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November 2012 / AYDIN ALBAYRAK, ANKARA
Iraqi Turkmen, who found
themselves in a disadvantaged position in the days following the US occupation
of Iraq, have been lobbying to raise the status of two Turkmen districts to
provincial status in order to correct what they believe is an imbalance of rights
in the country.
About two weeks ago,
representatives of Iraqi Turkmen submitted to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani a
proposal that the districts of Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmatu be granted provincial
status. And according to the Al-Hayat daily, published in Arabic in England,
Talabani has expressed a positive attitude towards the Turkmens’ proposal.
But analysts don’t believe Tal
Afar and Tuz Khurmatu stand a good chance of receiving provincial status.
According to Bilgay Duman, a Middle East analyst from the Ankara-based Center
for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) who believes Talabani’s positive
attitude towards the Turkmen proposal may be more of a domestic policy
maneuver, says this may be seen as part of efforts on the part of Kurds to
bring Turkmens closer to Kurds, and against the Arabs. “For one thing, Talabani
is not endowed with the authority to put this demand into practice,” he told
Sunday’s Zaman.
Even in Kirkuk, which is
historically known as a Turkmen city, Iraqi Turkmens constitute only the third
largest community, coming in after Kurds and Arabs, after a couple of hundred
thousand Kurds migrated to the city following the US occupation; and Tal Afar
and Tuz Khurmatu are the only cities in Iraq where Turkmen people are the
majority. In Tal Afar, Turkmens are believed to constitute about 90 percent of
the population, while in Tuz Khurmatu about half the population.
In contrast to other constituent
communities, such as Arabs and Kurds, in Iraq, there are no provinces governed
by Iraqi Turkmens. So, should the proposal ever be adopted officially, which
seems to be a slim possibility given the fragile political balances in the
country, that would considerably strengthen the position of Iraqi Turkmens, as
the provinces are entitled to get representation in the legislative body and
more funding from the central government.
Najaf and Dohuk, two Iraqi towns
that have a population of 150,000 each, were in past years granted provincial
status. Therefore, theoretically, it looks just as possible that Tal Afar,
which is the biggest district in Iraq with a population of about 400,000, and
Tuz Khurmatu with a population of 150,000 may be granted provincial status
.
But realistically, chances look
slim, because it also means changing political balances in a fragile Iraq. Tal
Afar, which is a district in the province of Mosul, an Arab majority province
in the north of the country, is a source of conflict between the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) and the central Iraqi government. Both demand that
the town, which is a passage point bordering both Turkey and Syria, while
dividing the densely Kurdish-populated areas in the north of the country,
should be placed under its own administration. Tal Afar is also important for
the Shiite-dominated central government given that half the Turkmen in the city
belong to the Shiite sect of Islam.
Tuz Khurmatu’s position is no
different; it is also a passage point between Baghdad and oil-rich Kirkuk, the
administrative status of which is yet to be determined. This area has also
caused much heated debate in the country. Mahir Nakip, an Iraqi Turkmen from
Kirkuk who has been living in Turkey for a long time and is the spokesperson of
the İstanbul-based Kirkuk Foundation, also believes the adoption of the
Turkmens’ proposal, which may be appealing for Iraqi Turkmens, would upset
balances in Iraq. “Sunni Arabs would oppose it in the first place,” he told
Sunday’s Zaman, noting that Mosul province, having already lost two of its
districts to Kurds in past years, would then remain as a little Sunni
Arab-majority province. Nakip believes Kurds would also oppose such a
possibility. With other groups in Iraq opposing it, the proposal does not have
much of a chance to be put into practice.
In recent months, attacks against
Turkmens have increased. The deputy head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), Ali
Haşim Muhtaroğlu, was targeted in a failed bomb attack last week. The attack in
which Muhtaroğlu, who is also an assembly member of Salahaddin province, of
which Tuz Khurmatu is a part, was not wounded is believed to have been aimed at
intimidating Turkmen people.Iraqi Turkmens’ position got comparatively better,
though not in substance, when the Iraqi parliament approved in July the
recommendations of a report, bestowing on them the status of the third largest
ethnic group in the country. After the American occupation began in 2003,
Turkmens were victimized, facing discrimination in Iraq as the Turkish
Parliament rejected a motion allowing US land forces to enter Iraqi territory
by way of Turkey in the days leading up to the occupation.
The Turkmen people in Iraq are
estimated to make up nearly 10 percent of the population, but they were not
considered to be one of the constituent elements of the Iraqi state together
with the Arabs and the Kurds, and thus have been underrepresented in politics
and government offices. And after the occupation in provinces such as Kirkuk,
Arabs, in accordance with a policy of Arabization that was in effect before the
occupation, and Kurds, were allowed to seize pieces of land that officially
belonged to the Turkmen people.
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