tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10318589355003100482024-03-06T21:04:20.327+01:00EUROPEAN - TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPSNEWS AND ARTICLES REGARDING THE IRAQI TURKMENS BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.comBlogger2993125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-86602404401535750352016-01-17T21:37:00.001+01:002016-01-17T21:37:39.726+01:00Twenty-five Years Ago: Remembering the Night “Operation Desert Storm” Was Launched on Iraq<div class="title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Twenty-five Years Ago: Remembering the Night “Operation Desert Storm” Was Launched on Iraq</h2>
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</span> <span class="st_sharethis_hcount" displaytext="sharethis" st_processed="yes" st_title="Twenty-five Years Ago: Remembering the Night “Operation Desert Storm” Was Launched on Iraq" st_url="http://www.globalresearch.ca/twenty-five-years-ago-remembering-the-night-operation-desert-storm-was-launched-on-iraq/5501927" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="stButton" style="border: 0px; color: black; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 3px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 1;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="stMainServices st-sharethis-counter" style="background-image: url("http://w.sharethis.com/images/sharethis_counter.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 86px;"> </span><span class="stArrow" style="background: url("http://w.sharethis.com/share4x/images/bubble_arrow.png") 3px 8px no-repeat; border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 0px -1px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="stButton_gradient stHBubble" style="background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(rgb(213, 213, 213)), color-stop(0.48, rgb(239, 239, 239)), color-stop(0.94, rgb(255, 255, 255))); border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(191, 191, 191); display: inline-block; font-family: serif; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 16px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 3px; padding: 2px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: -1;"><span class="stBubble_hcount" style="border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">New</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<img alt="OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM" class="attachment-single-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="429" src="http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AirForce_over_Iraq-400x429.jpg" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; max-height: inherit !important; max-width: 200px !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM" width="400" /></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Operation Desert Storm’, <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the massive air and missile aggression</strong><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">on Iraq</strong> was launched on January 17, 1991 at 2:30 a.m. local time.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That night as we were watching the TV, the programme was suddenly interrupted and we saw pictures of the Baghdad sky illuminated with what seemed to be anti-aircraft fire; we realized with horror that the war on Iraq had started. We stayed up all night, terrified, watching with dismay how beautiful Baghdad, the city of One Thousand and One Nights, was being massively bombarded.</em></div>
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Our thoughts and prayers were for our relatives and friends and for all Iraqis who could not escape from this hell. How many would die under the bombs and missiles which were falling ‘at random’ on residential areas all over Baghdad and other Iraqi cities?</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZps3p2-enp5xyVurTixyG1vMi6z2Oj9TbbcXIgnRZV6zt9gm2yM5KpELCNi0YJtu89T1i9n392gEHn7d0pY96l95B1IJeUdGve2_vYJpgNjXJhgmvazopGrPEdWYE_2buxWIQMKx0KU/s1600/17+jan+1991+Initial+attacks.jpg" style="border: 0px none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 10px; max-width: 635px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>
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I still shudder when remembering that awful night and all the other terrible nights of the ‘First Gulf War’, there was no possibility to communicate with our loved ones in Iraq, the U.S.’s first targets had been the telecommunication centres and electrical grid on which they had dropped Tungsten bombs. Iraqis were completely isolated, alone, desperately alone…in the dark…in the chaos, amidst the destruction caused by these brutal attacks from the air.</div>
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We watched in dismay how the beautiful country that many generations of Iraqis had worked so hard to build and develop was being destroyed. We watched with horror how the American and British ‘boys’ cheered whenever their bombs hit some ‘target’, killing Iraqis. No doubt that George Bush was enjoying it too, ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bringing Iraq back to pre-industrial era’.</em></div>
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<img alt="USAF F-117 : vampire in the Iraqi sky" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVpNFzNMOAxg_w6OQJHY2PZgW_GHFncBq-bRhW-bPQLRMERGaFHLRw8EbzH81-k6LiyqKpViwtc7AMI5Qj7eSiNauUfjNMF8KXFYLqlM4JW4ud4CfD9WB58sH6zlsz0U4LebxiG4wGYM/s1600/Stealth.jpg" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; max-width: 635px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" title="USAF F-117 : vampire in the Iraqi sky" width="300" /><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
USAF F-117 : vampire in the Iraqi sky</div>
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Many Americans thought it was right to attack Iraq, they had no qualms that the country’s civil infrastructure was being purposely destroyed and that many thousands of Iraqis were dying. They believed the coalition troops were attacking Iraq to ‘liberate’ Kuwait* and to prevent an Iraqi attack on the zionist entity.</div>
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Some westerners who had never met an Iraqi and who could not even locate Iraq on the map, were filled with hatred towards the Iraqi people, because they had been told ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">how Iraqi soldiers were taking premature babies out of incubators in Kuwait</em>’ !!! (1) and some other terrible stories fabricated by the western media,. Others were so gullible that they really believed there was such a thing as the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Iraqi Super canon’!!!</em></div>
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The western media were the accomplices of the warmongers, continuously diffusing their lies and propaganda. According to <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fair</strong>,the US media allowed less than 1% of their space to those who were opposed the war. Day after day they repeated George Bush’s mantra: ‘about establishing a New World Order’ and many people in the west believed that the destruction of Iraq was worthwhile to establish this so-called ‘New World Order’.</div>
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Seventeen years have passed, but the pain and outrage I felt that night have not diminished, neither has my resentment towards all those who participated in this criminal aggression on Iraq.</div>
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George Bush, Dan Quayle, James Baker, Dick Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and many others who share responsibility in attacking and destroying Iraq still remain to be judged for crimes against peace, for war crimes, for crimes against humanity and for other criminal acts committed in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, in violation of the international law, in violation of the Conventions of Geneva and The Hague, in violation of the Charter of Nürenberg and in violation of the laws regulating armed conflicts. By waging this illegal war on Iraq George Bush also violated the Constitution of the United States.</div>
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Bush’s imperialist ‘New World Order’ was based on the capitulation and submission of the people in the Middle East, principally on the surrender of oil-rich Iraq.</div>
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On this sad seventeenth anniversary of the launching of the criminal aggression on Iraq my thoughts are with all Iraqi patriots who are fighting to free their country from the foreign occupiers.</div>
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On this day, one of the beautiful Irish patriotic song comes into my mind (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have substituted the name Ireland with Iraq)</em></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Come the day and come the hour</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Come the power and the glory</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We have come to answer</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our Country’s call</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From all the provinces of Iraq</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Iraq, Iraq,</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Together standing tall</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shoulder to shoulder</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We’ll answer Iraq’s call</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hearts of steel</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And heads unbowing</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Vowing never to be broken</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We will fight, until</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We can fight no more</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From all the provinces of Iraq</strong></div>
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<b>Merry Fitzgerald</b></div>
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(1) It was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador in the US who made these false accusations in front of the cameras, pretending to be a Kuwaiti nurse who had witnessed these barbaric acts!!!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">*Kuwait:</strong> an invention of the British Foreign Office ‘around an oil well ‘ to deny Iraq access to the sea and so limit its influence in the Gulf and maintain it under British dependence.</div>
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The original source of this article is <a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2008/01/remembering-night-operation-desert.html" style="border: 0px; color: #3b4d81; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">European Turkish Friendships</a></div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-88832512262205468402015-12-17T12:31:00.000+01:002015-12-17T12:31:11.745+01:00Iraqi Turkmen representatives invited at the 6th European Parliament – Iraq Interparliamentary Meeting (VIDEO)<h2 id="post-14867" style="background-color: white; color: #0090da; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', Utopia, 'Times New Roman', times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin: 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
Iraqi Turkmen representatives invited at the 6th European Parliament – Iraq Interparliamentary Meeting (VIDEO)</h2>
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<span style="color: black;"><strong>Iraqi Turkmen representatives were invited at the 6th European Parliament – Iraq Interparliamentary Meeting – </strong></span><span style="color: black;"><strong>on 3rd December 2015.</strong></span></div>
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photo above: the Chair of the Delegation for relations with IRAQ, Mr. David Campbell Bannerman MEP – Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli, and the President of Human Rights Commission at the Iraqi Parliament and ITF President, Mr. Arshad Salihi.</div>
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<a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/iraqi-turkmen-representatives-invited-at-the-6th-european-parliament-iraq-interparliamentary-meeting-video/dsc_2077/" rel=" rel="attachment wp-att-14870"" style="color: #0b76ae; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="DSC_2077" class=" wp-image-14870 alignleft" height="212" src="https://merryabla64.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/dsc_2077.jpg?w=496&h=329" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 7px 2px 0px; padding: 4px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Introduction by the Chair of the Delegation for relations with IRAQ, Mr. David Campbell Bannerman MEP and by the Chair of the Iraqi Parliamentary Delegation, Mr. Dhafer Salman (see photo above) also on this photo H.E. the Ambassador of Iraq to the Kingdom of Belgium.</div>
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<a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/iraqi-turkmen-representatives-invited-at-the-6th-european-parliament-iraq-interparliamentary-meeting-video/dsc_2078/" rel=" rel="attachment wp-att-14875"" style="color: #0b76ae; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="DSC_2078" class=" wp-image-14875 alignleft" height="324" src="https://merryabla64.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/dsc_2078.jpg?w=489&h=324" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 7px 2px 0px; padding: 4px;" width="489" /></a></div>
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The President of Human Rights Commission at the Iraqi Parliament and ITF President Mr. Arshad Salihi</div>
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The recording of this event is available on: <strong><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20151202IPR05722" style="color: #0b76ae; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">our multidevice player</a></strong>.</div>
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<strong>For Mr. Arshad Salihi’s speech please see at <span style="color: red;">2:10</span></strong></div>
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Key speakers :</div>
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Mr. Elmark Brok, AFET Chair and AFCO Member</div>
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Mr. Yousif Mohammad Sadiq, Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Parliament</div>
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Mr. John O’Rourke, Head of Division Arabian Peninsula, Iran and Iraq at the European External Action Service</div>
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Mr. Struan Stevenson, former Chairman of the EP Delegation for Relations with Iraq.</div>
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<a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/iraqi-turkmen-representatives-invited-at-the-6th-european-parliament-iraq-interparliamentary-meeting-video/dsc_2074/" rel=" rel="attachment wp-att-14873"" style="color: #0b76ae; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="DSC_2074" class=" wp-image-14873 alignleft" height="321" src="https://merryabla64.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/dsc_2074.jpg?w=485&h=321" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 7px 2px 0px; padding: 4px;" width="485" /></a></div>
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ITF EU representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli and Mr Ayden Hilmi Aksa, Foreign Relations Advisor Republic of IRAQ Council of Representatives.</div>
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Mr. William Spencer, Intl. Institute for Law and Human Rights, Executive Director, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative Dr. Hassan Tawfiq Aydinli and the President of Human Rights Commission at the Iraqi Parliament and ITF President Mr. Arshad Salihi</div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-36647173946619028102015-11-03T01:33:00.001+01:002015-11-03T01:37:16.890+01:00Stalemate, Not Statehood, for Iraqi Kurdistan<h1 style="margin-bottom: 30.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Stalemate, Not
Statehood, for Iraqi Kurdistan<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #555555; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">By<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/contributors/dnataliguest" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Denise
Natali</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #555555; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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November 1, 2015, 10:11 AM</datetime></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #555555; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #555555; font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><datetime style="box-sizing: border-box;">https://www.lawfareblog.com/stalemate-not-statehood-iraqi-kurdistan</datetime></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry chats with President Masoud Barzani upon arrival
at the Kurdistan Regional Government Presidential Compound in Erbil, Iraq, on
June 24, 2014. [State Department photo/public domain]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Editor’s Note: The Kurds are the largest
nation in the Middle East without a state of their own and their quest for more
rights and at times independence has led to civil wars, unrest, and
near-genocidal levels of killing. Iraq has often been the center of the Kurdish
struggle, and the decline of the Iraqi state since 2003 – and the latest
dysfunction manifest in its efforts to fight the Islamic State – seems to offer
opportunities for Iraqi Kurds to carve out their own state. Denise Natali, an
expert on the Kurds at the National Defense University, challenges this claim.
She argues that the Iraqi Kurds’ current in-between status is likely to endure
and, indeed, offers benefits for Kurdish leaders.</span></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Since the creation of a weak federal Iraqi state a decade ago, the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has moved toward what<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-future-of-kurdistan" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">many</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/21/the-worlds-next-country-kurdistan-kurds-iraq/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">analysts</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/amid-turmoil-iraqs-kurdish-region-is-laying-foundation-for-independent-state/2014/06/12/c1f22d7c-f26a-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">pundits</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/barzani-an-independent-kurdistan-is-coming" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Kurds</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">consider
a desired end state: independence. Taking advantage of the ambiguous 2005 Iraqi
constitution, disfranchised Sunni Arab community, sectarian conflicts, and
dysfunctional Iraqi government, the KRG has<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="https://twq.elliott.gwu.edu/sites/twq.elliott.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Natali_Summer%202015_0.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">developed
its own energy sector</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">; assumed<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.niqash.org/en/articles/politics/5012/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">de
facto control</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">over disputed lands; and created a
cohort of influential supporters to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/13/from-kirkuk-to-k-street/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">lobby
Kurdish interests</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">in Washington and abroad. These trends
have been further bolstered by the Islamic State threat, which has allowed the
KRG to access U.S. and coalition military support, further expand its
territorial reach, and challenge Baghdad with “independent” oil exports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Yet a deeper look into the Iraqi Kurdish trajectory reveals a more
complicated and interrupted scenario defined by legal, economic, and geopolitical
constraints. The KRG may have created new “facts on the ground” that strengthen
its internal sovereignty and international recognition, but it remains a
landlocked, quasi-state entity lacking external sovereignty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This condition means that the degree and nature of Kurdish autonomy,
including any potential for independence, is not determined by unilateral
decisions made by Kurdish elites but rather by the demands, deals, and
incentive structures brokered by powerful regional states and non-state actors.
These influences have not only checked Kurdish leverage and kept Kurds within
the Iraqi state, at least nominally, they have also created necessary political
ambiguity that benefits KRG officials. Maintaining the status quo has<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/spring-2010/kurdish-quasi.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">allowed
the KRG</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">to realize rights,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/25054164?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">revenues</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">, and recognition as part of a</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/43/6/723.short" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">weak
federal Iraqi state</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">while also pursuing a nationalist agenda
based on victimization, struggle, territorial expansion, and opaque, oil-based
economic development, supported by external networks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
continued./...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Post-Saddam stalemate </span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">As a quasi-state, the Kurdistan Region thrives off of a weak central
government, nationalist sentiment, and external patronage. It may have
substantial internal sovereignty, but it lacks external sovereignty, which<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0163660X.2015.1064715#.VhlqbZeTSW4" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">it
seeks to replace with international support and recognition</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. The KRG has done so by developing external networks – lobbies,
international oil companies (IOCs), foreign governments, and international
universities, organizations, and think tanks – which help advance KRG interests
at home and abroad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These features have influenced KRG behavior and produced important
benefits for Kurds in post-Saddam Iraq. They have enabled the KRG to operate as
a free-rider, accessing revenues from Baghdad based on the new Iraqi
constitution, while pursuing its own nationalist agenda. For nearly a decade,
the KRG gained 17 percent of Iraqi oil sales derived from southern exports –
which increased its annual income from about</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://investingroup.org/publications/kurdistan/overview/economy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">US$2.5
billion to $13 billion</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">– without having to pay taxes, declare
revenues, or contribute to the Iraqi national budget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Baghdad-sourced revenues have been critical to developing and
stabilizing the Kurdistan Region. They have not only paid the salaries of over
70 percent of the Kurdish population (at a cost of about US$720 million
monthly) but have also sourced the KRG’s “trade relations” with Ankara, valued
at US$10 billion in 2013,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.kurdistaninvestment.org/trade_industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">which
are almost wholly based on imported Turkish goods</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. Additionally, by remaining tied to a less than fully functional Iraqi
state, the KRG has been able to brand itself as the “Other Iraq” with a minimal
metric of success: simply being more stable and economically viable than
Baghdad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Kurdish officials have also benefitted from political limbo by leaving
contentious issues unsettled, such as territorial disputes, resource claims,
and revenue allocation. For instance, although Masoud Barzani, the leader of
the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), publicly insists that Kirkuk is the
“bleeding heart of Kurdistan,” he will avoid officially incorporating Kirkuk
into an independent Kurdistan Region because it would render the KDP a
political minority (the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran
movement control parts of Erbil, Kirkuk, and Suleymaniya).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Determining Kirkuk’s status – whether it is under the legal jurisdiction
of the Iraqi government, the KRG, or a local administration as a special status
province –<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/jul/10/kurdish-independence-harder-than-it-looks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">is
contentious</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">given its oil-rich territories,
multi-ethnic and multi-religious character, and historical legacies of
Arabization. While Arabs and most Turcoman regard Kirkuk as an essential part
of Iraq, Kurds consider Kirkuk as a national territory and source of oil
revenue that can help the KRG realize economic independence. Claims to Kirkuk
are also part of internal Kurdish balance of power politics that reflect
geographical divisions between KDP, PUK, and Gorran party factions. These
dynamics influence KRG behavior over Kirkuk and other disputed areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 0.25rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">By leaving territorial borders
politically ambiguous, KRG officials can promote myths of victimization that
authenticate their nationalist credentials, deflect internal political tensions
and needed reforms, and resonate among local populations as a “struggle against
Baghdad.”</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">By leaving territorial borders politically ambiguous, KRG officials can
promote myths of victimization that authenticate their nationalist credentials,
deflect internal political tensions and needed reforms, and resonate among
local populations as a “struggle against Baghdad.” Unilateral Kurdish claims to
disputed territories have been justified as a battle “drawn in Kurdish blood.”
