements published on 11 September that the U.S.-led military operation has killed innocent Turkoman civilians. He said that "unarmed" U.S. soldiers had patrolled the town for a year, but "in a single week, they have begun to strike us from aircraft." "This is entirely a provocation by the peshmergas." Muratli contended that the peshmergas "dream of establishing a state" from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where Iraqi Turkomans, who are ethnic Turks, make their home. Muratli told Istanbul's "Radikal" on 11 September: "The Iraqi Army units are made up almost entirely of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [leader Mas'ud] Barzani's peshmerga.... They believe that once they control Tel Afar then the road to Mosul will be open to them. They may be trying to declare an independent Kurdish state in the north with a fait accompli using the fighting as an excuse."

The newspaper reported that the Turkish Foreign Ministry relayed a message to Washington on 8 September demanding that the operations in Tel Afar be halted, and humanitarian supplies delivered to the population. Hundreds of Turkomans have reportedly fled the town in recent days for nearby villages. Al-Jazeera reported on 12 August that many Turkomans had taken shelter in schools and temporary camps set up by the Iraqi and United Arab Emirates' Red Crescent Societies, and the Iraqi Islamic Party. The satellite channel said that water and electricity was not available in those villages, and food was in short supply.

The issue has gained little support from groups inside Iraq. Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) head Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim criticized the use of force in the town, saying that dozens of innocent civilians were killed as a result of the attacks, MENA reported on 10 September.

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Eric Edelman tried to allay Turkish fears in a 13 September meeting with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, Turkey's TRT2 television reported the same day. Edelman reportedly said that the situation would soon be under control, and that insurgents were slowly being removed from the town. "We are carrying out a limited military operation and we are trying to keep civilian losses to a minimum," Reuters quoted Edelman as saying. Turkish officials reportedly said that the Turkoman Front estimated as many as 500 civilians killed in recent days. U.S. sources estimated that 50 people had died, according to the news agency. Meanwhile, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Jalal Talabani posted a statement on its website on 13 September that said: "The Iraqi Army did not take part in the current operations in Tel Afar on the request of the tribal leaders and residents of the town with the view to protecting their assets, properties, and families.""

Document(s): original document

03.08.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report documenting the increasing frustration of thousands of displaced Kurds, as well as Turkomans and Assyrians, who are living in desperate conditions as they await a resolution of their property claims/ report also details how the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority failed to act even as the situation grew more volatile ("Claims in conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq") [#24467],  [ID 10315]

Document(s): Open document

03.08.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report documenting the increasing frustration of thousands of displaced Kurds, as well as Turkomans and Assyrians, who are living in desperate conditions as they await a resolution of their property claims/ report also details how the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority failed to act even as the situation grew more volatile ("Claims in conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq") [#24467],  [ID 10498]

Document(s): Open document

25.06.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Turkomans feel excluded from playing a political role ("original document") [ID 10499]

"TURKOMAN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON INTERIM GOVERNMENT. The Turkoman Islamic Movement issued a statement last week criticizing the Iraqi interim government for excluding Turkomans from playing a political role in the country, the weekly "Turkomaneli" reported on 19 June. "The forged caretaker government suffers a conspicuous shortcoming namely denying the Turkomans their rights and not allowing them the chance to play a political role as the citizens in one homeland," the statement read.

The group contended that a democratic Iraqi government would have provided Turkomans with one of the vice-presidential seats as well as three portfolios. The group said that the Turkomans are prepared to take up arms if they must to obtain their rights, but added that they prefer dialogue. "We demand that the new interim government address this and solve the problem and the situation by making certain amendments and offering the political role to the Turkomans so that we can feel that we have terminated injustice as well as dictatorship in Iraq," the statement said."

Document(s): original document

26.03.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Turkoman Front leader Subhi Sabir escaped an assassination attempt ("original document") [ID 10500]

"PUK OFFICE ATTACKED IN MOSUL. Militants on 20 March attacked the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan office in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, international media reported. According to Voice of the Mujahedin radio, militants fired mortar shells at the office, killing a passerby and wounding three guards and a civilian.

