TURKMEN IN CHICAGO TO CNN: PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!

Ahmet YILMAZ submitted this to the CNN errors section on the internet:

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Just a few days ago, a terrible suicide blast killed over 150 innocent Turkmens and wounded nearly 300 in a town called Amerli. It is a common knowledge shared by all Iraqis that the town of Amerli is predominantly populated by the Turkmen ethnic group. Your article read,
"Amerli is a village predominantly populated by Shiite Turkmens and Kurds, about 100 miles north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province, near Tuz Khurmatu."

There are absolutely no Kurds living in Amerli ! Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Kurds have unjustly claimed towns and cities as their own and have simultaneously marginalized innocent Arabs and Turkmen living in these regions. But obviously, the media is convinced that these are the same Kurds who were victimized by the chemical campaign against the Kurds before the first Gulf War and are returning to their homeland.

Given that the media frequently makes errors, a highly-touted news organization like CNN should be the last to make such a significant and costly mistake. With a robust global audience tuning to your news station and reading your online articles, you are factualizing falsehoods and are getting away with it.

Before you report any news story, please get your facts straight. By announcing to the whole world that innocent Kurds were killed in a tragic blast, you are implanting your audience with a false sense of sympathy for the Kurds. It was innocent Turkmens that were killed and severely wounded in these attacks!

Ahmet Yilmaz

Bir Ocak Turkmen Cultural Association / Chicago

July 12, 2007