Similarly, high-risk oil exports are now framed as a “Kurdish nationalist
right.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<br /></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Breaking the stalemate</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The KRG has attempted to break its political stalemate by realizing
economic independence. Most important is the aim to develop an autonomous
revenue source that can sustain the Kurdistan Region apart from Baghdad. Since
2005, the KRG has aggressively developed its own energy sector by attracting
IOCs to the Kurdistan Region, building pipeline infrastructure, unilaterally
connecting its pipeline to the Iraqi state-owned Iraqi-Turkish Pipeline (ITP),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.iraqoilreport.com/politics/turkey-kurdistan-cement-massive-energy-deal-11574/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">negotiating
a 50-year energy deal with Turkey</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.mei.edu/content/news/iraqi-kurds-take-over-2-northern-oil-fields" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">gaining
de facto control over parts of Kirkuk and related oil assets</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These new facts on the ground have made the KRG increasingly risk averse
and willing to export oil<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">sans</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Baghdad. They coincide with failed
attempts to negotiate with the Iraqi government and sell Kurdish crude through
the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), including the most recent
“oil-for-revenue” deal in December 2014. Baghdad insists on state sovereignty
over Iraqi oil resources, sales, and revenues, and a fully transparent KRG oil
sector that contributes to the Iraqi national budget. Erbil, however, demands
control of its own crude oil exports and revenues, which remain opaque, and to
receive regular and full payments from Baghdad for its crude. The near-halving
of world oil prices, Iraq’s financial crisis, and coalition support to the KRG
to fight the Islamic State have added disincentives to negotiate. Instead, by
September 2015, the KRG pressed ahead without Baghdad,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://mnr.krg.org/index.php/en/press-releases/493-krg-publishes-the-monthly-export-report-for-september-2015" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">exporting
about 620,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) through the ITP</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">, 460,000 bdp of which were from fields operated by the Kurdistan
Region, with the remaining from Kirkuk fields operated by Iraq’s North Oil
Company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Still, the KRG has not become economically autonomous. Because the
Kurdistan Region is not a sovereign entity and continues to rely on Iraqi
pipeline infrastructure, its exports are not fully independent. Baghdad retains
international legal rights over oil flows and revenues from the ITP based on
the 2010 pipeline Tariff Agreement negotiated with Turkey – and has already
filed litigation against Ankara at the International Chamber of Commerce in
Paris. It has also threatened to penalize IOCs and shipping companies that
purchase Kurdish crude apart from SOMO, reinforcing the legal risks and opaque
nature of KRG oil exports and sales. Moreover, Baghdad has cut the KRG budget
(except for monthly food allocations), which represents 95 percent of the KRG’s
operating expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The KRG’s financial break from Baghdad has had direct consequences on
the Kurdistan Region’s internal stability and economic viability. In the
absence of a financial buffer to replace Baghdad (by June 2014 the KRG had no
savings in its central bank) the KRG’s oil gamble with Turkey has devastated
and destabilized local populations and the economy.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.iraqoilreport.com/news/strikes-spreading-over-krg-salary-delays-16652" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Civil
servant salaries have gone unpaid for months</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">,
thousands of local businesses have closed, IOC payments remain in arrears, new
investment has halted, and nearly 25,000 Kurds, mainly educated youth, have
fled the Kurdistan Region over the past eight months. The KRG has also borrowed
billions from Ankara and local businesses while front-loading its oil sales to
2016 in the attempt to meet operating costs and a US$22 billion debt
accumulated over the past year. These economic pressures coincide with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://http/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the Kurdistan Region’s presidency crisis</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">in
which reformers, political party officials, and opposition groups are
challenging the legitimacy of Masoud Barzani’s position, which expired on
August 19, 2015, and calling for sweeping political reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">With Baghdad no longer its paymaster, at least at present, the KRG’s
institutional deficits have also surfaced, namely its lack of transparent
pricing mechanisms, undisclosed revenue flows, and endemic corruption. These issues
have become a leading source of criticism inside the Kurdish government as well
as society. Officials on the oil and gas committee in the Iraqi Kurdistan
Parliament (IKP), for instance, are unaware of how much revenues are derived
from KRG oil sales and where the funds are allocated. Of the 16 international
bank accounts in which revenues from KRG oil sales are supposedly deposited,
the KRG minister of finance - recently expelled by the KDP from the parliament
- has access to only one Turkish Halkbank account, which has only US$14 million
in deposits. The minister of natural resources and Prime Minister Nechirvan
Barzani<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.kurdiu.org/details1.php?section=hawal&lang=1&type=1&id=43147" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">control
all other bank accounts</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 0.25rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">By choosing to bypass Baghdad without
the necessary legal, financial, and political institutions in place, KRG
officials have left the region prone to political opposition and economic
collapse. Instead of blaming Baghdad for the KRG’s financial and political
crises, local populations are now harshly criticizing the KRG.</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Given Baghdad and Erbil’s financial crises and unresolved claims over
control of oil exports and payments, it is not surprising that Kurdish
officials have pursued alternative means of income generation. They need a
reliable revenue source that can develop the region and sustain its
populations. Yet by choosing to bypass Baghdad without the necessary legal,
financial, and political institutions in place, KRG officials have left the
region prone to political opposition and economic collapse. Instead of blaming
Baghdad for the KRG’s financial and political crises, local populations are now
harshly criticizing the KRG. This growing opposition movement inside the
Kurdistan Region has recently manifested in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.iraqoilreport.com/news/violent-protests-threaten-kurdistans-stability-16706/" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">violent
and deadly uprisings in Suleymaniya province</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">,
further deepening political fragmentation and instability. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Nor has the KRG resolved disputed claims to territories and hydrocarbons
inside Iraq. In many ways it has aggravated its own situation. Having gained de
facto control over expansive lands, the KRG is now responsible for
administering and stabilizing a 1,000-kilometer border with the Islamic State
and Sunni Arab nationalist groups. The KRG may currently benefit from coalition
military support to secure these borders, but it has no guarantee as to how
long this assistance will last. Alongside Baghdad, different local stakeholders
continue to claim ownership of these territories and resources, to include
Kirkuki populations, Sunni Arabs, and minority groups. Some of these groups may
agree to become part of the Kurdistan Region, while others are seeking to
create their own region or special status inside the Iraqi state. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<br /></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Shifting dependencies</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These trends have also enhanced the KRG’s regional dependencies,
particularly on Turkey and Iran. By becoming fully reliant on a single transit
route and a legally contentious pipeline running through Turkey and a war zone,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://poli.haifa.ac.il/~bshaffer/Foreign_Policies_Landlocked_States.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the
landlocked Kurdistan Region has become more financially vulnerable than ever
before</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">KRG’s oil exports and revenues are now tied to Turkey’s domestic
politics and its 30-year conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK,
whose forces are based in the Kurdistan Region, eastern Syria, and southeastern
Turkey and have already attacked the ITP and other energy assets in Turkey. PKK
challenges also extend to Barzani and the KDP, with whom the PKK competes for
leadership of Kurdish communities and which the PKK regards as a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/30/kurdish-militants-strike-pipeline-deal-blow-to-fellow-kurds" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“sellout
to Turkey.”</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These vulnerabilities are further
enhanced by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/turkey-krg-energy-deal-oil-pipeline-agreement.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the
opaque and personal nature of KRG-Ankara energy ties</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">, which are largely a private deal between Barzani and Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and not an institutionalized arrangement. Any change in
the positions and influence of these personalities or in Turkey’s domestic
politics risks affecting the terms and nature of the agreement, and more
directly KRG exports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Iran also continues to influence the KRG’s economic, political, and
security arenas. Sharing an expansive border with Suleymaniya and Erbil
provinces, Iran provides another outlet for cheap, trucked Kurdish crude and
diesel products that benefits Iraqi Kurdish political parties, particularly the
PUK, and associated businesses. These exchanges are much smaller than the
trucking operations at the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish border, but<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><a href="http://www.kurdistaninvestment.org/trade_industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.7; transition: color 250ms ease-in-out 0ms;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #006a72; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">they
coexist with investment, commerce, and security pacts between Tehran and the
KRG that affirm Iranian interests in the region</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. Since the Islamic State onslaught, Iranian influence has increased,
particularly in Suleymaniya and Kirkuk provinces, where Tehran has provided
military and security assistance alongside the PUK peshmerga, Shi’a militias,
Iraqi security forces, and Syrian Kurdish fighters (PYG).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 0.25rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Deepening regional ties have not
translated into political support for a Kurdish nationalist project. Despite
the financial benefits of doing business with the KRG, neither Turkey nor Iran
back Kurdish independence, or even an overly autonomous Kurdistan Region.</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">However, these deepening regional ties have not translated into
political support for a Kurdish nationalist project. Despite the financial
benefits of doing business with the KRG, neither Turkey nor Iran back Kurdish
independence, or even an overly autonomous Kurdistan Region. Both remain
committed to a weak but sovereign Iraqi state that enables them to influence
Iraqi Kurds, as well as Sunni and Shi’a communities. Turkey and Iran also
continue to prioritize their own territorial integrity, which includes checking
Kurdish nationalist communities within and across their borders through
enhanced security, political and economic pacts with Iraqi Kurds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Implications</span></b></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">All of these dynamics indicate a more fluid and interrupted Kurdish
trajectory and not a forward moving process toward independence. Any change in
Ankara-Baghdad relations, Iranian-Turkish capabilities, access to pipeline
infrastructure, PKK-Turkey tensions, Erdogan’s political status, Iraqi
government stabilization, intra-Kurdish tensions, bridging of Sunni-Shi’a ties,
or a strengthened Sunni Arab region could affect the KRG’s leverage and ability
to export oil and access revenues apart from Baghdad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The dependent nature of the KRG, its nationalist agenda, and internal Kurdish
divisions also challenge U.S. efforts against the Islamic State. Although the
Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga are important local partners and the KRG is a key
regional ally, their strategic priorities are to extend and consolidate
territorial control, while also fighting the Islamic State. In many ways, the
KRG needs to keep the campaign against the Islamic State alive because external
military support enhances its international recognition and strategic
significance, legitimates Barzani family power, and helps displace pressing
domestic political issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">These local dynamics coincide with deepening Kurdish fragmentation that
prevents a unified command structure to fight the Islamic State. They indicate
the second- and third-order consequences of counting on the Kurds to fight the
Islamic State beyond their juridical borders and demonstrate how unchecked and
unconditional military support can fuel intra-communal and intra-Kurdish
conflicts. The United States should therefore continue to act as a neutral broker
and provide weapons to the KRG through the Iraqi government (and not directly
to the KRG), more closely monitor the distribution of weapons to Erbil and
within the Kurdistan Region, and help stabilize Islamic State-free territories
so that displaced communities can return without fear of retaliation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The KRG’s attempts to gain economic independence have also had
significant consequences on the Kurdistan Region’s development and internal
stability. Although Kurdish officials can access much needed revenues from
direct oil sales, they lack the institutional mechanisms that can shield the
region from the ill effects of rentierism. These institutions will be
increasingly important as KRG officials operate their own energy sector,
particularly since the KRG and not Baghdad will be held directly accountable
for revenue generation, resource distribution, and service provision. These
changes will demand financial transparency, tackling corruption, coherent oil
and revenue policies, and real political reforms. The vulnerabilities created
by the KRG’s growing dependence on Turkey also underline the need for renewed
negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad, particularly in securing a sustained
budget based on the 2005 constitution. The United States can play an instrumental
role in brokering these negotiations as well as in helping the KRG develop more
transparent institutions that can effectively administer and govern the region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Finally, in assessing the strategic end state of the Kurdistan Region,
geopolitics remains tantamount. No matter how disinterested Kurds are in being
Iraqis, they live in a landlocked territory that remains dependent on Baghdad,
and increasingly Turkey and Iran. These dependencies have resulted in alliances
that not only keep borders open and intact, but provide different Kurdish
parties with external patronage to balance power inside the Kurdistan Region.
It is not the KRG that will unilaterally declare independence, sending ripple
effects throughout the region; rather, it is strong and assertive regional
states, namely Turkey and Iran, that will influence the trajectory of the
Kurdistan Region. Unless these conditions fundamentally change, the Kurdistan
Region will continue to exist in political limbo while seeking to leverage its
interests in a weak Iraqi state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="rtecenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.25rem; margin: 1rem;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The views expressed here are those of
the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National
Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.</span></em><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-45271016524824867562015-11-03T01:07:00.001+01:002015-11-03T01:07:33.183+01:00Iraq’s Turkmen on their own By Nermeen Mufti<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 15.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">Turkmen are Iraq’s third largest ethnic group but they remain underrepresented
in politics and their plight is largely ignored.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.6pt; margin-bottom: 14.4pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Baghdad - Iraq’s Turkmen are the country’s third largest ethnic group
after Arabs and Kurds but the community of nearly 3 million people has endured
displacement, isolation, discrimination and violence throughout its history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div id="text2" style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 15.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 14.4pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Today, the Turkmen remain underrepresented
in Iraqi politics and their plight is largely ignored. </span></div>
<div id="text2" style="background: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 15.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 14.4pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Please click on the link
hereunder:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR-BE;"> </span><a href="http://www.thearabweekly.com/?id=2259" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.thearabweekly.com/?id=2259</a></b></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-19712015612543975982015-11-02T23:46:00.002+01:002015-11-03T00:17:19.210+01:00The Kurdish Terror Campaign in Turkmen Eli (video) by Salman MofakTo watch the video please click on the link below:<br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNbaeDRCXTk" target="_parent"><b><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNbaeDRCXTk</span></b></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">After the fall of Saddam Hussein government the Turkmen, Arabs, and Chaldo Assyrians had high expectations of the interim administration established after 9th April 2003.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The Turkmen expected to see democracy, fairness, an end to discrimination, the right to self-determination and an end to violence. Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred regarding the human rights situation in Iraq, in particular concerning the Iraqi Turkmen. After the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, hundreds of Kurdish militia poured into the Turkmen city of Kirkuk. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The Kurdish militia ransacked the municipality buildings in Kirkuk, government offices and military buildings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The land deeds belonging to the Turkmen were deliberately taken from the Registry Office making it difficult for the Turkmen to establish themselves as original inhabitants of the province. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Large hotels, hospitals and a historical military barracks in the city (at that time used as a museum), which was built in the Ottoman era, along with Turkman shops and houses, including the land registry office </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">were set alight by the Kurdish militia.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The invasion of Kirkuk in 2003 by the Kurdish militia was a mirror image of the events from 1991 during the uprising against Saddam Hussein after Operation Desert Storm.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Thousands of internally displaced Kurds and Turkmen returned to Kirkuk and other Arabised regions to reclaim their homes and lands that had been occupied by Arabs from central and southern Iraq. These returnees had been were forcibly expelled from their homes by the government of Saddam Hussein during the 1980s and 1990s. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The majority of the returning Kurds were not originally from Kirkuk but were brought to Kirkuk with the help of the two Kurdish parties and they were housed in the vacant Turkmen and Arab houses.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The reasoning behind this was that they wanted to change the demography of the city and win the referendum that was planned to be carried out by 31 December 2007 to determine whether Kirkuk could formally join the Kurdish administered region, an outcome that Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk staunchly opposed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Salman Mofak.</span>BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-76788774426020966022015-10-24T20:28:00.004+02:002015-10-24T20:29:41.227+02:00Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative and Mr. Niyazi Mimar Oğlu, Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives at the European Parliament<div class="PVDocumentNumber">
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<b>Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative and Mr. Niyazi Mimar Oğlu, Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives were invited as guest speakers at the Delegation for Relations with Iraq Meeting </b><b>at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.</b></div>
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Hereunder the official Minutes of the Meeting:</div>
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<b>DELEGATION FOR RELATIONS WITH IRAQ MEETING AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT </b></div>
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D-IQ_PV(2015)0610</div>
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<b>MINUTES</b></div>
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<b>of
the meeting of 10 June 2015, 15.00-17.00</b></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="DocEPTmp"></a>Strasbourg</b></div>
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The meeting opened at 15.00 on Wednesday, 10 June 2015,
with David Campbell Bannerman (Chair)<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="DocEPTmp2"></a> presiding.</div>
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<b>1. Chair’s announcements <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Mr Brian Hayes</b>
(EPP - IRELAND), welcomed guest speakers from the Yazidi, Turkmen and
Chaldean/Syriac/Assyrian communities in Iraq. He reminded the audience that the
EU supports those actors who promote national reconciliation processes in Iraq,
including Iraqi institutions promoting the creation of an inclusive Iraqi
National Guard. In this regard, he announced that he recently met with the
Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Mr Al-Jabouri, at a joint
AFET-DEVE meeting dedicated to the humanitarian response plan for Iraq. The
outcome of this meeting was positive. </div>
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<b>2. Adoption of draft agenda (PE 553.741)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The agenda was adopted. </div>
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<b>3. Adoption of minutes of the Delegation
meeting of 29 April 2015 (PE 553.735)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The minutes were adopted. </div>
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<b>4. Exchange of views with the
Representatives of the 'Yazidi Democratic Movement' in Sinjar, created for the
fight against Daesh:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Mr. Said Hassan</b>, a
representative of the 'Yazidi Democratic Movement', argued that the different
peoples living under dictatorships in the MENA region were forced to protest
against their respective regimes, a phenomenon commonly known as the Arab
Spring. Unfortunately, this phenomenon, he explained, generated a situation in
Iraq that threatens the survival of Iraqi minorities. Subsequently, he called
upon EU institutions and the UN Security Council to focus on Iraqi minorities
under risk of disappearing, particularly the Yazidi community. </div>
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In August 2014, DAESH killed thousands of Yazidi men in
Sinjar. This massacre, among others, is part of DAESH' destruction of Iraqi
heritage, an action that will result, in his opinion, in a major cultural loss.
