IRAQ: Gunmen kill five in Iraqi Turkmen town

Once again, the media, in this instance AFP and France 24, are quoting the erroneous figures from the C.I.A's factbook!


Comment:

The number of Turkmens in Iraq lies between 2.5 and 3 million, not 500.000!

Turkmens are Iraq’s third main ethnic community and the North of Iraq’s second main ethnic community; they represent about 13% of the Iraqi people.

Since the creation of the Iraqi State in 1921, the Turkmens have been systematically discriminated, marginalized and oppressed for geopolitical and economical reasons as TURKMENELI contains huge oil and gas reserves. For these reasons the successive Iraqi governments have tried to assimilate the Turkmens and they have purposely underestimated their number and their true representation in Iraq.

Unfortunately, despite the regime change in Iraq in 2003, the number of Turkmens continues to be underestimated.

Main Turkmen cities are: Telafer, Musul, Erbil, Altun Köpru, Kerkük, Tuz Khurmatu, Kifri, Qaraghan, Qizlarbat, Khanaqi, Mendeli and Bedre.

An Iraqi Turkmen student holds-up a Turkmen flag at a rally in Kirkuk last year.

14 July 2012 - 13H37

Gunmen kill five in Iraqi Turkmen town

AFP - Gunmen killed five soldiers and policemen on Saturday when they attacked a checkpoint in a Turkmen town in northern Iraq, an army captain said.

The victims were manning the checkpoint in the town of Rashidiyah, northeast of the main northern city of Mosul, when the gunmen opened fire.


Five members of the security forces were killed and two others were wounded, the source said, without giving a breakdown.


Iraq's Turkish-speaking Turkmen community includes about 500,000 people living mostly in Mosul, Kirkuk and Tal Afar. They have been the target of a number of deadly attacks, blamed by local authorities on Al-Qaeda.



The latest violence comes amid a spike in attacks, with Iraq suffering a wave of unrest in June. At least 282 people were killed, according to an AFP tally, though government figures said 131 Iraqis died.



While violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006-2007, attacks remain common across the country

http://www.france24.com/en/20120714-gunmen-kill-five-iraqi-turkmen-town