IRAQI TURKMEN FRONT COMMUNIQUE

الدائرة الإعلامية

ENFORMASYON DAİRESİ
العدد:106 SAYI:106

To the news desk, AP, Baghdad bureau,

Yesterday, AP put an exclusive report regarding Kerkuk, under the title ": U.N. suggests power-sharing for Kerkuk".

It seems that the reporter took the data from one side only, without even trying to interview a Turkmen politician or organization and without referring to the official Iraqi documents!

We agree that there was a bad Arabization policy under the previous regime, however, since April 2003 there is an even worse Kurdification policy which is taking place in Kerkuk.

The population of Kerkuk was 860 thousand on 9th April 2003, today it is more than 1.5 million and ALL the newcomers are Kurds.

Please see the information below:


According to the 1957 census, Turkmens were 950 thousands out of a population of six million Iraqis.

However, the 1997 census under the Arabization campaign, showed Turkmens to be only 900 thousand, i.e. less than in 1957!!

This is completely illogical and it shows the injustice Turkmens went through under the previous regime. Scientifically speaking, the annual population growth rate in Iraq is fixed (3-8%), therefore the Turkmens are at least 2.6 million, i.e 10% of the total Iraqi population. About 40% of the Turkmens live in Kerkuk.

Again, according to the 1957 census, Turkmens represented the largest ethnic component in Kerkuk, before the Kurds, the Arabs and the Christians.

According to the ration cards data base, the number of inhabitants who were expelled from Kerkuk was 11.700, out of which more than a quarter were Turkmens.

We therefore ask you to check the facts and correct your data in order to reflect the reality.

The Information Office of the Iraqi Turkmen Front

Addres:

Kerkük. Bağdat yolu. Valilik binası yanında
E-mail: ITC_media@yahoo.com