Iraqi Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Yezidi representatives to the European Union meet in Brussels

8th January 2015 - Iraqi Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Yezidi representatives in the European Union meet in Brussels to discuss the road map. 

Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Turkmen Representation to EU

Mr. Lahdo Hobil, President European Syriac Union

Mr. Fikret Igrek, Head of Foreign Affairs Federation of Yezidi Associations 

Mr. Johannes de Jong, Ms. Rima Tüzün and Mrs. Merry Fitzgerald attended the meeting.

Following the signing of their Common Declaration at the European Parliament on 19th November 2014, calling for the restoration of human rights to the non-ruling indigenous peoples of Iraq, the Turkmen, Yezidi and Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian representatives to the EU, met to discuss the road map.

The first goal of this road map is to achieve a situation in which the EU together with each of the peoples concerned will negotiate with the governments of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan.

The second goal of this road map is to outline how the transition to a new and sustainable political future should look like.

This process is the implementation of the fourth article of the European Parliament resolution on Iraq and Syria of 18th September 2014.

Below photos of the signing of the Common Declaration on 19th November 2014 and translation of the Declaration to Turkish.

Please see:
https://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/irakli-turkmenler-kaldaniler-suryaniler-asuriler-ve-kurt-yezidilerin-ortak-bildirgesi-hukmi-varligi-olmayan-kadim-irak-halklarina-insan-haklarinin-duzeltilmesi-icin-cagiri/

No news from 136 Turkmens kidnapped by jihadists

There has been no news from the 136 Turkmen hostages who were kidnapped by jihadists in Tal Afar in Iraq more than three months ago.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has kept the hostages in Mosul for three months; however, there has been no information for the past 10 days and their destination following Mosul is not known. There are five-month-old babies among the 136 hostages, 74 of whom are children and 62 of whom are women between 18 and 35-years-old. 

“We have not been able to hear from our women and children. Somebody should hear our plea,” said Kadriye Ziyai, the head of Turkmen Women’s League. 

The list of hostages was given to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during his visit to the neighboring country in the second half of November. 

“He [Davutoğlu] told us he would take care of the matter. However, we haven’t heard from our women and children for 10 days,” said Aydın Maruf Selim of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC). 

“I’m calling on humankind. There are five-month-old babies among these hostages. The eldest child is 11-years-old. They were being kept in Mosul, but they were taken somewhere else 10 days ago. We don’t know their fate. Humanity should not remain silent to such a massacre. ISIL militants are raising these children as future suicide bombers. They kill those who are ill and useless for them,” Selim said. 
Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 located 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is dominated by ethnic Turkmen, who are both Sunni and Shiite.

According to a recently released report by Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration, around 6,000 Turkmen and Yazidis have been killed in attacks by ISIL since June.

Around 5,000 Yazidis and 1,000 Turkmen have been killed in ISIL attacks, said the same report, state-run Anadolu Agency reported earlier this month.

The report puts the number of displaced people at 1 million, including 400,000 Yazidis, and 600,000 Turkmen who have fled to safer regions.

 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/no-news-from-136-turkmens-kidnapped-by-jihadists.aspx?pageID=238&nID=76253&NewsCatID=352

The ‘Deepening’ of Strategic Partnership between Iraq and Iran

The ‘Deepening’ of Strategic Partnership between Iraq and Iran
Assist. Prof. Bayram Sinkaya, ORSAM Advisor and Yıldırım Beyazıt University

This policy brief addresses implications of major developments that took place in 2014 for the bilateral relations between Baghdad and Tehran, including the parliamentary elections, the seizure of Mosul by ISIS, and the formation of new government in Iraq. Iran closely follows developments in Iraq because of its national security concerns and its regional strategies. In order to preserve its interests in Iraq, Iranian government adopted a cautious approach throughout the elections, played a critical role in the formation of Abadi government, and provided comprehensive military support to Iraq in its struggle against ISIS. Iran’s political support to Abadi for the formation of the new government facilitated the preservation of Iranian interests in Iraq and strategic relations between Baghdad and Tehran. The comprehensive military support of Iran that was extended to Iraq to boost its struggle against ISIS led to the widening of military cooperation between the two countries. It is argued that major developments throughout 2014 furthered Iranian influence in Iraq, and culminated in the ‘deepening’ of strategic partnership between the two countries.

The Turkish version:

Full text




23 December 2014

SEASONS GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS ACROSS THE WORLD!

One of the Islamic State’s senior commanders reveals exclusive details of the terror group’s origins inside an Iraqi prison – right under the noses of their American jailers. Report by Martin Chulov

In the summer of 2004, a young jihadist in shackles and chains was walked by his captors slowly into the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He was nervous as two American soldiers led him through three brightly-lit buildings and then a maze of wire corridors, into an open yard, where men with middle-distance stares, wearing brightly-coloured prison uniforms, stood back warily, watching him.

“I knew some of them straight away,” he told me last month. “I had feared Bucca all the way down on the plane. But when I got there, it was much better than I thought. In every way.”

The jihadist, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed, entered Camp Bucca as a young man a decade ago, and is now a senior official within Islamic State (Isis) – having risen through its ranks with many of the men who served time alongside him in prison. Like him, the other detainees had been snatched by US soldiers from Iraq’s towns and cities and flown to a place that had already become infamous: a foreboding desert fortress that would shape the legacy of the US presence in Iraq.