In this regard, he thanked the Kurdish people for helping the Yazidi community,
which, he claimed, might face extinction. In order to avoid such extinction, a
constituent assembly has been established to govern the Yazidi community in
Mount Sinjar and the surrounding territories. Another governing body has been
established outside of Iraq to support Yazidi efforts inside Iraqi territory,
he explained. </div>
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Then, he argued that the Yazidi community has had to resort
to the creation of its own forces, as Iraqi forces do not guarantee their
security. In March 2015, the Yazidi community formed its own forces, which now
operate in Sinjar. According to him, if they had had more weapons and military
backup, they could have hired more people to fight against DAESH. He called
upon the international community and the EU to support the Yazidi forces, as it
is not acceptable to permit the extinction of ancient minorities such as the
Yazidi community. </div>
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<b>Mr. Nouri Mirza</b>, a
member of the 'Yazidi Democratic Movement', thanked the EU for inviting Yazidi
representatives to speak about their current situation in Iraq. He argued that
the international community is paying little attention to the Yazidi community,
which is suffering DAESH' atrocities, among them the Sinjar massacre. As a
board member of the Yazidi Democratic Movement, he stated that the conditions
faced by the Yazidi community are severe. He explained how this community has
been displaced through Iraq, Syria and Turkey. According to statistics, more
than 5.000 Yazidi people have been kidnaped by DAESH; most of them women and
children. Also, 11 massive graves have been found containing bodies of Yazidi
people, and the holy places of this community have been destroyed by DAESH. </div>
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He then provided an example: in August and September 2014,
DAESH militants in northern Iraq perpetrated a massacre in the village of
Kocho, and abducted women and children. Before said event, there were 344
Yazidi families living in Kocho, that is 1738 Yazidi people. From this amount
of people, over 450 were killed by DAESH militants. </div>
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He called upon the international community to help Yazidi
refugees. He thanked the Iraqi Kurdistan for hosting the Yazidi community,
which has been settled in camps. The conditions in these camps are not proper;
he argued. Refugees lack access to medical health care, being diseases common.
Also, over 10.000 people are hiding in the Sinjar Mountain receiving no help
from the international community. They have no water, tents, weapons, nor
clothing. </div>
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<b>5. Exchange of views with the representatives
of minority communities in Iraq:<o:p></o:p></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b>Mr David Campbell
Bannerman</b> (ECR-UK, Delegation Chair), resumed his role as Chair of the
Delegation. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b>Dr. Hassan Tawfiq
Aydinli</b>, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative, thanked the EU for inviting
Iraqi representatives to speak for an EU audience. He focused his contribution
on two of the main problems faced by Turkmen in Iraq. Turkmen have been twice
internally displaced people: first under Saddam Hussein, and now under DAESH.
This has led to the loss of property. Reclaiming this property is difficult.
There is a Commission in charge of handling confiscations, properties and
related topics. Nevertheless, due to administrative difficulties and the
advance of DAESH, it has proven almost impossible for Turkmen to regain their
property. The other problem is the following: 300.000 Shia people belonging to
the Turkmen community have been forced to leave the community, as DAESH attacks
the Shia community. Defending the Shia Turkmen community is causing the death
of Turkmen, who receive no help from the Iraqi government nor the Peshmerga.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b>Mr. Niyazi Mimar Oglu</b>, a member Iraqi Council of
Representatives who has been targeted 28 times, also thanked the EU for
inviting Turkmen representatives to discuss the concerns of this community.
This community, he explained, is composed of over 2 million people. It faces
DAESH, and the differences between the government in Baghdad and that in the
Kurdish region. Many people have been killed, and many others have been forced
to flee. Others have been kidnapped. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">The Turkmen believe in diplomacy, in formal negotiations, he
argued. However, given the circumstances, the Turkmen have been forced to
fight. The international community has ignored the difficulties faced by this
community, he emphasised. Also, the rights of this community have been
violated, and their territory -under the umbrella of the central government-,
reduced. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">He sought to obtain international support for the Turkmen
community, and explained the need for stronger military action against DAESH.
Also, he stated that, from the entire EU funding to Iraq, the Turkmen did not
receive an euro. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b>Mr. David Campbell
Bannerman </b>(ECR-UK, Delegation Chair) thanked the Turkmen guests for
travelling to EU and for their contributions. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #292f33; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Above: with Mr. Brian HAYES, Fine Gael MEP for Dublin, Ireland.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #292f33; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Member of the European People's Party.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">He then gave the floor to
Assyrian representatives. </span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Mr. Sharbil Hanna
Matty</b>, General of the Assyrian "Nineveh Plain Forces", thanked
the EU for the invitation to participate in the meeting. He referred to the
Assyrian people as a Christian nation looking for co-existence in Iraq,
partnership and equal rights. He thanked the Kurdistan region for hosting all
types of refugees, and urged the EU to support the Kurdish government and to
implement all the measures promised by the EU. They have received no military
support. The Peshmerga is currently training Christian Assyrian forces, yet
this is not enough. They need weapons; vehicles and clothing. </div>
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Furthermore, he stated that the Assyrian community seeks to
become an independent administration within the Kurdistan region. Also, he
expressed his support to other minorities and the willingness of the Assyrian
community to work with other communities towards a common project, that is, a
unified and democratic Iraq. In order to achieve this project, he explained,
the support of the European Union is needed. The EU needs to be involved in the
negotiations so that minorities are conceived of as equal partners, and so that
displaced people feel like returning to their homes. </div>
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<b>MPE Mr. Gérard Deprez </b>(Group
of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgium) welcome the
willingness of the different minorities to work together towards an end of the
conflict. He then requested a clarification on whether these minorities are
seeking any sort of political or territorial autonomy. Also, he noted that,
despite the fact that all minorities feel part of Iraq, all the representatives
thanked the Peshmerga or the Kurdistan region rather than the Iraqi forces or
the central government. He asked what the Iraqi government could do for these
minorities; and whether the Iraqi government can guarantee their security. </div>
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<b>MPE Mr. Afzal Khan </b>(Group
of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European
Parliament, United Kingdom) asked the representatives of these minorities about
the emergence of DAESH. Other MPE
enquired about the deplorable situation in Kurdistan, and, in line to Mr.
Khan's question, asked about the emergence and success of DAESH, which is seen
as a protector of the Sunni people. </div>
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The representatives argued that their demand for autonomy was
not new, but a demand that was formulated in 2004 following the fall of the
Saddam regime. This autonomy is supported by the Iraqi constitution, they
explained, and does not imply the division of Iraq, but the creation of
autonomies within Iraq. The representatives of these minorities argued that
minorities look forward to have their own administrations and to achieve
equality, and that they support each other in their aspirations. They also
asserted that, when it comes to autonomy, all the difficulties faced by the
different communities in Iraq are rooted in the creation of Iraq following
World War I. They argued that if one part of Iraq is allowed to have its own
autonomy, so do other parts.</div>
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Furthermore, they argued that the Iraqi government does not
have the capacity to rule the country, and that minorities do not receive help
from the central government. These minorities are settled between DAESH and the
Kurdish region. Consequently, following the fall of the Saddam regime, the
Kurdish region became the ally of these minorities, who ask for equal access to
help. </div>
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In regard to the emergence of DAESH, they argued that it is
an organisation that rose in a space where it could expand itself. Also, there
is a theory that DAESH has been created in order to design a new Middle East
map. Anyway, they argued, the different parties in Iraq were not able to
coordinate themselves, particularly with the Iraqi government, making it
difficult to act cohesively against DAESH. Moreover, they underlined that
people joining DAESH do so because they have not been able to find a place
within their respective countries, from Saddam's former military heads in Iraq
to European militants joining the ranks of DAESH. </div>
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Finally, the called upon the EU to support internally
displaced people as well as the reconstruction of Iraq. They called for
resolutions to be implemented. They argued that people is losing hope in the
international community. </div>
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A representative from the Iraqi Embassy argued that Iraq is a
democratic country, since all minorities do have representatives in the central
government. He argued that these representatives should express their concerns
to their elected members of parliament. Iraq has financial issues, and this has
to be taken into consideration. </div>
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<b>6. Any other business<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>7. Date and place of next meeting<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The meeting closed at 17.00.</div>
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The following MEPS attended the meeting:</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">David Campbell Bannerman, Brian Hayes, Javier Couso
Permuy, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Joëlle
Bergeron, Gérard Deprez, Ana Gomes, Michel Reimon, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Afzal
Khan, Branislav Škripek, György Hölvényi, Bas Belder</span></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-22010952591477353232015-08-11T08:49:00.003+02:002015-08-11T09:05:29.818+02:00TURKMEN RESCUE FOUNDATION STATEMENT CONDEMNING THE SILENCE OF THE MEDIA AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ON THE MASSACRE OF TURKMEN IN IRAQ<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #660000;">TURKMENS
ARE LOSING HOPE AS THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REMAIN
SILENT ABOUT THE EXECUTIONS AND DETENTIONS OF HUNDREDS OF TURKMENS (AMONG THEM WOMEN
AND CHILDREN) BY ISIS IN IRAQ. WHILE THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SHOWS EMPATHY
AND IS HELPING THE NON-TURKMEN COMPONENTS OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE, IT IS TURNING A
DEAF EAR TO THE APPEALS OF THE TURKMENS.</span></b><span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="color: #1f497d;"><b>LES TURKMENES EN IRAK PERDENT L’ESPOIR D’ETRE ENTENDUS
PAR LE GOUVERNEMENT IRAKIEN ET PAR LA COMMUNAUTE INTERNATIONALE, CEUX-CI RESTENT
SILENCIEUX ET INDIFFERENTS SUR LES EXECUTIONS ET LES DETENTIONS DE CENTAINES DE TURKMENES
(PARMI LESQUELS DES FEMMES ET DES ENFANTS) PAR LE GROUPE TERRORISTE DAESH, ALORS QU’ILS
SOUTIENNENT ET AIDENT TOUS LES AUTRES GROUPES RELIGIEUX ET ETHNIQUES EN IRAK QUI
SONT EUX AUSSI VICTIMES DE DAESH. </b></span><b><span style="color: #20124d;">JUSQU'A QUAND CES DEUX POIDS DEUX MESURES ?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ON 8th AUGUST 2015 THE TURKMEN RESCUE FOUNDATION ISSUED A STATEMENT STRONGLY CONDEMNING THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT, OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND OF THE MEDIA ON THE ONGOING MASSACRES COMMITTED AGAINST THE TURKMENS IN IRAQ, IT ACCUSES THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT, THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE MEDIA OF DOUBLE STANDARDS IN DEALING WITH THE TURKMEN AND NON-TURKMEN COMPONENTS OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE.</span></b></span></div>
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In December 2014 the Turkmen Rescue Foundation published a well documented report in Arabic, English and Turkish about the 450 Turkmen civilians, (among whom 50 women and 120 children) who were held captive by the ISIS terrorists. This report was disseminated far and wide, to all governmental and non-governmental organizations, to the media, to international organizations and institutions.</div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: dark2;">On 8th August 2015 the Turkmen Rescue Foundation informed the international community that the criminal ISIS organization had recently announced </span>through social networking sites that they have executed over 2000 civilians from Mosul, including women and children, accusing them of being apostates because of their jobs in the police, the Electoral Commission, the media and for being candidates in the elections.<b>The Turkmen Rescue Foundation confirmed that 700 among the victims were Turkmen (including women and children) ISIS terrorists carried out public executions of these innocent civilians by firing squads.</b><br />
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<b>The Turkmen Rescue Foundation sends the following message to all inside and outside Iraq:</b><br />
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The deafening silence of everyone towards the ongoing massacres committed against the Turkmen and the violations of their human rights by ISIS terrorists and by other aggressors make us lose hope. Although we, Turkmen, are the third main ethnic component of the Iraqi people (over 2,5 million people) we continue to be discriminated simply for being Turkmen and this makes us feel we are not considered as Iraqi citizens.<br />
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The double standard in dealing with the Turkmen and non-Turkmen components of the Iraqi people by the Iraqi government and by the international community is unacceptable.<br />
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The Turkmen Rescue Foundation demands that the Iraqi government and the international community support the Turkmen fighters (over ten thousand) who have joined the army, the police and the popular mobilization forces and who are combatting ISIS on the front lines, they are fighting to liberate the Turkmen areas of Bashir in Kirkuk, Telafer, Shrikhan, Al Kubban and other areas in Mosul in order to put an end to the sufferings of the Turkmen and save as many lives as possible.<br />
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The Turkmen Rescue Foundation calls on the Iraqi Parliament to approve the Turkmen Rights Law which has remained frozen since the previous Parliament, together with the law for the establisment of the new provinces of Talafer and Tuz, as legal valves which can prevent a repeat of the massacres that we see on a daily basis.<br />
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-22404179654847996382015-07-02T03:47:00.002+02:002015-07-05T10:02:52.628+02:00Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU representative received an invitation from MEP Josef Weidenholzer to participate to the Conference on Human Rights in Iraq at the EU Parliament <span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative was invited as speaker at the <i>Conference on Human Rights and religious minorities in Iraq</i>, which was hosted by MEP Josef Weidenholzer at the European Parliament on 29th - 30th June and 1st July 2015. </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMsJZkl7Fjzrpk0r8MqyKekmfLs0m_BrX_bKrF2LTan85UpXrE4K92J6p9OXa763DjyjEbp4duspUSd0htVp33YymgAU8-7Xktfcnh8P66jqFWFe3MzkS1F-V4SPnvvj45VOIjNbpNp4/s1600/DSC_1747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMsJZkl7Fjzrpk0r8MqyKekmfLs0m_BrX_bKrF2LTan85UpXrE4K92J6p9OXa763DjyjEbp4duspUSd0htVp33YymgAU8-7Xktfcnh8P66jqFWFe3MzkS1F-V4SPnvvj45VOIjNbpNp4/s400/DSC_1747.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<i>MEP Josef Weidenholzer, Chairman of the Conference and Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative.</i><br />
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Were present at the conference opening:<br />
<b>H.E. Dr. Jawad Al-Chlaihawi</b>, Designated Ambassador of Iraq in Belgium<br />
<b>Delavar Ajgely</b>, Head of the Mission to European Union, KRG<br />
<b>Breen Tahseen</b>, Yazidi representative of the 'Mir' family, Iraqi Diplomat<br />
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Several Members of the European Parliament participated at the Conference.<br />
<b>Marietje Schaake</b> (ALDE), <b>Ana Gomes</b> (S&D), <b>Cornelia Ernst</b> (GUE), <b>Michèle Alliot-Marie</b> Former State Minister (France),<b> Ismail Ertug,</b> <b>Engel Frank, Freund Eugen, Afzal Khan, Barabara Lochbihler, Martin Edouard, Piri Kali, Reimon Michel, Terricabras Josep-Maria, Zaborska Anna.</b><br />
<b>Alessia Corsini</b>, European Commission<br />
<b>Thomas Schmidinger</b>, Humanitarian Organisation LeEZA, University Vienna<br />
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Participants :<br />
<b>Hassan Aydinli</b>, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative<br />
<b>Jamil Suleiman Haydar</b>, Former Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Iraq<br />
<b>Mirza Dinnayi</b>, Head of "Air Bridge" Iraq & KRG Advisor for Disputed Areas in Iraq<br />
<b>Yonadam Yawsep Kanna</b>, Iraqi Parliament, Assyrian Democratic Movement (ZOWAA)<br />
<b>Yousuf Muharam Salman</b>, Shabak Democratic Gathering in Europe, Iraqi Minorities Council<br />
<b>Hasan Nagham</b>, Gynaecologist and volunteer aid worker for an NGO in Iraq<br />
<b>Emanuel Youkhana</b>, Archimandrite, Head of CAPNI (Christian Aid Program Northern Iraq)<br />
<b>Mato Naif</b>, Mayor Kojo (village massacred by IS)<br />
<b>Salam Farhan</b>, Director of Mandaean Human Rights Group<br />
<b>Hayder Shesho</b>, HPS (Shingal's protection units)<br />
<b>Mamou Farhan Othman</b>, Director of the European Studies Centre, Univesity of Duhok<br />
<b>Leyla Ferman</b>, Co-President of the Yezidi Federation of Europe<br />
<b>Diya Butrus Sulaywa</b>, Head of Independant Commission for Human Rights, Kurdistan<br />
<b>Naher Arslan</b>, Assyrian Institute of Belgium<br />
<b>Lokman Khalil</b>, Shabak, Netherlands<br />
<b>Goran Alkakay</b>, Kakai-Intellectual, Nineveh Plains<br />
<b>Shuhaib G. Nashi</b>, Mandaen Association Union, Morristown, NJ<br />
<b>Hagop Simonian</b>, Armenian Community Arbil<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LR1ChH5cTxwnIOXdWYzekz1UyQznwhxMX9d9P6d3SeeieOicuopDBq-ewzPRiYSjwRzCihLQqpMrD0YYMY87fgQ_J-QWrYJ3P_H2AW2sTC4JvgE8-AK01v5-9iDaWh8UTVGgWyGbfjU/s1600/DSC_1683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LR1ChH5cTxwnIOXdWYzekz1UyQznwhxMX9d9P6d3SeeieOicuopDBq-ewzPRiYSjwRzCihLQqpMrD0YYMY87fgQ_J-QWrYJ3P_H2AW2sTC4JvgE8-AK01v5-9iDaWh8UTVGgWyGbfjU/s400/DSC_1683.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<i>Dr. Hassan Aydinli spoke on the Political and Humanitarian Situation of Turkmens</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaLStXoR99fP3MDHVspFlPIwUzTqgy87k3HNOegu-1ljYNl8HpJk3UxVP09YqN5_pTxd1vhv3nyhwhAn6EGbSq2fOnN9zSn3PCNsbUH5O30vk1IMUy_ZekH99ovDHB3aFWY1gHxbUSb4/s1600/DSC_1699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaLStXoR99fP3MDHVspFlPIwUzTqgy87k3HNOegu-1ljYNl8HpJk3UxVP09YqN5_pTxd1vhv3nyhwhAn6EGbSq2fOnN9zSn3PCNsbUH5O30vk1IMUy_ZekH99ovDHB3aFWY1gHxbUSb4/s400/DSC_1699.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<i>The panel was chaired by Michiel Leezenberg, University Amsterdam</i><br />
