TERROR ATTACK IN TUZHURMATU

TERROR ATTACK IN TUZHURMATU

23 OCAK 2013

Health Directorate staff Ahmet Salah Asker, a close relative of Deputy Head of Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) and member of the Selahattin Province Assembly Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu lost his life in an armed attack executed by unidentified assailants in the Tuzhurmatu district of Selahattin province.

Ahmet Salah Asker who was born in 1978 was hailed by a storm of bullets in the middle of a street on his way home after work. Asker’s body and head were hit with bullets and he lost his life on the spot. Asker’s body was taken to Tuzhurmatu Hospital and later to the Kirkuk Forensic Medicine Morgue. Asker’s house was also the target of a bomb attack on the 1st of January 2013 and greatly damaged. Two days before his death (the 20th of January 2013) Asker spoke on a television channel indicating that the Turkmen in Tuzhurmatu were defenseless and constantly the victims of attacks and demanded that the government establish an armed forces for the Turkmen.

Deputy Head of ITF Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu, member of the Executive Board of the ITF and Head of the Kirkuk Province Assembly Hasan Turan and ITF Spokesman and member of Kirkuk Province Assembly Ali Mehdi went to Kirkuk State Hospital for the body.

Head of the Kirkuk Province Assembly Hasan Turan said that the government did not listen to the Turkmen and demanded that a serious investigation be made about the incident. Turan said:

“Unfortunately there is no end to the incidents. Turkmen are always being targeted. All parties are silent and wait and watch the massacre of the Turkmen. We have hundreds of statements. Unfortunately we have not received any significant help from the government. The government should deputize a serious commission. Not like the other commissions.”

ITF Spokesman Ali Mehdi demanded that a Turkmen force be established and that the Turkish world support the Iraqi Turkmen. Mehdi voiced his reaction by saying, “There is no government in Iraq. Every day the Turkmen people are targeted somewhere. The Turkish world, Turkey hear us. The Turkmen here are all alone”.

http://www.kerkuk.net/eng/?p=8697