Baghdadi was born Ibrahim ibn Awwad al-Badri al-Samarrai in 1971, in the Iraqi city of Samarra. He was detained by US forces in Falluja, west of Baghdad, in February 2004, months after he had helped found a militant group, Jeish Ahl al-Sunnah al-Jamaah, which had taken root in the restive Sunni communities around his home city.

please click on the link below to read the report:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/11/-sp-isis-the-inside-story?CMP=share_btn_tw

ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli was invited to AK Party Symposium at the European Parliament

On December 10, 2014 AK PARTY Brussels organized a 
Symposium

 at the EU Parliament

 "Sing Each Others' Song" 

How do we build a tolerant and inclusive society together?

The Symposium was hosted by MEP Sajjid KARIM

Welcome and introduction:  Zafer SIRAKAYA, AK Party Brussels Chairman

The key Speakers were:

Yusuf ÇETIN, Turkish Metropolitan and Patriarchal of the Syrian-Orthodox Church in Istanbul and Ankara

Ishak HALEVA, Great Rabbi of Turkey

Prof. Dr. Hüseyin YILMAZ, Office of interreligious and intercultural Communication Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey.

 AK Party Brussels Chairman Mr. Zafer SIRAKAYA and ITF EU representative Dr Hassan AYDINLI 

ITF EU representative Dr Hassan AYDINLI with Prof. Dr. Hüseyin YILMAZ, Office of interreligious and intercultural Communication Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey.

Mr. Süleyman ÇELIK, President of Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) and  Dr Hassan AYDINLI ITF EU representative 

During the Lunch Buffet which followed the Symposium Dr. Hassan AYDINLI also spoke with Mr. Eşref YAĞCIOĞLU, Member the the Advisory Board for Turkish Citizens abroad and with Mr. Vakur KAYA of ABHABER.

IRAQI TURKMEN BEGIN TO RETURN TO THEIR DESTROYED HOMES IN 3 VILLAGES IN TUZ KHURMATU

Iraqi Turkmen begin to return home in northen Iraq

file photo

Internally displaced Iraqi Turkmen families begin to return home after months of being in refugee.
World Bulletin/News Desk

Iraqi Shiite Turkmen families began to return to their destroyed homes on Tuesday after months of displacement, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.


The families started returning to three secure villages in the town of Tuz Khormato, located in the northeast of Saladin province, a governorate located in the north of Iraq.

The villages are now secured by the Badr brigades, a Shiite Iraqi militia, who took control of the region after ISIL militants abandoned the town.

The villages are full of destroyed homes scarred by bullet holes and which lack electricity and water. Unexploded mortar projectiles litter the area.

“We were shocked when we saw our homes ruined. We are now working on repairing them. There were 325 families in our village and 60 families have returned in the last 10 days. Not having electricity is our biggest problem. Everyone is supposed to return if the problems are solved,” Ahmed Kamal, one of the returnees, said.

Huseyin Sami also returned to his village, which is located 7 kilometers south of Tuz Khormato. He said that ISIL militants had damaged all the houses in the area.

“We are sad that none of the government officials came to review the situation here. Our heating is a problem, especially with winter coming. We go to Tuz Khormato hospital but the hospital sends us to Kirkuk,” Sami added.

“Protection of the villages is our highest priority. Hizbullah, Saraya El-Selam, Horasani and Peshmerga brigades in the region do not have serious problems between them,” Atif Najjar, the Badr brigades’ commander responsible for the Tuz Khormato region, said.

Iraqis will be able to return to the other villages after a mine sweep, according to Nur Halaf, a high-ranking Badr brigade commander.

“There are 34,000 internally displaced persons in Baghdad,” Riyad Al-Addad, a government official, said.

Ten thousand internally displaced persons were recorded on Monday by the Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Migrants, increasing the official recorded number to 470,000.

Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June, when the ISIL, stormed the northern province of Mosul.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/150297/iraqi-turkmen-begin-to-return-home-in-northen-iraq

US Strategy against ISIS in Syria and Turkey’s Position - Oytun Orhan, Researcher, ORSAM

http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20141127_policybrief17ing.pdf

US Strategy against ISIS in Syria and Turkey’s Position
Oytun Orhan, Researcher, ORSAM





It is accepted by everyone that the success of the strategy against ISIS depends on an integrated approach that includes both Iraq and Syria. However, it can be seen that the US strategy does not include a concrete plan for Syria. Thus, one can say that the goal in Syria is to contain the threat rather than destroying it. On the other hand, Turkey is one of key countries for the success of the plan against ISIS. But Turkey raised its concerns for the plan that it sees it is unlikely to succeed. In this context, Turkey tried to frame ISIS strategy in a form that takes into account its security priorities, since the potential failure of the plan will directly affect Turkey. Looking at “safe zone, no fly zone, train and equip” proposals, one can argue that Turkey is focused on removing both short and long term security risks. Short term risk is border security. The real aim in middle and long term is finding a permanent solution to the Syrian civil war to put an end to problems originated in Syria.

The Turkish version:

The Arabic version:

Full text



27 November 2014