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<i>Dr. Hassan Aydinli speaking with Michèle Alliot-Marie, MEP, Former State Minister, Head of the Parliamentary Working Group 'Christians in the Middle East", France.</i><br />
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<i>The conference was followed by 'Working Groups' during which the participants had a chance to discuss the following questions in smaller groups:</i><br />
1. Which political solutions are there for the minorities in Iraq that are threatened by IS and other militias?<br />
2. What can the European Union do to support such solutions?<br />
3. Which humanitarian measures would you ask from the EU?<br />
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<i>Dr. Hassan Aydinli with MEP Josef Weidenholzer</i><br />
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<i><b>A Joint Press Meeting took place in the Glassroom at the EP on 1st July 2015.</b></i><br />
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<i>Moderations and Introduction</i> : MEP Josef Weidenholzer.<br />
<i>participants: </i><br />
<b>Mirza Dinnayi</b>, Head of "Air Bridge" Iraq & KRG Advisor for Disputed Areas in Iraq<br />
<b>Hassan Aydinli</b>, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative<br />
<b>Yonadam Yawsep Kanna</b>, Iraqi Parliament, Assyrian Democratic Movement (ZOWAA)<br />
<b>Yousuf Muharam Salman</b>, Shabak Democratic Gathering in Europe, Iraqi Minorities Council<br />
<b>Hasan Nagham,</b> Gynaecologist and volunteer aid worker for an NGO in Iraq<br />
<b>Emanuel Youkhana</b>, Archimandrite, Head of CAPNI (Christian Aid Program Northern Iraq)<br />
<b>Mato Naif</b>, Mayor Kojo (village massacred by IS)<br />
<b>Salam Farhan</b>, Director of Mandaean Human Rights Group<br />
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This is the second time Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU representative was invited at the EU Parliament this month to speak about the Turkmens of Iraq, please see:<br />
Two Iraqi Turkmen representatives, were invited as guest speakers at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, at the Delegation for Relations with Iraq Meeting on 10th June 2015<br />
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http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2015/07/dr-hassan-aydinli-iraqi-turkmen-front.html<br />
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<br />BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-31884323036092989222015-07-01T18:05:00.000+02:002015-07-02T08:37:06.717+02:00Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative and Mr. Niyazi Mimar Oğlu, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament were invited as guest speakers at the European Parliament <b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative and Mr. Niyazi Mimar Oğlu, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament were invited as guest speakers at the Delegation for Relations with Iraq Meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 10th June 2015.</span></b><br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhB6LGjTmmx5d2kyhoF8ncPpyHn93vVqTRym5scvD3plwQwNcJhrBx22Ojp8-M9-28aZgypMHBp5etIZ8K-Ptdff40zOdci582ykwjp6LNMrvlyJTsTv_VaLFZUKntkP11aVudM2uTZI/s400/DSC_1528.JPG" />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">in Front of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVuGXUUag9Zu17-BGchG3tUBO3NHfattZ00-VC1RwcQG87ZGJDly5vI0Q5KBM9igzXUFlmp4qpA2hiraSxeuw20vHR6TQF1zPkmlAUYa18OpiYKKownkKnltfH5CS52emCr_qvBlg5qcA/s1600/DSC_1544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVuGXUUag9Zu17-BGchG3tUBO3NHfattZ00-VC1RwcQG87ZGJDly5vI0Q5KBM9igzXUFlmp4qpA2hiraSxeuw20vHR6TQF1zPkmlAUYa18OpiYKKownkKnltfH5CS52emCr_qvBlg5qcA/s400/DSC_1544.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">From left to right: Brian HAYES, Vice-Chairman Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">David CAMPBELL BANNERMAN, Chairman of Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">From left to right: Brian HAYES, Vice-Chairman Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">David CAMPBELL BANNERMAN, Chairman of Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Brian HAYES, Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan AYDINLI, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">From left to right: Branislav Skripek MEP.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">David Campbell Bannerman, Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Javier Couso Permuy, Vice-Chairman </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">of the Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Afzal Khan, Member of the European Parliament</span><br />
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Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative speaking to<br />
Gérard Duprez, Member of the European Parliament<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Javier Couso Permuy, Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">David Campbell Bannerman, Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rok KOZELJ, EU Parliament Directorate General External Policies</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Brian HAYES, Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">David Campbell Bannerman, Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative</span><br />
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Several MEPs attending the conference put questions to<br />
the guest speakers<br />
from left to right MEPs Bas Belder, Branislav Skripek, Afzal Khan.<br />
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Representative of the Iraqi Embassy Brussels and Members of the EU Parliament and representatives of EEAS and ADLE attended the conference.<br />
MEPs Michel Reimon, Ana Gomes, Gérard Deprez, J. Bergeron,<br />
Branislave Skripek, Bas Belder, Afzal Khan.<br />
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Branislav Skripek, Member of the European Parliament<br />
Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative<br />
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Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative<br />
Afzal Khan, MEP<br />
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Afzal Khan, MEP, Dr. Hassan Aydinli ITF EU representative<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">in Front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Niyazi MIMAR OĞLU, Turkmen Member of the Iraqi Parliament.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Dr.Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">in Front of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France.</span><br />
<br />BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-42466518542744384552015-06-19T11:04:00.003+02:002015-06-19T11:04:43.269+02:00We are being forced out of Syria: Turkmen leader<h1 style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding-bottom: 8px;">
<span id="ctl00_ctl01_ctl00_lblHeaderText"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;">We are being forced out of Syria: Turkmen leader</span></span></h1>
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<span class="Agency" id="ctl00_ctl01_ctl00_lblAgency" style="clear: left; display: block; font-size: 11px;">Uğur Ergan - ANKARA</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;">The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is working on a “secret plan” to rid the Syrian-Turkish border of Turkmens, said Ershad Salihi, a leading figure of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) during an interview with Hürriyet. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;"><b>“Tel Abyad is a Turkmen region in Syria. First, ISIL was placed here. Turkmens were forced to live under ISIL. Then, using ISIL as a pretext, these places are being handed over to Kurds, with Turkmens being forced out of their homeland,” he said. “It is certain that this is part of a project to found a Kurdish state in the region,” he added. A similar thing is happening in Iraq’s Telafer, the Turkmen leader said, adding that he would not be surprised if Kurdish forces would attack the Iraqi city, which is under ISIL control, and Turkmens there would also be forced to migrate. “We live in concern,” he said asking for financial support to show their power to the central government in Baghdad</b>. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;">“We call on Turkmen business people in Turkey and other countries to support Turkmens in the region,” he said. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, Arial; font-size: 14px;">His remarks came after the YPG, joined by some Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces and backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, drew ISIL from the key border town of Tel Abyad, triggering a new wave of refugees.</span><br />
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http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/we-are-being-forced-out-of-syria-turkmen-leader.aspx?pageID=238&nid=84210&NewsCatID=352<br />
<br />BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-44744265232771143782015-06-15T08:02:00.000+02:002015-06-15T08:02:08.261+02:00Ethnic cleansing charged as Kurds move on Islamic State town in Syria<br />
Ethnic cleansing charged as Kurds move on Islamic State town in Syria<br />
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BY MOUSAB ALHAMADEE AND ROY GUTMAN<br />
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McClatchy Foreign StaffJune 13, 2015 <br />
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Several members of the extended family of Jomah Ahmed, a member of the al Baggara tribe, share a small house a few kilometers from Akcakale, Turkey, after fleeing their home village of Al Fwaida. They were photographed on June 12, 2015. ALICE MARTINS — McClatchy<br />
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AKCAKALE, TURKEY — <b><span style="color: #990000;">After receiving a crush of 13,000 Syrian refugees in less than a week, Turkey on Saturday closed a key border crossing to Syria and complained that a combined U.S.-Kurdish offensive against the Islamic State was driving Arabs and Turkmens out of Syria.</span></b><br />
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With Kurdish forces reported closing on Islamic State-controlled Tal Abyad, the Syrian town across from Akcakale, Turkey, the apparently successful offensive against the extremists has laid bare <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/20/244064/kurdish-hope-for-autonomy-drives.html">the clash of interests</a>that has vexed the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State in Syria.<br />
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On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in one of first public appearances since his party lost its majority in parliamentary elections, accused “the West” of killing Arabs and Turkmens in Syria, and replacing them with Kurdish militia affiliated with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK by its initials in Kurdish.<br />
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<b>“The West, which has shot Arabs and Turkmens, is unfortunately placing the PYD and PKK in lieu of them,” Erdogan said.</b><br />
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The PYD, or Democratic Union Party, is a Syrian Kurdish political party affiliated with the PKK, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/04/245649/think-helping-to-fight-isis-will.html">which has been declared a terrorist group by both Turkey and the United States.</a> The PYD’s armed wing, the People’s Protection Unit, or <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/26/254429/islamic-state-flees-kobani-in.html">YPG, is credited, along with an intensive U.S. bombing campaign, with holding off the Islamic State at Kobani after a four-month siege</a>.<br />
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<b>Arabs and Turkmen who’ve fled Syria use more caustic terms to condemn the Kurdish offensive, which also is backed by U.S. airstrikes. They charge that YPG militias have stolen their homes and livestock, burned their personal documents and claimed the land as theirs.</b><br />
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“They forced us from our village and said to us ‘this is Rojava’,” the term the YPG uses to describe a swath of territory it claims across northern Syria, said Jomah Ahmed, 35, a member of the al Baggara tribe. He arrived from the village of al Fwaida with dozens of members of his extended family before Turkey closed the border.<br />
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“They said ‘Go to the al Badiya desert, go to Tadmur, where you belong’.” Tadmur, captured last month by the Islamic State, is more than 100 miles to the southeast of Tal Abyad.<br />
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Tal Abyad won fame in recent months as one of the most important crossing between Turkey and the Islamic State, which is also referred to as ISIL and ISIS.</div>
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<a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/10/252649/woman-tied-to-paris-terror-attacks.html">It was at Tal Abyad that Hayat Boumedienne, the wife of the shooter who killed four Jews in a Paris grocery in January, disappeared after fleeing France</a>. It was also <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/09/20/240536/49-turks-held-by-islamic-state.html">the place where the Islamic State delivered 46 Turkish diplomats and three Iraqi employees</a> that its fighters had taken hostage during the capture of Mosul in Iraq a year ago.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/18/253520/escape-to-syria-of-charlie-hebdo.html">Akcakale (pronounced ak-CHAK-ah-lee) and the surrounding area has become a key transit point for those seeking to join the Islamic State,</a> despite claims by Turkish officials that they are trying to stanch the flow.<br />
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But the push on Tal Abyad by Kurdish forces with U.S. assistance is exacerbating long held ethnic resentments. Kurdish residents of northern Syria have long accused the government in Damascus of taking their land to accommodate Arab settlers. As long as two years ago, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/23/163322/when-assad-falls-kurds-in-syria.html">Kurdish activists who took power when the government of President Bashar Assad withdrew vowed to push the Arabs out.</a><br />
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Non-Kurdish Syrians say that campaign is now under way. They say that the Kurds are trying to create an autonomous state in northern Syria and that the United States is helping.<br />
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“They told us ‘We have been here 20,000 years. You came only recently from the desert. Go back to your desert,’ ” said Ibrahim al Khider, an Arab prince who leads a tribe of 16,000 in Deir el Zour province.<br />
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Equally bitter, <b>Tarik Sulo, the spokesman for the Syrian Turkmen community in northern Syria, said the U.S. bombing support and the YPG ground forces “are changing the demography of the area in an ethnic cleansing.” He said Turkmen, an ethnic Turkish minority in Syria, “are losing lands where they have been living for centuries.”</b><br />
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The YPG captured two Turkmen villages on Thursday out of 20 with a total populaton of more than 40,000. On Saturday, its forces were reported to have advanced to the outskirts of Tal Abyad.<br />
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During in interview in Ankara, Sulo showed a McClatchy special correspondent a photograph now circulating on social media that shows uniformed YPG fighters forcing an Arab captive to kiss the YPG flag.<br />
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The Syrian Opposition Coalition, the exile grouping the United States once recognized as the leading anti-Assad political force, also has accused the YPG of “violations against civilians” in Syria’s Hasaka province. It said these included systematic displacement of civilians, compulsory military service for young residents, and kidnapping civilians “to spread terror among the population.”<br />
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The criticism by Arabs, Turkmens and the Syrian opposition points to the tactical nature of the U.S.-directed offensive in Syria. The U.S. has rejected working with moderate anti-Assad rebels and has begun training Syrians for a new force whose principal mission would be confronting the Islamic State.<br />
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In the meantime, it has found the YPG to be a willing partner <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/26/254429/islamic-state-flees-kobani-in.html">whose success in fighting off the Islamic State at Kobani </a>has become a <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/20/243976/after-us-airdrop-turkey-agrees.html">model of sorts for combat operations</a> in northeastern Syria.<br />
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But the U.S.-YPG alliance has triggered harsh criticism from those who say it shows little regard for the politics and history of the region or the sensitivities of NATO ally Turkey, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/21/244139/after-us-airdrop-turkey-agrees.html">which objected last year when the United States dropped weapons and ammunition to YPG fighters </a>at Kobani.<br />
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It also has led to allegations that, with no U.S. troops on the ground to monitor developments, the YPG, which has its own political agenda, has been using the offensive to push an anti-Arab campaign. <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/02/265366/us-strike-in-syria-blamed-for.html">Local residents have accused the YPG of intentionally misleading American commanders about conditions at the Syrian town of Bir Mahalli in late April. </a>A U.S. airstrike there may have killed more than 50 civilians, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.<br />
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The U.S. Central Command is looking into the allegations that the U.S. is unintentionally furthering ethnic cleansing.<br />
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“As a matter of course, we neither condone any form of ethnic cleansing nor would we willingly support any such activity,” Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, a Centcom spokesman, said Friday. “But we take any such allegations seriously and will look into them.”<br />
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He said U.S. and other airstrikes in Syria are intended to help operations in Iraq. He called them “shaping operations, meant to degrade ISIL’s resources and effectiveness, limit their freedom of maneuver and buy Iraqi forces additional time and space to regenerate their combat capability.”<br />
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Shrfan Darwish, a YPG spokesman in Kobani, denied that the militia was conducting “ethnic cleansing.” He said Kurds in Kobani gave a warm reception to Arabs who’d fled Tal Abyad after the Islamic State captured the town a year ago.<br />
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Serdar Mullah Darwish, a Kurdish journalist in Hasaka province who is not related to Shrfan, told McClatchy that Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State had been joined by some moderate rebels and some Arab tribal forces.<br />
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But he said most residents had left the area because of the fighting and implied that Arabs who stayed in Tal Abyad had supported the Islamic State.<br />
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“When Kurds fled the city in the summer of 2013, no one said this was the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds, despite the fact that all the fighters in the Islamic State were Arabs,” he said.<br />
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But refugees who’ve fled to mainly Arab Akcakale just across the border from Tal Abyad tell a different story.<br />
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Ahmed, the al Baggara tribal member from al Fwaida, said Kurdish forces arrested and beat him for two days and invited him to join them in the battle against the Islamic State. When he refused, they expelled him and his family from his village.<br />