Local police Major Dara al-Surchi told Reuters that four mortars were fired and one landed near the building, killing an Iraqi. Meanwhile, Iraqi Turkoman Front leader Subhi Sabir escaped an assassination attempt on 19 March when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Anatolia news agency reported on 20 March."

Document(s): original document

16.01.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Turkomans, Communists, Assyrians, Islamic Union part of unified administration ("original document") [ID 10501]

"(...) Iraq's two main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), have reportedly reached an agreement to merge the administrations of their two regional governments in northern Iraq, international media reported on 13 January.

The parties will now run the three northern provinces of Irbil, Dahuk, and Al-Sulaymaniyah under a unified regional administration. Officials said that a few details still need to be worked out, including the assignment of ministerial posts and the establishment of a unified judiciary, KurdSat television reported. The plan calls for a rotating Kurdish presidency, which will first be chaired by the PUK.

The new cabinet will consist of 14 ministries, six run by KDP officials, four by PUK officials, and four by officials from the Kurdistan Communist Party, the Islamic Union, the Turkomans, and the Assyrians, "Al-Sabah" reported. While plans for a unified administration have been under way for years, the Kurdish parties in northern Iraq see the move as part of a larger drive for autonomy. (...)"

Document(s): original document

09.01.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Racist groups among the Kurds against the Turkomans ("original document") [ID 10502]

"(...) TURKOMAN LEADER COMMENTS ON TENSION WITH KURDS. Faruq Abdallah Abd al-Rahman, head of the Iraqi Turkoman Front, told London's "Al-Zaman" newspaper in an interview published on 5 January that tension between Turkomans and Kurds in northern Iraq is the result of "racist groups among the Kurds."

"Our problems are not with the Kurds because we have lived with them for a long time. We have ties of brotherhood, marriage, and cooperation with them, but there are racist groups among the Kurds. These groups are trying to create confusion and instability in the region," Abd al-Rahman said. "Those elements have seized some villages by force and imposed a policy of fait accompli. They have also brought large families from the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq to live in Turkoman areas, especially Kirkuk. All these things make us afraid of the future. They also make us suspect that these operations are premeditated." The Turkoman leader said that his group is pursuing the issue through political means "because we do not have armed militias." (...)"

Document(s): original document

09.01.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Racist groups among the Kurds against the Turkomans ("original document") [ID 10503]

"(...) TURKOMAN LEADER COMMENTS ON TENSION WITH KURDS. Faruq Abdallah Abd al-Rahman, head of the Iraqi Turkoman Front, told London's "Al-Zaman" newspaper in an interview published on 5 January that tension between Turkomans and Kurds in northern Iraq is the result of "racist groups among the Kurds."

"Our problems are not with the Kurds because we have lived with them for a long time. We have ties of brotherhood, marriage, and cooperation with them, but there are racist groups among the Kurds. These groups are trying to create confusion and instability in the region," Abd al-Rahman said. "Those elements have seized some villages by force and imposed a policy of fait accompli. They have also brought large families from the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq to live in Turkoman areas, especially Kirkuk. All these things make us afraid of the future. They also make us suspect that these operations are premeditated." The Turkoman leader said that his group is pursuing the issue through political means "because we do not have armed militias." (...)"

Document(s): original document

13.08.2003 - Source: UK Home Office

Turkomen in Mosul and Kirkuk [ID 10318]

"Turkomen constituted some 65% of the population of Kirkuk although the percentage might be decreasing as Kurds move back to the area.
The Iraqi Turkmen Front has offices in Mosul and Kirkuk but virtually no presence elsewhere in the country."

Document(s): Open document

25.06.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Turkomans, the third largest ethnic group in Iraq, continue to face pressure from dominant Arabs and Kurds ("Turkomans Under Threat") [#13800],  [ID 10505]

Document(s): Open document