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But the Salman al Fayyad family, a 14-member extended family, was allowed to stay when they agreed to join the YPG, he said. If the border were open, tens of thousands more would leave, said Abdulhamid al Jasem, 25, Ahmed’s cousin.<br />
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The situation is made more complex by the acknowledgment that some residents took part in Islamic State activities when their villages were captured.<br />
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“Many of our sons got involved with the Islamic State,” said Abu Khaled, 63, who arrived at Akcakale with his five sons and several dozen grandchildren. “Some joined Quran sessions, and others took up weapons.”<br />
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A top rebel military official said</div>
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that if the YPG expulsions continue – some estimates put the number at 40,000 in Hasaka alone – they will become a recruiting tool for Islamic State.<br />
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“Until now we don’t know what the coalition wants. Does it intend to fight ISIS or empower ISIS?” said Gen. Ahmed Berri, the deputy chief of staff of moderate rebel forces, using an alternative name of the Islamic State.<br />
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MCCLATCHY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ALHAMADEE REPORTED FROM AKCAKALE, GUTMAN, FROM ISTANBUL. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT DUYGU GUVENC REPORTED FROM ANKARA.</div>
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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/06/13/269821/ethnic-cleansing-charged-as-kurds.html<br />
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-39256465556962408402015-06-13T09:05:00.000+02:002015-06-13T09:11:13.148+02:00Pissed Off Turkmen Want Their Town Back - Iraq’s Shia Turkmen militia counterattack in Bashir<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Pissed Off Turkmen Want Their Town Back<br /><br />Iraq’s Shia Turkmen militia counterattack in Bashir</b></span><br />
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by MATT CETTI-ROBERTS<br />
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An Iraqi Turkmen militiaman stands on a black Ford F250 Super Duty and stares off into the distance. Above there’s the hazy midday sun. In front of him, there’s the front line in the war with Islamic State.<br />
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Three Islamic State fighters approach the front line — a sandy berm stretching into the distance on either side of the miltiaman’s position. IS is notorious for using teams of suicide bombers, so the Turkmen fighter cannotallow them to get close.<br />
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Reaching toward the truck’s mounted KPV 14.5-millimeter heavy machine gun, he racks back the cocking handle, swivels the weapon toward no-man’s land and fires three short bursts.<br />
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The militants scatter back the way they came.<br />
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It’s early April and beyond the earthen berm, less than a mile away, is the Islamic State-held town of Bashir. The town sits around 10 miles southwest of Kirkuk.<br />
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The fighters occupying the front line here are mainly Shia Turkmen from the local area working as part of Iraq’s predominantly Popular Mobilization Forces — also known as the Hashd Shaabi.<br />
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In a few days, they will carry out another attack to retake the town.<br />
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At top — a Shia Turkmen fighter of the Martyr Sadr Force stands on the roof of his unit’s base near Kirkuk. Above — a Badr Organisation position at the front line outside Bashir. Matt Cetti-Roberts photos<br />
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The Turkmen are one of Iraq’s largest minority groups, descended from various waves of migration dating back to the 7th century. Although they inhabit areas across central Iraq, many lived in villages to the south of Kirkuk before Islamic State came.<br />
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Bashir is widely considered the heart of the Iraqi Turkmen community. They once constituted 40 percent of its population.<br />
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But in 2014, Islamic State swept through Iraq. In June, Bashir fell. Iraqi army troops based at the nearby K-1 Airbase fled, and left their weapons and vehicles behind. The Kurdish Peshmerga rushed in to fill the security vacuum in and around oil-rich Kirkuk.<br />
One of the Iraqi army troops who fled is now back. Maj. Abdul Hussein Abass sits behind a desk inside a base for the Hash Shaabi’s Martyr Sadr Force.<br />
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Shia religious flags fly from the roofs of the base’s buildings. “When ISIS took Bashir, 23 people were killed, including women and children,” Abdul says — while surrounded by Turkmen Shia fighters.<br />
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“I am from Bashir originally,” Abdul, who is Turkman Shia himself, says. “It’s my neighborhood, so I joined the fight. I am a military man.”<br />
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“We are here to protect our land, especially Turkman Shia, [but] we don’t have racism,” Abdul says. “We are all here. There aren’t many of us so we have to work together. Ten Sunni guys joined, we never say no.”<br />
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The badge-adorned load carrying vest of a Turkmen Martyr Sadr Force fighter. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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Abdul says that improvised explosive devices — or IEDs — are a major obstacle to retaking the town.<br />
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“When we say we will take Bashir, the fighters move and don’t think there are bombs,” Abdul says. “They are all thinking of the fatwa, it is inside their brain pushing them to this kind of work.”<br />
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After his unit evaporated during the Islamic State advance last year, he moved to the Kurdish capital of Erbil and registered to join Unit 16 — the Turkmen Hashd Shaabi formation that covers the area from Tuz Khumartu to Kirkuk.<br />
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From there, he helped liberate the besieged Turkmen town of Amerli in September 2014.<br />
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A Shia Turkmen fighter of the Martyr Sadr Force stands beneath a portrait of Muhammad Baqir Al Sadr, a Shia cleric executed in 1980 by the Ba’athists, at the unit’s base near Kirkuk. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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On June 29, 2014, Abdul took part in the first attack on Bashir, where 26 Turkmen died. He tells us that the fighters were not organized properly — unlike now under the Hashd Shaabi.<br />
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But this isn’t the first time Bashir’s residents were forced from their homes.<br />
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In 1986, Saddam Hussein’s Arabization policy displaced the town’s Turkmen. The plan was to bring in loyal Sunni tribes to areas where minority groups who opposed the regime flourished.<br />
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“I remember I was in the sixth grade, I didn’t pass that year of school,” Abdul recalls. “They [the Iraqi army] said the sewage pipes didn’t work so we couldn’t stay in Bashir — then they gave it to to the Sunni Arabs.”<br />
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When American forces invaded in 2003, the Turkmen returned from exile to reclaim their homes. Fighting between returning Turkmen and Sunni Arabs eventually saw Saddam’s emigres forcibly ejected.<br />
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Many Sunnis remained in the outlying villages and some joined Islamic State. “Whoever was working with ISIS of course can’t come back home [and] has to go to prison, we have names and intelligence of these people,” Abdul adds.<br />
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“We are from this land and trying to protect this land. We are trying to defend Bashir, because it is our land, our property,” he says, explaining why only the Shia Turkmen are trying to liberate the town.<br />
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He also doesn’t see Unit 16 having a role in any future liberation of Mosul — a majority Sunni city. He believes former residents of the city should be involved in the operation instead.<br />
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A militia flag. Matt Cetti-Roberts<br />
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Reprisals<br />
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Colorful flags of Iraq’s powerful Shia forces flutter along the front line. On the walls of the Martyr Sadr Force’s base are pictures of Muhammad Baqir Al Sadr, a Shia cleric executed in 1980 by Saddam’s Ba’athist regime.<br />
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But the Shia militias’ sectarian nature has provoked fears of retribution attacks against Sunnis. Iraq’s mainly Shia Popular Mobilization Forces were brought together by a fatwa — a religious call to arms — by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani.<br />
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In 2014, Iraq’s then-Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki authorized the miitias’ deployment and gave them official backing. The militias have since been at the forefront of victories over Islamic State, beating them back in Diyala province and parts of Salahaddin.<br />
But <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/15/iraq-militias-escalate-abuses-possibly-war-crimes">human rights groups</a> have accused Shia fighters of carrying out <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/12/shia-militia-fightback-against-isis-leads-to-massacre-of-sunnis">sectarian attacks</a> against Sunnis — looting homes, setting property on fire and carrying out executions.<br />
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There’s even been <a href="https://medium.com/war-is-boring/murder-of-ethnic-kurdish-cleric-sparks-outrage-e99741e1e4d5">recurring friction</a> between the Hashd Shaabi and the Peshmerga, such as <a href="https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-old-peshmerga-that-refuses-to-die-a5cd72e3ee34">Tuz Kharmato</a>. Recent reports emerged that the Peshmerga told 80 members of the Saraya Tali’a Al Khurasani militia <a href="http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/07052015">to leave Jalawla</a>. In January 2015, the Shia <a href="http://www.basnews.com/en/news/2015/01/11/shiite-militia-groups-tell-peshmerga-froces-to-leave-jalawla/">told the Peshmerga to leave</a>.<br />
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Abdul denies any problems with his unit. “The media says that Hashd Shaabi murders and loots,” he says. “We took Jedadyah [a village close to Bashir] back and didn’t take anything, but ISIS took everything from there.”<br />
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Although his group didn’t loot the town, he says, another unit he won’t name tried, and he sent them away. “I won’t let you take anything from that village, go to get permission from the governor,” he claims he told them.<br />
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Two Turkmen fighters of the Badr Organisation ride a motorbike along the front line near Bashir. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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Shaker Hassan Ali, a Turkman spokesperson for the Hashd Shaabi’s Badr Organization based in their Kirkuk offices has a … different take. He says that Islamic State dressed up as Popular Mobilization Troops and carried out looting as a form of disinformation.<br />
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“A man with Hashd Shaabi hasn’t seen his family, he is not going back to take things, he is going to fight and be a martyr — he’s not there to steal,” Ali says.<br />
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The Iraqi Shia Badr Organization is one of Iraq’s most powerful paramilitary groups. Originally set up in 1982 and — at that time — led by Iranian officers, they were accused of sectarian killings during the 2006–07 Iraqi civil war.<br />
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They now operate under the umbrella of the Hashd Shaabi. Shaker says they have around 5,000 fighters in the Kirkuk area and — he claims — even have Christians and Sunni among them.<br />
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“If there had been no fatwa in Iraq it would have been a bad situation,” Shakar says as he sits in a large hall in the Badr’s offices. Today, the organization is having a ceremony to remember one of their colonels who died fighting in Tikrit.<br />
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In the dim hall lit by fluorescent tubes, two portraits of a man wearing a uniform photoshopped onto an Iraqi flag sit on a table. His name was Qassim Avaf, a fighter who died in the Turkmen’s first attack on Bashir in June 2014.<br />
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The militia found his body in no-man’s land.<br />
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Two portraits of Qassim Avaf, a fighter who was killed in the first attack on Bashir in June 2014, are seen on a table in the Kirkuk offices of the Badr Organisation. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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Another attack<br />
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Back at the front line, a group of fighters stand together. Another fighter named Abbas, an officer in charge of around 100 Turkmen, stands with a shotgun over his shoulder.<br />
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“Three were injured by mortars,” he says, referring to an Islamic State barrage earlier that day. “Since the first attack on Bashir, 64 fighters have been killed and 103 injured.”<br />
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Abbas points to his faith as one reason why he joined the Badr Organisation. But he says he wants to take back the town because it belongs to the Turkmen. “We will fight side-by-side to retake the town ourselves, but we need any help we can get, it’s just us on this front line.”<br />
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There haven’t been coalition air strikes on this part of the front line, and in Abbas’ opinion, the U.S.-led coalition only supports the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Badr Organization is one of several groups that the coalition does not support with air strikes because of their sectarian agenda, according to a senior coalition forces officer.<br />
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So why hasn’t the Hashd Shaabi taken back the town? Abbas replies frankly that there are too many IEDs.<br />
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Shia Turkmen fighters, Abbas at left and Abu Mikhail at right, on the front line close to Bashir. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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Another fighter, 24-year-old Abu Mikhail, left Bashir nine months ago when the town fell to Islamic State. A former carpenter, he joined the Badr Organization the same month.<br />
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“The call of fatwa made us join,” he says. “I fight first for faith, then for my country, and also for my brother who died fighting here to get Bashir back.” A few days after our interview, Abu Mikhail was killed when Islamic State detonated a large car bomb during the Turkmen’s attack on Bashir.<br />
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Nearly mile behind the Hashd Shaabi is another berm manned by Kurdish troops armed with ancient Soviet tanks and MTLB armored personnel carriers armed with 14.5-millimeter ZPU anti-aircraft guns.<br />
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Capt. Hider Sulaiman is a Peshmerga platoon commander. He stands near a T-62 tank.<br />
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The flag of Kurdistan flies from the top of a Kurdish Peshmerga T-62 tank based at a support weapons line around a kilometer behind the Bashir front line. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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“We work together on this front line,” Hider says.<br />
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He adds that both his unit — affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party — and the Badr Organization communicate and work well together.<br />
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The presence of the KDP troops working with the Hashd Shaabi may be related to problems between the Popular Mobilization Forces and Peshmerga forces loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan — the political party that most of the units in this area belong to.<br />
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The Peshmerga are not here to take the village, but to support the Shia Turkmen fighters with heavier weaponry such as artillery. The village is Turkmen, so the job of taking it falls to the Hashd Shaabi.<br />
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Hider suggests that there may be as few as 50–60 Islamic State left in the town, and half of them could be snipers.<br />
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The militants in the town also use mortars to harass the Hashd Shaabi. “This morning they fired mortars. There is no pattern to their firing,” Hider explains. “Sometimes they shell at 2:00 a.m., sometimes 3:00 a.m., sometimes in the evening.”<br />
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Flags bearing names of those killed during the June 2014 attack on Bashir are seen on a wall in the nearby town of Taza. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo<br />
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The next attack would take place two days later. The fourth such assault on the town saw 400 Turkmen from all over Brigade 16 — bolstered by other Popular Mobilization forces from the rest of Iraq — attempt to reclaim the Turkmen town.<br />
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They failed.<br />
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IEDs caused the attack to stall and many — if not all — of the Islamic State insurgents were wearing suicide vests. The militants also drove a large car bomb at the attackers, causing multiple casualties.<br />
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The front line is now closer to Bashir, 30 meters in some places, but the town still remains in Islamic State hands.<br />
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https://medium.com/war-is-boring/pissed-off-turkmen-want-their-town-back-89d59db228c8<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-small;">Note: </span><span data-reactid=".2i.1:4:1:$comment1406983892949072_1459226831058111:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$text0:0:$text0:0" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 12.8640003204346px;"><span style="color: #990000;">The article by Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative, about BASHEER has been posted on the European Parliament's website</span>:</span><a class="" data-reactid=".2i.1:4:1:$comment1406983892949072_1459226831058111:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$range0:0" dir="ltr" href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/documents/d-iq/dv/tragedyoftheturkmenpeopleinbesir_/tragedyoftheturkmenpeopleinbesir_en.pdf" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 12.8640003204346px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.europarl.europa.eu/.../tragedyoftheturkmenpeop...</span></a></span></b></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-49603631419663699932015-06-05T20:28:00.005+02:002015-06-05T20:28:55.537+02:00IRAQ HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">The humanitarian crisis in Iraq deserves more attention and more support than it is receiving. Millions of people are in trouble, struggling to cope with displacement and the horrors inflicted by combatants during one of the most brutal insurgencies in the world.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Time is running out for Iraq.</span></b><br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass displacement and mounting needs</strong></div>
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Today, over 8.2 million people in Iraq require immediate humanitarian support as a direct consequence of violence and conflict linked to the take-over of territory by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the counter-insurgency operation launched by the Government and its allied forces.</div>
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Since January 2014, 2.9 million people have fled their homes in three mass waves of displacement, and multiple smaller ones.</div>
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Displaced families have found safety in villages, towns and cities throughout the country, welcomed generously by communities and supported by the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A nation under threat</strong></div>
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The humanitarian crisis in Iraq is a protection crisis above all else. Populations have been subjected to mass executions, systematic rape and horrendous acts of violence. Children have been used as suicide bombers and human shields. Women and girls have been enslaved and subjected to terrible sexual violence.</div>
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Civilians who have remained in ISIL areas are at risk of reprisal by combatants as they retake territory from ISIL.</div>
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The crisis is impacting virtually all aspects of Iraq’s economy and society, and threatening the major efforts underway to build national reconciliation.</div>
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Displaced persons are currently living in more than 3,000 locations throughout the country; more than 90 per cent are living outside of camps, hosted by communities who have done their best to protect and provide for them.</div>
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Half of all displaced need urgent shelter support; 700,000 are surviving in unfinished and abandoned buildings, makeshift collective centres and spontaneous settlements.</div>
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Health providers are struggling to deliver basic support in areas with high concentrations of displaced people. Water and sanitation systems are in disrepair, increasing the risk of major public health emergencies.</div>
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Destitution is widespread, impacting displaced families and host communities alike. Production and supply shortages and localized increases in demand have forced up the cost of basic commodities, including food. At least 4.4 million people are now food insecure.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The most vulnerable pay the highest price</strong></div>
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Children are the hardest-hit victims of the conflict, traumatised by violence and destitution, exposed to abuse, suffering from inadequate health care and at risk of poor nutrition. Almost 3 million children and adolescents affected by the conflict do not have access to basic education.</div>
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Families are eager to return to their communities but cannot do so without support. They find their communities destroyed, infrastructure and property wrecked and markets abandoned. Booby-trapped buildings and IED-contaminated roads are an additional hazard.</div>
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The Government has provided mass relief in the form of cash grants, health and education support, shelter and food, but is faced, for the first time in decades, with a massive fiscal gap resulting from the slump in oil prices and the high costs of the ISIL counterinsurgency.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The immediate humanitarian outlook</strong></div>
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Humanitarian needs in Iraq are staggering. Country-wide assessments show that 8.2 million Iraqis, nearly 25 percent of the population, require some form of humanitarian assistance through the end of December 2015.</div>
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Nearly 8 million people need protection assistance. Close to 6.7 million require access to essential health services. Of the 7.1 million people requiring water, sanitation and hygiene assistance across the country, 4.1 million are in critical need, their situation likely to become increasingly desperate in the summer months.</div>
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The humanitarian partners’ response</div>
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Humanitarian partners have played a major role, complementing the support provided by the Government, community groups, religious endowments and the Iraqi people.</div>
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Partners have provided food to two million people each month, helped families survive the winter and helped to build 12 formal IDP camps and 30 collective centres.</div>
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Health services have reached millions and 5.3 million children have been vaccinated against polio. Emergency cash assistance has been disbursed to tens of thousands of displaced vulnerable people and emergency livelihoods support has kept many Iraqis and host communities from falling into destitution.</div>
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Thousands of life-saving kits have been distributed through the Rapid Response Mechanism, reaching people within 48 hours of their displacement.</div>
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Schools have been rehabilitated, temporary learning spaces constructed and hundreds of teachers trained.</div>
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Aid is being delivered in a more effective and coordinated manner under a contingency plan focusing on those truly in need and whom the Government’s own services cannot reach.</div>
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But these efforts are quickly running out of money. Less than 40 per cent of funding required for the 2014-15 Iraq humanitarian response has been received.</div>
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Without an immediate injection of funds, more than half of the humanitarian operation will shut down or be curtailed in coming months. Frontline health services have begun shutting down. Water programs and protection activities are also under threat.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2015 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan</strong></div>
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The 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan is an appeal for nearly $500 million USD to cover basic life-saving support over the next six critical months. The response will target the most vulnerable with essential, life-saving support.</div>
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The Iraqi Government will pay its share. The entire emergency response has been developed with clear intent to transition from external humanitarian assistance to eventual management by the Government as soon as financially and logistically feasible.</div>
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The operation’s five strategic objectives reflect the complex realities humanitarian partners face in Iraq and have been adopted in full recognition of the limits of humanitarian action in a context of volatile all-out armed conflict, extreme restrictions on access, deep-running political divisions and the Government’s paralyzing fiscal gap.</div>
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In prioritizing the aims of the operation, the Humanitarian Country Team is privileging the role of protection, recognizing its moral responsibility to maintain assistance to people dependent on aid to survive, elevating the imperative to reach people, even in areas outside Government control, insisting on the need for principled returns and aiming at a realistic exit strategy.</div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">please see: </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.save-iraq.info/response-plan/</span></b><br />
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-419409235654956702015-06-05T17:31:00.001+02:002015-06-05T17:31:23.941+02:00Video of the Extraordinary Joint Meeting at the EU Parliament : LAUNCH OF THE 2015 IRAQ HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN<h1 class="ep_title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #13334d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; height: auto; left: 0px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;">
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Committee AFET/DEVE - meeting 04/06/2015</h1>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-41283627182531708282015-06-05T16:53:00.000+02:002015-06-05T16:53:13.608+02:00Iraq on the brink of humanitarian disaster due to surging conflict and massive funding shortfall warns UN<div class="itemHeader" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 20px;">
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<span style="line-height: 39.5999984741211px;">Photos: taken by Merry Fitzgerald at the Extraordinary Joint Meeting at the EU Parliament on 4th June 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 39.5999984741211px;">Iraq on the brink of humanitarian disaster due to surging conflict and massive funding shortfall warns UN</span></div>
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<em style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px;"><span style="color: red;">10 million people expected to be in need by the end of 2015 </span></em></div>
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BRUSSELS, 4 June, 2015 – Vital aid operations supporting millions of people affected by the conflict in Iraq risk closure unless funds are made available immediately, the official overseeing humanitarian operations in the country said today. </div>
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With escalating conflict, the United Nations and its NGO partners are asking donors for US$ 497 million to cover the cost of providing shelter, food, water and other life-saving services over the coming six months. The appeal will target communities across broad swathes of the country displaced or affected by the violence between Government forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).</div>
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Speaking at the appeal launch at the European Parliament in Brussels, the United Nation’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Ms. Lise Grande said the aid operation was hanging by a thread.</div>
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<b>“The crisis in Iraq is one of the most complex and volatile anywhere in the world,” she said. “Humanitarian partners have been doing everything they can to help. But more than 50 per cent of the operation will be shut down or cut back if money is not received immediately”.</b></div>
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<b>The implications of this, Ms. Grande added, would be “catastrophic.”</b></div>
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The humanitarian needs in Iraq are huge and growing. More than 8 million people require immediate life-saving support, a number that could reach 10 million by the end of 2015. </div>
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Violence has already forced nearly 3 million people from their homes, leaving them scattered in more than 3,000 locations across the country. Human rights and rule of law are under constant assault as sectarian tensions sharpen. Mass executions, systematic rape and horrendous acts of violence are rampant.</div>
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So serious is the funding shortfall that 77 frontline health clinics have been forced to close and food rations for over 1 million people have been reduced. Without additional funding, many more life-saving services will be withdrawn. </div>
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"The international community must do its absolute utmost to meet the humanitarian needs in Iraq. Along with the life-saving assistance, there is a critical need to focus on access to education, as a way to help save this generation of children marked by conflict and violence," said Chair of European Parliament’s Development Committee Ms. Linda McAvan.</div>
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The aid operation is run in close partnership with the Iraqi Government, whose own financial resources have been severely reduced by falling income from oil. Responsibility for the aid operation will transfer to national authorities as soon as financially and logistically feasible. </div>
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"By hosting this event the European Parliament would like to pay tribute to the key role humanitarian aid plays in guaranteeing the security and political stability of Iraq and keeping the country together. <b>We cannot forget that many European countries hold responsibility for the situation in Iraq, so any amount of humanitarian aid is justified in order to guarantee the viability of the state,” said Mr. Javier Couso Permuy, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.</b></div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-4610115252439339502015-06-02T08:46:00.003+02:002015-06-02T08:46:42.450+02:00Syrian Turkmens left defenseless thanks to Gülenist cruelty<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Syrian Turkmens left defenseless thanks to Gülenist cruelty</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;">İlnur Çevik</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;">For years we have been listening to accusations that Turkey has not supported the Turkmens of Iraq and Syria. In the 1990s and early 2000s that was true because past governments as well as the incoming Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2002 had no control over Iraq and it was up to the powerful Turkish military to chart and execute policies regarding Iraq in general, and northern Iraq in particular. So the military rulers of Turkey who worked behind the scenes played a game of intrigue with Iraq's Turkmens rather than helping them in earnest. They had their own Turkmens and thus created divisions among the Turkmen community in Irbil and Kirkuk. They did not leave the Turkmens to set up their own political organizations and run them independent of Ankara. On the contrary, they intervened so much so that a handful of Turkmens who were courted by Ankara receive benefits and others were alienated.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;">Turkey did not do its homework properly on the Turkmens of Iraq and ended up usually on the losing for the Turkmens as a whole, both Sunni and Shiite. Once the military domination of Turkey's policies regarding Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq ended and the administration of then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gained full control on the Turkish state file of Iraq, especially after 2007 things started to change. Ankara improved its ties with Barzani, but due to past mistakes, could only make minimal headway with the Turkmens. Turkey, through the hard work of Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was then the chief advisor and trouble shooter of Erdoğan while he was prime minister, made inroads in northern Iraq, used the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) more effectively and started to get a better grasp of the situation in the region. Turkey improved ties with Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurdish and Turkmen tribes, especially in northern Iraq.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;">All this proved an asset when Turkey managed to save the employees of its Mosul consulate who were held hostage by the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) through high diplomacy and with the help of Sunni Arab tribes. Then the crisis in Syria erupted, but by then Turkey had better knowledge of the demography of the area as well as the strong tribes that made a difference. Turkey realized that it had to help the Turkmens in Syria, but even then it was too slow to react. However, when Turkey realized the growing menace of the extremist ISIS hordes invading chunks of Syria and butchering people the country took effective countering steps to help the Turkmens. It had already made contacts with the Turkmens through MİT and decided to send equipment to them to help defend themselves both against ISIS and President Bashar Assad's forces. It was also a tactical move to counter the growing influence of the Kurdish militants in the region.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;">But no one in Ankara dreamed that the Gülen Movement, which by then had fallen at odds with the Erdoğan administration, would take steps that bordered on treason to halt the equipment aid through its network of prosecutors and security personnel. On January 19, 2014, prosecutors and security personnel loyal to Gülen halted the TIR trucks carrying equipment to Syrian Turkmens and tried to defame the government by spreading news that the trucks were carrying weapons for ISIS and that Erdoğan was helping the bloodthirsty ISIS militants. The personnel in the trucks were made to lie on the ground and were about to be taken into custody when local officials intervened and halted the Gülenist operation that amounted to a mini-coup.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;">Since then the prosecutors and security personnel who undertook this awful act are under investigation and some are in custody. But a few days ago the news was once again rehashed and presented to the public by the left-wing daily Cumhuriyet as it printed photographs of the MİT's trucks and reported that arms were hidden under boxes of medical supplies. The opposition has every right to question the aims and intentions of the government. But no one has the right to play into the hands of Turkey's enemies and moreover deny the right to innocent Turkmens to defend themselves against the ISIS hordes. That goes for the Gülen Movement and for some sections of the Turkish media. Since January 2014, Turkey has been hard-pressed in its efforts to help Syrian Turkmens because of the ongoing controversy, and therefore ISIS has been wreaking havoc in Turkmen areas. Some people deserve the medal of treason. Guess who.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/ilnur-cevik/2015/06/01/syrian-turkmens-left-defenseless-thanks-to-gulenist-cruelty</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25.6000003814697px;"><span style="color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><br /></span></span>BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-5003079807368168642015-05-29T10:01:00.000+02:002015-05-29T10:18:16.107+02:00LES TURKMENES INQUIETS POUR LE STATUT DE KIRKOUK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtk_rgLEx2LLHI2yLTYeymw65vDmJ1Tk6_2NNH3n2C7KApVOQkmDmhBVNE3uggX9ISCo9CSBhRu0Bokjs1j67QXMpbRArThuJJVuTg1H7P93yB623MRI_UNG2nNGRZEc7zYZqgd9B8LU/s1600/turkmeneli+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtk_rgLEx2LLHI2yLTYeymw65vDmJ1Tk6_2NNH3n2C7KApVOQkmDmhBVNE3uggX9ISCo9CSBhRu0Bokjs1j67QXMpbRArThuJJVuTg1H7P93yB623MRI_UNG2nNGRZEc7zYZqgd9B8LU/s320/turkmeneli+map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Les Turkmènes ont de quoi
être inquiets, leur région TURKMENELI entre le marteau et l'enclume (les Arabes
au sud et les Kurdes au nord de leur région TURKMENELI).</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Les Turkmènes ont de
quoi être inquiets, piégés entre le marteau et l'enclume (les Arabes au sud et
les Kurdes au nord de leur région TURKMENELI).</span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Depuis des décennies les Arabes
veulent arabiser la région turkmène et depuis l'invasion de l'Irak par le</span></span><span data-reactid=".sh.1:4:1:$comment1452309958416465_1452314081749386:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span style="font-size: large;">s
E.U. et la G.B. en 2003, les Kurdes occupent de facto la région turkmène, ils
ont envahi Kirkouk, (la capitale culturelle des Turkmènes en Irak) avec le
consentement des militaires américains. </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Après avoir reçu ERBIL
(autre ville turkmène) en 'cadeau' sous le régime de Saddam Hussein, les Kurdes
veulent incorporer KIRKOUK dans leur région autonome dans le nord de l'Irak.
L'occident doit cesser d'armer les milices kurdes, car tôt au tard les Kurdes
utiliseront ces armes contre les Turkmènes.</b></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pour lire ce que le représentant des Turkmènes irakiens dans l'Union européenne écrivait en février 2007:</b></span><br />
<span lang="FR" style="background: rgb(246, 247, 248); color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b style="color: #0b5394;">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/les-turkmenes-irakiens/</b></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="background: #F6F7F8; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FR;"><o:p>pour lire l'article paru dans TRT Net, prière de cliquer sur le lien ci-dessous</o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="background: #F6F7F8; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FR;"><b>LES TURKMENES INQUIETS
POUR LE STATUT DE KIRKOUK</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.trt.net.tr/francais/moyen-orient/2015/05/27/les-turkm%C3%A8nes-inquiets-pour-le-statut-de-kirkouk-237265">http://www.trt.net.tr/francais/moyen-orient/2015/05/27/les-turkm%C3%A8nes-inquiets-pour-le-statut-de-kirkouk-237265</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-31191412592541416182015-05-29T09:07:00.002+02:002015-05-29T09:07:11.411+02:00Europe-Turkmen Friendships mentioned in the Institute for International Law & Human Rights Report<div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.7999992370605px; margin-bottom: 0.825em;">
<strong style="font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.7;">Europe-Turkmen Friendships mentioned in the Institute for International Law & Human Rights Report</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.7;">IRAQ's Minorities and Other Vulnerable Groups:</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.7;">Legal Framework, Documentation and Human Rights</strong></div>
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UNDER: TURKMEN</div>
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"<strong style="font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.7;">Iraq's Turkmen community has strong support from Turkmen diaspora organizations such as the EUROPE TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPS organization and other groups. These organizations assist to monitor the human rights and security situation of Turkmen within Iraq and the plight of Turkmen refugees around the world."</strong></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-39046236994992252262015-05-29T08:38:00.001+02:002015-05-29T08:49:33.603+02:00Iraqi Turkmen Representatives at the D-IRQ meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbD6_MywO9U1_vD0TPsu7QyoyjOL_V4XwW2jYc_wLi0Dp5GDVQioACEsV-aEs2NupZf_va6g6J0xj1Im4_EEmsv_nsaFi-ioBpOtAQaa0JiW3MS8DS15lhmDnh59hCRRPYt4iTOdvaEA/s1600/European+parliament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbD6_MywO9U1_vD0TPsu7QyoyjOL_V4XwW2jYc_wLi0Dp5GDVQioACEsV-aEs2NupZf_va6g6J0xj1Im4_EEmsv_nsaFi-ioBpOtAQaa0JiW3MS8DS15lhmDnh59hCRRPYt4iTOdvaEA/s320/European+parliament.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<strong style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli, is pleased to inform you that the Turkmen cause is on the Agenda of the upcoming Delegation for Relations with Iraq Meeting which will take place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday 10 June 2015, from 15.00-17.00.</strong></h2>
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<b><br /></b><strong>Exchange of views with the Representatives of the Turkmen community in Iraq</strong>:</div>
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• Hassan Tawfiq Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU Representative<br />
• Niyazi Mimar Oglu, Iraqi Council of <span class="text_exposed_show">Representatives, Member</span></div>
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<strong>Exchange of views with the Temporal Self-Government of Sinjar, created for the fight against Daesh:</strong></div>
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• Said Hassan, Chairman of the Temporal Self-Government of Sinjar (tbc)<br />
• Nouri Mirza, Board Member of the Self-Government and representative of the Yazidi Self-Defence Force (tbc)</div>
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<strong>Exchange of views with the Representatives of the Assyrian people in Iraq</strong>:</div>
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• Sharbil Hanna Matty, General of the Assyrian Nineveh Plain Forces<br />
• Youssif Yakoub Matti, President of the Bethnahrin Patriotic Union</div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-91776633989092278782015-05-28T13:39:00.002+02:002015-05-28T13:39:58.849+02:00ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli was invited to the HRWF Conference 'In Prison for their Religion or Beliefs' at the EU Parliament in Brussels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8bm-FoseJ_yes98eIhbZF6v8pYBN-Qq_8GNBdnABASxrTeoYRaVFPFL6Ck59qMtWzFf1s-vrcoPbzVnNiVfiU1Hm_bIg4lZW6HMq7tjfEibKzVeOt7-8MT1n7lUOvccWpV6KPimkSBQ/s1600/DSC04607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8bm-FoseJ_yes98eIhbZF6v8pYBN-Qq_8GNBdnABASxrTeoYRaVFPFL6Ck59qMtWzFf1s-vrcoPbzVnNiVfiU1Hm_bIg4lZW6HMq7tjfEibKzVeOt7-8MT1n7lUOvccWpV6KPimkSBQ/s400/DSC04607.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative and Ms. Merry Fitzgerald, Europe-Turkmen Friendships were invited by Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) and EPP Group at the EU Parliament to the Conference <i>'In Prison for their Religion or Beliefs'.</i><br />
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Brussels, 26th May 2015<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZ01XzksGGmiLl63B3i7vTSVpuZbGhl0NjKwzHTiG6lNRr4ck6gGA_USPx9f3Hq6G869lTqHrKRzUAZXXQoQ-Cy80j-D0idxWsEHocp-kVaZVqePh0kipXCb2b8b3937ix-cmw5B-hEI/s1600/DSC04616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZ01XzksGGmiLl63B3i7vTSVpuZbGhl0NjKwzHTiG6lNRr4ck6gGA_USPx9f3Hq6G869lTqHrKRzUAZXXQoQ-Cy80j-D0idxWsEHocp-kVaZVqePh0kipXCb2b8b3937ix-cmw5B-hEI/s400/DSC04616.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Prof. Alan Murray, Chair of the European Network on Religion & Belief (ENORB)<br />
Dr. Hassan Aydinli and Mrs. Merry Fitzgerald<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIRqt_54LPk85C2W9Ld_Isqunxac1sBOsaN7rw5tAiQNfbqJceBwyH2u2v4c9Tdxg1KmUA_WX30XScFz-hTvsrVU59fDZaesyKECmk0WqfxeEy45fapv_qYlgIasyl07GmWz3jeauOhI/s1600/DSC04612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIRqt_54LPk85C2W9Ld_Isqunxac1sBOsaN7rw5tAiQNfbqJceBwyH2u2v4c9Tdxg1KmUA_WX30XScFz-hTvsrVU59fDZaesyKECmk0WqfxeEy45fapv_qYlgIasyl07GmWz3jeauOhI/s400/DSC04612.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Conference was hosted by MEP Laslo TOKES,<br />
the Moderator was his assistant Ms. Zsuzsa FERENCZY.<br />
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Mr. Willy FAUTRE, Executive Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers presented the FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF (FoRB) ANNUAL REPORT 2014: '<i><b>IN PRISON FOR THEIR RELIGION OR BELIEFS' and the 'FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF & BLASPHEMY PRISONERS LIST 2014'</b> </i><br />
<i>A report about 20 countries with religion or belief prisoners along with policy recommendations for the European Union specific to each country. </i><br />
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In his speech Mr. Willy FAUTRE gave the Reasons for Imprisonment in these countries and he reminded the participants that <b>FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF</b> (<b>FoRB</b>) is a <b>universal human right</b> guaranteed by Article 18 of the UN International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).<br />
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In 2013, the European Union adopted the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief, <i>Human Rights Without Frontiers International </i>was involved in the drafting process along with religious communities and other civil society organisations. The Guidelines are an important reference tool for EU institutions in third countries for identifying FoRB violations and assisting citizens who have been discriminated against on the basis of their religion or beliefs. The Guidelines also set out the actions and measures that the EU can take at multilateral-fora, regional and bi-lateral levels with regard to countries which fail to respect FoRB.<br />
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The purpose of this report is to highlight those states which imprison people for practices that are protected by Article 18 of the ICCPR and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The report also makes policy recommendations to the EU and other international institutions which are in a position to put pressure on the relevant countries to better respect and uphold FoRB.<br />
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Dr. Mark BARWICK of HRWF made a presentation about the Targeted Groups.<br />
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Mr. Alfiaz VAIYA Project Manager of HRWF and Mr. Jean-Bernard BOLVIN of European External Action Service made FoRB recommendations.<br />
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Four members of the EU parliament attended the conference.<br />
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The presentations were followed by <i>Questions and Answers</i> and by a <i>Cocktail</i> during which the participants had the opportunity to continue exchanging views. Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, ITF EU Representative spoke with Mr. Jean-Bernard BOLVIN, Policy Officer, Human Rights and Multilateral Diplomacy - European External Action Service, with Prof. Alan MURRAY, Chair of the European Network on Religion & Belief (ENORB) and with several other participants belonging to human rights associations.<br />
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<br />BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-39578371451754297032015-05-22T22:36:00.000+02:002015-05-22T22:36:00.997+02:00Have the Kurds lied to Congress?<div class="entry-metadata" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #181818; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
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Have the Kurds lied to Congress?</h1>
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<time datetime="2015-05-22T11:48:53">May 22, 2015 11:48 am</time> | <em class="publication">AEIdeas</em></div>
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Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) under the auspices of President Masoud Barzani has been undertaking a full-court press of lobbying in Washington in order to get direct provision of weaponry. The KRG has hired at least four lobbying firms, spending several million dollars, and has leveraged several former officials and businessmen hopeful to have KRG contracts to act as unofficial and, frankly, illegal lobbyists with Congress.<br />
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The crux of the Kurdish lobbying campaign is to convince Congress that:<br />
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<strong>Kurdistan lacks weaponry</strong> <strong>to fight the Islamic State.</strong> Iraqi Kurdistan may seek more weaponry, but a greater problem is that political bickering within the KRG is preventing the weapons from getting where they need to be. After Ramadi’s fall, the largely Kurdish city of Kirkuk is next in the Islamic State’s crosshairs. And yet, Masoud Barzani and his sons Masrour Barzani (chief of the intelligence service) and Mansour Barzani (a general) <a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/kurdish-infighting-threatens-kirkuk-gains-against-islamic-state/" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">refuse to deliver weaponry</a> to <em>peshmerga</em> in Kirkuk. The problem? Kirkuk did not vote for Barzani’s political party.The Kurds have acquired weaponry directly from <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/26/uk-iraq-security-kurds-idUKKBN0GQ0UL20140826" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Iran</a> and <a href="http://www.dw.de/german-weapons-delivery-heads-to-iraqi-kurdistan/a-17954068" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">several</a> <a href="http://www.kurdpress.com/En/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=8367" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">European</a> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112202297.html" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">countries</a>. In the idea that he lacks weaponry, Barzani has found an effective tale, and he’s milking it to great effect. Alas, rather than use the weapons against the Islamic State, he is hoarding them for use against his Kurdish political rivals.<br />
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<strong>Baghdad does not provide weaponry to Kurdistan</strong>. Along the lines of the above point, the Kurdish line that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government is refusing to transfer weaponry to the Kurds is an outright lie. It’s simply false. Baghdad doesn’t itself have enough, but what it does get, it shares. Indeed, even the United States government recognizes that in some ways, the KRG is better armed than Baghdad. Check out this <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/05/242665.htm" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">State Department press briefing</a> from yesterday (emphasis mine):<br />
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“They [the Islamic State] wield these things [car and truck bombs] so they’re totally impervious to a lot of weapons systems that the Iraqis have to try to take them out. It was one of <em>– I have to say it was one of Abadi’s main demands when he was here. He needed a weapon system to defeat suicide VBIEDs.</em> And we made the decision immediately while he was here to get 1,000 AT4 anti-tank systems to Iraqi Security Forces. And those are going to be arriving fairly soon. And that’s specifically, as I understand it – I’ll defer to experts on this, but that’s specifically a kind of close-in weapon system for a VBIED that is coming in your direction<em>. The Peshmerga have been using them to good effect and we’re getting 1,000 to the Iraqi Security Forces.”</em></div>
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So, it seems that despite the complaints of no weaponry, the Kurds have AT4 missiles but have not shared them with Baghdad to help Baghdad defeat the Islamic State. And they are not giving them to Kirkuk, and they refused to provide them to the Yezidis before the fall of Mount Sinjar.<br />
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<strong>Kurdistan is pro-American and a bulwark against Iran.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>Kurds like America, but the Kurdistan government is opportunistic; it is not ideologically or culturally attached to the United States. Any Congressman who believes lobbyists who use concern about Iran to push deeper relations with Iraqi Kurdistan should request an intelligence briefing. The Iranians have penetrated as deeply into the Kurdish leadership as they have in Baghdad. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Qods Force, the elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, spends as much time as a guest of Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan as he did as a guest of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. There is no intelligence which the United States provides the KRG that does not find its way to Soleimani within hours. Indeed, Barzani has previously <a href="http://www.aei.org/publication/is-iraqi-kurdistan-a-good-ally/" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">betrayed American intelligence</a> and plans to the IRGC. And, while Kurdish leaders say the right things to American congressional delegations in Erbil or during visits to Washington, they <a href="http://www.aei.org/publication/are-the-iraqi-kurds-really-pro-american/" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">say the complete opposite</a> in Iran and to Iranian delegations. Remember, the Kurdish leaders spent their exile years in Iran; ties are deep, even if they are less ties of the heart and more the result of Iranian blackmail and extortion.<br />
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<strong>Kurdistan is democratic.</strong> Most Kurds seek democracy, but its leaders do not. Masoud Barzani is a dictator who refused to step down at the end of his term. Given a choice to be Nelson Mandela or Bashar al-Assad, Barzani chose Assad. The only difference between the two is that American officials still believe the spin of reform when it comes to Barzani. Indeed, Barzani has modeled his Kurdistan Democratic Party after Assad’s Baath Party minus the Arab nationalism; it’s just what he knows. Journalists who criticize Barzani <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2014/04/mountain-of-impunity-looms-over-kurdistan-journali.php" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">end up in prison or worse</a>. Lobbyists and KRG officials may like to suggest that “Kurdistan is a new Israel.” Like Israel, Kurdistan does respect freedom of religion. But the similarities end there: Kurdistan is not democratic; it does not respect rule-of-law; it restricts press freedom; American and European firms have learned it no more upholds contractual commitments than do China or Turkmenistan; and it <a href="https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/03/01/whom-should-the-u-s-train-in-syria-and-iraq/" style="background: transparent; color: #1087af; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">does not protect its own people</a> from ISIS.<br />
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Every Iraqi should receive weaponry to fight the Islamic State, but Kurdish lies have consequence. Not only does a credulous Congress accepting Kurdish spin fail to correct the real problems preventing Kurdish success against the Islamic State, but it backfires and helps the Iranians. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has bent over backwards to accommodate US interests and nudge Iraqis closer to Iran. Congressional willingness to supply Sunni militias directly with arms (instead of respect the fact that Sunnis are fighting alongside Shi’ites in the Iraqi Security Forces) or to treat Kurdistan as a separate country, whether or not it deserves to be, have only strengthened the hand of the most radical pro-Iranian elements in Baghdad who rightly say that Abadi put his trust in the Americans, and the Congress responded to his outreach by undercutting Iraq. It’s time Congress has a real conversation about Iraq strategy, how best to help Kurdistan, and how to defeat the Islamic State. It should not allow itself to be duped by a family with a flag.</div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-50404423108115181542015-05-13T10:41:00.000+02:002015-05-13T10:52:26.794+02:00Arming Iraq’s Kurds: Fighting IS, Inviting Conflict<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #002b5c; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 2.1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0.2em 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">
Arming Iraq’s Kurds: Fighting IS, Inviting Conflict</h1>
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<span class="title" style="background: rgb(73, 148, 191); color: white; display: block; float: left; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; margin: 0px 4px 2px 0px; padding: 2px 4px 3px;">Middle East Report N°158</span><span class="date" style="color: #777777; display: block; float: left; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; padding: 2px 4px 3px;">12 May 2015</span></div>
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<img alt="A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds a a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he takes up position in an area overlooking Baretle village (background), which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul September 8, 2014." src="http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Images/Reports%20Front%20Page/2015/summary/iraq-report-12may15.ashx" height="342" style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;" width="507" /></div>
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<span style="color: #7f7f7f; font-size: 11px;">REUTERS/ AHMED JADALLAH</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;"></span><br />
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Loosely organised in an ad hoc coalition, Western countries rushed military aid to Iraqi Kurds in the face of a lightning assault by the Islamic State (IS) in June 2014. They failed, however, to develop a strategy for dealing with the consequences of arming non-state actors in Iraq, a country whose unity they profess to support. Rather than forging a strong, unified military response to the IS threat, building up Kurdish forces accelerated the Kurdish polity’s fragmentation, increased tensions between these forces and non-Kurds in disputed areas and strengthened Iraq’s centrifugal forces. Delivered this way, military assistance risks prolonging the conflict with IS, worsening other longstanding, unresolved conflicts and creating new ones. A new approach is called for that revives and builds on past efforts to transform Kurdish forces into a professional institution.</div>
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Despite Western concerns, doing so is unlikely to enhance chances of Kurdish independence. Kurdish parties have become even more dependent, not less, on their alliances with Turkey and Iran since IS’s arrival. Turkey, the country with the ability to give the Kurds the independent revenue stream from oil sales they would need to move effectively toward independence, has given no indication it is prepared to do so and every indication it wishes to preserve Iraq’s unity. Western states’ current practice of channelling weapons to the Kurds via Baghdad and encouraging the two sides to resolve their outstanding disputes over oil exports and revenues also will keep the Kurdish region inside Iraq. Indeed, the development of a professional Kurdish military force is a necessary condition for effective coordination with the Baghdad government in joint operations against IS and in preparing a post-IS political plan.</div>
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Coalition military aid is premised on a belief that giving weapons and training to Kurdish forces, known as peshmergas, will in itself improve their performance against IS, a notion Kurdish leaders were quick to propagate. But the evolving state of Iraqi Kurdish politics makes for a rather more ambiguous picture: the dominant, rival parties, the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) and PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), have been moving away from a strategic framework agreement that had stabilised their relationship after a period of conflict and allowed them to present a unified front to the central government as well as neighbouring Iran and Turkey. Moreover, their historic leaders, Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, are on the political wane, triggering an intra-elite power struggle.</div>
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This is, therefore, a particularly fragile moment. Rather than shore up Kurdish unity and institutions, the latest iteration of the “war on terror” is igniting old and new internecine tensions and undermining whatever progress has been achieved in turning the peshmergas into a professional, apolitical military force responding to a single chain of command. In doing so, it is also paving the way for renewed foreign involvement in Kurdish affairs, notably by Iran. And it is encouraging Kurdish land grabs and a rush on resources in territories they claim as part of their autonomous region, further complicating their rapport with Sunni Arab neighbours and the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.</div>
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On the face of it, after an initial delivery directly to the KDP in August 2014, Western military aid has been provided to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), with prior approval from Baghdad. In practice, however, weapon deliveries from a variety of donors are unilateral, mostly uncoordinated and come without strings regarding their distribution and use on the front lines. As a result, they have disproportionately benefited the KDP, which is dominant in Erbil, the region’s capital, and thus have pushed the PUK into greater reliance on Iranian military assistance and an alliance with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Kurdish rebel organisation in Turkey. In this context, the KDP and PUK, formal partners in a unity government, have shown little inclination to distribute roles or mount joint operations, preferring competition over coordination. As a result, Kurdish forces have been less effective in fighting IS than they could have been.</div>
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While coalition members have tied military assistance to acceptance of the central government’s sovereign role in its distribution, they are jeopardising their stated interest in preserving Iraq’s unity. Indeed, by upsetting the fragile equilibrium among Kurds, between Kurds and Sunni Arabs and between the Kurds and the governments in Baghdad, Tehran and Ankara, they risk weakening it; moreover, by empowering Kurdish party-based forces, they hasten the state’s de-institutionalisation and invite external interference. Given how fragile and fragmented Iraq has become, one can only wonder how pouring more arms into it could have any chance of making it stronger.</div>
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Coalition members, working in coordination, need instead to persuade Kurdish parties to complete the reunification of their parallel military, security and intelligence agencies within a single, non-partisan structure by empowering the KDP-PUK joint brigades and the peshmergas’ most professional elements; to cooperate with non-Kurdish actors in the disputed territories; and to develop a post-IS plan with the central government that cements security cooperation in these territories and moves forward the process of resolving their status through negotiation.</div>
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The KRG leadership is overdue in putting its own house in order. It may revel in momentary support for its fight against IS, but old problems will soon return, arguably posing a far more serious threat to the region’s stability than IS by itself could ever represent.</div>
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">RECOMMENDATIONS</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">To the governments of the U.S. and other coalition members:</strong></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">1. Establish a coalition central command through which to channel military aid to Iraqi Kurds and charge it with:</span><br />
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a) coordinating weapons deliveries to, and training of, Kurdish peshmerga forces by coalition members;</div>
b) ensuring that weapons are exclusively distributed to, and used by, KDP-PUK joint brigades;<br />
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c) engaging the peshmerga affairs minister and KDP-PUK joint-brigade commanders on military tactics and the use of coalition-supplied weapons; and</div>
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d) conditioning military support on coordination of anti-IS operations with non-Kurdish actors in the disputed territories and the Abadi government, and drafting with the Abadi government a post-IS plan that foresees the reinstatement of local institutions and security forces in these areas.</div>
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">To the peshmerga affairs minister and the KDP and PUK leaderships:</strong></div>
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2. Establish a joint operations room bringing together the minister, KDP-PUK joint-brigade commanders and relevant security agencies to draft a Kurdish national security strategy that would ease delivery of coalition military aid.</div>
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3. Continue to integrate paramilitary forces into KDP-PUK joint brigades that respond to a single chain of command and refrain from deploying irregular forces against IS.</div>
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4. Improve coordination with the Abadi government and Iraqi army on the provision of weapons and training to the KRG.</div>
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5. Complete integration of the KDP and PUK military, security and intelligence services into the KRG.</div>
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">To the Kurdistan region presidency:</strong></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">6. Encourage consolidation of KRG institutions in general and the peshmerga affairs ministry in particular and their emancipation from partisan control.</span><br />
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7. Engage the Abadi government on the future of the disputed territories and local institutions and refrain from calls for Kurdish independence.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">8. Redouble efforts to coordinate KRG regional security operations with PKK and PKK-allied forces.</span><br />
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">To the government of Iraq:</strong></div>
<strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;"></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">9. Develop a joint security strategy with the KRG to counter IS, and work with the KRG to settle outstanding disputes over oil exports and budget allocations.</span><br />
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;">To the governments of Turkey and Iran:</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-size: 12.3212327957153px;"></strong>10. Support coalition efforts toward institutionalising peshmerga forces and reinforcing their cooperation with the central government.</div>
<strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;">Baghdad/Erbil/Brussels, 12 May 2015</strong><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><b>http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/iraq/158-arming-iraq-s-kurds-fighting-is-inviting-conflict.aspx?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.3212327957153px; line-height: 18.4818496704102px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-77909939639056643272015-05-11T16:11:00.002+02:002015-05-11T16:11:51.839+02:00Team of Turkmen Rescue Foundation in Washington<div class="clearfix _5x46" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12.8640003204346px; margin-bottom: 11px; zoom: 1;">
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مؤسسة انقاذ التركمان في واشنطن</div>
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نتيجة الجهود الحثيثة لمؤسسة إنقاذ التركمان في إيصال مظلومية جميع المكونات العراقية بصورة عامة والمكون التركماني على وجه الخصوص الى المحافل الدولية ومراكز القرار في العالم، ولا سيما الدور الكبير لكادر المؤسسة لمشاركتهم في إعداد التقرير الدولي الأخير بعنوان ( بين المطرقة والسندان ، الأقليات في العراق ) والذي صدر بتاريخ ٢٧/٢/٢٠١٥ بجهود اربع منظمات دولية نشطة أهمها "منظمة حقوق الانسان والقانون الدولي الامريكية" وبرعاية مباشرة من قبل "البرلمان الأورب<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ي" حيث تطرق التقرير عن انتهاكات داعش ضد حقوق المكونات الأقليات في العراق.<br />وعلى هذا الاساس تلقت "مؤسسة انقاذ التركمان" دعوة رسمية من تلك المنظمات الدولية في <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A7?source=feed_text&story_id=1586606141607567" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl" style="color: #6d84b4;">#</span><span class="_58cm">امريكا</span></a> لزيارة واشنطن وذلك لمناقشة فقرات التقرير بشكل تفصلي مع الجهات المختصة.<br />هذا وقد وصل الوفد من العراق يوم أمس إلى العاصمة الامريكية واشنطن برئاسة الدكتور علي اكرم رئيس مؤسسة انقاذ التركمان، وبرفقة العديد من المنظمات ضم من كل المكونات والأقليات العرقية في العراق وذلك للقاء مع المنظمات الدولية المختصة في مجال حقوق الانسان والإغاثة.</span></div>
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المكتب الاعلامي<br />لمؤسسة انقاذ التركمان</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Turkmen.rescue.foundation?fref=photo#" role="button" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">See Translation</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">We wish you great success in Washington and please
give our regards to Mr. William Spencer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">For your info Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU
Representative, met with Mr. William Spencer several </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">times in Brussels, the
last time for</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">the Launch of <b>“Between the Millstones: Iraq’s Minorities Since
the Fall of Mosul”</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A report of a consortium of NGOs on 27th February 2015. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please
see: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/iraqs-minorities-being-eradicated-by-isis-report-of-consortium-of-ngos/"><b>https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/iraqs-minorities-being-eradicated-by-isis-report-of-consortium-of-ngos/</b></a></span></div>
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BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-29216757691492939242015-05-10T14:54:00.004+02:002015-05-11T16:20:51.375+02:00UNPO calls for immediate investigation into Attack on Iraqi Turkmen Academic<h2 id="post-14747" style="background-color: white; color: #0090da; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Bitstream Vera Serif', Utopia, 'Times New Roman', times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin: 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
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Photo above: Prof. Dr. Abbas TAQI, Rector of the University of Kirkuk (Turkmen).</div>
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May 8, 2015</div>
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UNPO Calls for Immediate Investigation into Attack on Iraqi Turkmen Academic</h2>
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<strong>On 4 May 2015, at the University of Kirkuk, a number of armed students arbitrarily attacked the office of the University’s newly appointed President, Dr Abbas Taqi, a prominent academic of Turkmen origin. Dr Taqi was reportedly threatened by the armed men and forced to sign a letter of resignation. The local Government of Kirkuk has turned a blind eye to the incident and no intervention by local security forces has been reported. Instead, official sources claim that Dr Taqi’s resignation was voluntary.</strong></div>
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Dr Taqi had been appointed as the President of the University of Kirkuk only two weeks prior to the attack by the Iraqi Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr Hussain Al-Shahristani. When announced in the Iraqi Parliament, his appointment caused reactions among MPs who did not consider favourable the idea of having an ethnic Turkmen oversee higher education in the disputed area of Kirkuk. However, convinced that this was not a wilful decision to step down, Minister Al-Shahristani has announced in a written statement that Dr Taqi will continue with his academic assignment as the Head of the University.</div>
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While the advance of the so called ‘Islamic State’ in Iraq has had devastating consequences for the Iraqi Turkmen, with Turkmen towns and villages being occupied and the majority of the population displaced, the recent attack on Dr Taqi ought to be seen in light of the marginalisation and discrimination the Turkmen of Iraq have been enduring for years. The emergence of ISIS and its rapid growth has prompted large scale international action, including military and humanitarian support, but the plight of the Iraqi Turkmen has been left underreported. The failure on part of both Kurdish and Iraqi federal authorities to protect Kirkuk’s population has allowed for a dramatic demographic change in the already disputed area, which in turn has caused further tensions, as exemplified through the recent attack on Dr Taqi.</div>
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While strongly condemning the attack on Dr Taqi, UNPO calls <strong>for an immediate and credible investigation</strong> into the incident, as well as into any allegations claiming it may not have been an autonomous initiative of a few violent students. By highlighting this, UNPO strives to draw much needed attention to the ongoing and rapidly increasing tensions in Iraq, and wishes to stress that whereas defeating ISIS represents a crucial short term priority, planning for what comes next is of utmost importance, as tensions between Iraq’s ethnic components, segregation, and discrimination remain serious problems, which – if unaddressed – risk escalating into further violence.</div>
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<em><span style="font-size: large;">Please find the <a href="http://unpo.org/downloads/1451.pdf" style="color: #0b76ae; text-decoration: none;">statement</a> attached.</span></em></div>
BLUE WOMANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231533052707487769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1031858935500310048.post-47137261266608392432015-05-09T22:27:00.000+02:002015-05-11T16:24:58.828+02:00Comment to ITF U.K. Representative Ms. Sundus Abbas’ re: article published in TNA Turkmen News Agency<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Comment to ITF U.K. Representative Ms. Sundus
Abbas’ re: article published in TNA Turkmen News Agency<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://tnanews.net/news.php?id=1209">http://tnanews.net/news.php?id=1209</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Contrary to what you are implying in
your article, Ms. Sundus Abbas, the plight of the Iraqi Turkmens has been very well defended
at international level and especially in the European Union since years by Dr.
Hassan Aydinli, who is the Iraqi Turkmen Front E.U. Representative based in
Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Your constant denigrating of Dr.Hassan
Aydinli’s work is simply mean and COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, it DOES <b>NOT</b> SERVE THE
TURKMEN CAUSE. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It seems to me that you are not getting
your priorities right, it is not the
first time that you are putting your own personal promotion before the Turkmen
cause by trying to belittle Dr. Hassan Aydinli’s work in the European Union. This
is unacceptable coming from a fellow compatriot and colleague.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Hereunder, to prove that your allegations that the Turkmen cause has not been sufficiently promoted and defended in Brussels are unfounded,
are links to articles showing examples of the activities and writings (in English,
French, Turkish and Arabic) of ITF’s E.U. Representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli.</div>
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Given that you are the ITF representative in the U.K. based in London, do you consider that you have sufficiently promoted the Turkmen cause at the Parliaments in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff?<br />
Have you held meetings with Scottish, Northern Ireland and Welsh politicians and decision makers at their respective Parliaments?<br />
What concrete results have you obtained for the Turkmen cause from English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland politicians and decision makers?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Merry Fitzgerald<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">President of Europe-Iraqi Turkmen
Friendships – Belgium.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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of Iraq at the European Parliament in Brussels</b></span></h2>
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<strong><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/declaration-of-the-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian-and-yazidi-people-of-iraq-at-the-european-parliament-in-brussels/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/declaration-of-the-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian-and-yazidi-people-of-iraq-at-the-european-parliament-in-brussels/</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A joint delegation representing the Turkmen,
Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Yazidi peoples of Iraq was received by the Chair
of the EU Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs</span></h2>
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<strong><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/a-joint-delegation-representing-the-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian-and-yazidi-peoples-of-iraq-was-received-by-the-chair-of-the-eu-parliaments-committee-on-foreign-affairs/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/a-joint-delegation-representing-the-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian-and-yazidi-peoples-of-iraq-was-received-by-the-chair-of-the-eu-parliaments-committee-on-foreign-affairs/</a></span></strong></h2>
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<strong><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></strong><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Iraklı Türkmenler, Keldaniler,
Süryaniler, Asuriler ve Kürt Yezidilerin ortak bildirgesi - Hükümi varlığı
olmayan kadim Irak haklarına insan haklarının düzeltilmesi için çağrı</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/12/video-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/12/video-turkmen-chaldean-syriac-assyrian.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Presentation first Common
Declaration of the Yezidi, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Turkmen Peoples of Iraq
at the European Parliament in Brussels on 19 November 2014</span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/presentation-first-common-declaration.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/presentation-first-common-declaration.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A joint delegation representing
the Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Yazidi peoples of Iraq was received
by the Chair of the EU Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs</span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/a-joint-delegation-representing-turkmen.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/a-joint-delegation-representing-turkmen.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">***<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">IRAK TÜRKMENLERİNDEN BİRLEŞMİŞ
MİLLETLER GENEL SEKRETERİNE KUZEY IRAK'TA GÜVENLİ BÖLGE TESİSİ İÇİN S.O.S. VE
ACİL BAŞVURU</span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div>
<em style="background-color: white;"><span lang="TR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;"> <b>TURKISH TRANSLATION OF THE LETTER WHICH WAS SENT TO
THE U.N.</b></span></em></div>
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<span lang="TR" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: TR; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/07/irak-turkmenlerinden-birlesmis.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/07/irak-turkmenlerinden-birlesmis.html</a></b></span><span lang="TR" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: TR; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="TR" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: TR; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span>
<span lang="TR" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ansi-language: TR; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="TR" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: TR; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">APPEAL FROM THE IRAQI TURKMEN
FRONT EU REPRESENTATIVE DR HASSAN AYDINLI TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO ESTABLISH A
SAFE HAVEN FOR THE TURKMENS IN IRAQ</span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/07/appeal-from-iraqi-turkmen-front-to.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/07/appeal-from-iraqi-turkmen-front-to.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">***<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan
Aydinli met Member of the European Parliament Mr. Metin Kazak</span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">IRAQI TURKMEN PUBLIC HEARING AT THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND </span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0c343d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Chairwoman of the European Parliament's
Subcommittee on Human Rights,to Dr Hassan Aydinli </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2012/12/one-year-ago-iraqi-turkmen-hearing-at.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2012/12/one-year-ago-iraqi-turkmen-hearing-at.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2013/11/unpo-expert-speech-on-iraqi-turkmen-at.html"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: xx-small;">UNPO Expert Speech On Iraqi Turkmen
At European Parliament Hearing</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2013/11/unpo-expert-speech-on-iraqi-turkmen-at.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2013/11/unpo-expert-speech-on-iraqi-turkmen-at.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ITF EU representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli attended the
Delegation for Relations with Iraq meeting at the EU Parliament in Brussels</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: #0090da;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/11/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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***</div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli attended the 4th
European Parliament – Iraq Interparliamentary Meeting in Brussels</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli-attended-the-4th-european-parliament-iraq-interparliamentary-meeting-in-brussels/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli-attended-the-4th-european-parliament-iraq-interparliamentary-meeting-in-brussels/</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">***<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative met with the Vice-President of the EU
Parliament MEP Laszlo Tokes</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/itf-eu-representative-met-with-the-vice-president-of-the-eu-parliament-mep-laszlo-tokes/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/itf-eu-representative-met-with-the-vice-president-of-the-eu-parliament-mep-laszlo-tokes/</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan
Aydinli represented the Iraqi Turkmens at the International Demonstration in
Brussels in favour of Nations without a State</span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/03/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2014/03/itf-eu-representative-dr-hassan-aydinli.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">***<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: large; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Launch of “Between the
Millstones: Iraq’s Minorities Since the Fall of Mosul” A report of a consortium
of NGOs </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: large; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: large; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/iraqs-minorities-being-eradicated-by-isis-report-of-consortium-of-ngos/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/iraqs-minorities-being-eradicated-by-isis-report-of-consortium-of-ngos/</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">IRAQI<span style="color: #0090da;"> </span>TURKMEN FRONT EU
Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli’s APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO ESTABLISH A
SAFE HAVEN FOR THE TURKMENS IN IRAQ</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/iraqi-turkmens-appeal-to-the-united-nations-to-establish-a-safe-haven-for-the-turkmens-in-iraq/"><b>https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/iraqi-turkmens-appeal-to-the-united-nations-to-establish-a-safe-haven-for-the-turkmens-in-iraq/</b></a></span></strong><strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></h2>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">IRAQI TURKMEN
FRONT EU REPRESENTATIVE DR HASSAN TAWFIQ AYDINLI WROTE TO THE HONOURABLE
MEMBERS OF THE DELEGATION FOR RELATIONS WITH IRAQ IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT </span></strong><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/the-tragedy-of-the-turkmens-of-besir-basheer-in-kirkuk-province-iraq/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/the-tragedy-of-the-turkmens-of-besir-basheer-in-kirkuk-province-iraq/</a></b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b>PRESS RELEASE BY ITF EU REPRESENTATIVE</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2015/03/itf-eu-representative-was-invited-to.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2015/03/itf-eu-representative-was-invited-to.html</a></b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">URGENT APPEAL FROM ITF EU REPRESENTATIVE DR HASSAN TAWFIQ AYDINLI TO
THE EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES AND DECISION
MAKERS</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">***<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ITC Avrupa Birliği Temsilcisi,
Dr Hassan Aydınlı, Irak Türkmenlerine yapılan İnsan Hakları ve mülkiyet hakkı
ihlallerinin Avrupa Parlamentosunda tartışmasını ve durumun Türkmenler lehine
düzeltilmesi yönünde Irak Hükümetine baskı yapılması için girişimlerde
bulunmuştur</span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2013/12/itc-avrupa-birligi-temsilcisi-dr-hassan.html">http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2013/12/itc-avrupa-birligi-temsilcisi-dr-hassan.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli speaking in
Antwerp, Belgium at Workshop: “Archival Awareness” – PRESERVING THE UNIQUE
HERITAGE OF INDIGENOUS CULTURES-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli met with Minister
Brigitte Grouwels and her political advisors in Brussels</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">TF EU representative Dr Hassan Aydinli attended the
Delegation for relations with Iraq at the EU Parliament</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #0090da;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/itf-eu-representative-attended-the-delegation-for-relations-with-iraq-at-the-eu-parliament/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/itf-eu-representative-attended-the-delegation-for-relations-with-iraq-at-the-eu-parliament/</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU REPRESENTATIVE DR HASSAN AYDINLI MET WITH UN SPECIAL
REPRESENTATIVE MR MARTIIN KOBLER AT THE EU PARLIAMENT </span><span style="color: #0090da; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/martin-kobler-un-special-representative-for-iraq-at-the-eu-parliament/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/martin-kobler-un-special-representative-for-iraq-at-the-eu-parliament/</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli met with the Chair
of the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ Foreign Relations Committee, Mr.
Humam Hamoudi</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">DÜNYA TÜRKLERI AVRUPA PLATFORMU (DÜTAP) TAN BIR DELEGASYON
BRÜKSEL’DEKİ TÜRK DEVLETLERİNİN BÜYÜKELCİLERİNE NEZAKET ZİYARETİ YAPTI </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/dunya-turkleri-avrupa-platformu-dutap-tan-bir-delegasyon-brukseldeki-turk-devletlerinin-buyukelcilerine-nezaket-ziyareti-yapti/">https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/dunya-turkleri-avrupa-platformu-dutap-tan-bir-delegasyon-brukseldeki-turk-devletlerinin-buyukelcilerine-nezaket-ziyareti-yapti/</a></span><span style="color: #0090da; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hassan Aydinli met with MEP Struan Stevenson and William
Spencer at the EU Parliament in Brussels</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ITF EU representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli met with UNICEF
representative for Iraq, Dr. Marzio Babille, at the EU Parliament
in Brussels</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Crisis of Unilateralism: The Reality
in the Middle East Today. </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">by Dr. Hassan AYDINLI,
Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens' Rights, Belgium – speech at
Conference in Madrid, Spain</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b> </b><a href="http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2007/12/crisis-of-unilateralism-reality-in.html"><b>http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.be/2007/12/crisis-of-unilateralism-reality-in.html</b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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