Affichage des articles dont le libellé est History of Iraqi Turkmens. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est History of Iraqi Turkmens. Afficher tous les articles
samedi 13 août 2011
mercredi 14 octobre 2009
Iraqi Turkmens, their History and their Struggle
The Struggle of the Turkmens in Iraq
By Orhan Ketene
Please click on the link below:
vendredi 16 mai 2008
Iraqi Turkmen delegation at IX UNPO General Assembly in Brussels 17 May 2008 (Part V)
17th May 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Brussels From left to right:
Dr. Hassan Tawfiq Aydinli, ITF Europe Represenative
Mr. Attila Kalandar
Mr. Mohammed Khodja, Editor of Turkmen Times
Dr. Sheth Jerjis, President of SOITM
Further reading:
Iraqi Turkmen Statement At the UN WGIP 2005
Wednesday, 17 August 2005
United Nations Economics and Social DevelopmentCommission on Human Rights 23rd Session of Working Group on Indigenous People, July 18 – 22, UN, Switzerland - Geneva
Indigenous peoples and the international and domestic protection of traditional knowledge
Statement written by:
Dr. Sheth Jerjis, Chairman of SOITM, Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation (the Netherlands) and
Dr. Hassan Tawfiq Aydenly, Chairman of CDITR, Committee for the Defence of Iraqi Turkmen Rights (Belgium).
Statement written by:
Dr. Sheth Jerjis, Chairman of SOITM, Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation (the Netherlands) and
Dr. Hassan Tawfiq Aydenly, Chairman of CDITR, Committee for the Defence of Iraqi Turkmen Rights (Belgium).
Read and submitted by Dr. Sheth Jerjis.
Mr. Chairman
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Turkmen of Iraq, I thank you for this opportunity to present the Turkmen cause.
The Turkmen represent the third most important ethnic group in Iraq after the Arabs and Kurds. Unfortunately, they are marginalized and their true representation has always been underestimated for economical and political reasons since the creation of the Iraqi State in 1921. In reality, the Turkmen represent at least 13% of the Iraqi population. Their number is around 3 millions.
Iraqi Turkmen have been exposed to intensive assimilation policies, forced emigration and cultural erosion; this policy reached its peak during the Ba’ath regime;
• Under the 1925 Constitution, the Kurds and the Turkmen had the right to use their own languages in schools, government offices and to have their own language press. But in 1933, the Iraqi authorities began closing Turkmen schools and sent activists into exile.
• In the 1965 census, the proportion of Turkmen was further reduced.
• In the 1973 Interim Constitution no reference was made to the Turkmen population in Iraq.
• In the 1977 census the Ba’athist regime denied the presence of Turkmen in Iraq allowing only Arabs and Kurds to register their nationality, while prohibiting registration as Turkmen. In the 1997 census when the Turkmen were forced to register as a ‘New Arabs’, their number was announced to be negligible.
• In the 1980s dozens of Turkmen villages in Kerkuk, Mosul and Diyala provinces have been destroyed, their inhabitants were forcefully displaced and their agricultural lands and properties were confiscated• In the 1990s the Turkmen were forced to change their nationality.
• In 1990, the existence of the Turkmen as a community was denied and the new Constitution stated that “Iraqi people are Arabs and Kurds only.”
• Turkmen were exposed to torture, imprisonment, displacement and deportation
• The interim constitution, which was written by the Americans in 2004 ‘to democratize Iraq’, included many undemocratic decisions, such as:
o Giving to the Kurdish minority which represents 17% of the Iraqi population, rights equal to those of the Arab majority while ignoring the rights of the Turkmen who represent 13% of the Iraqi population and also ignoring the rights of the Cheldo-Assyrian community, which represents about 5% of the Iraqi population.
o Giving the 3 Kurdish provinces the right to reject any decision made by the Iraqi parliament.
With the help of the Americans the Kurdish political parties and militants managed to change the demography of the Turkmen regions, what Saddam’s regime had not been able to achieve in 35 years.
The American military authorities constituted the city councils in Turkmen regions, which were predominated by the Kurds. The predominantly Kurdish Kerkuk council, elected a Kurdish governor, a Kurdish Mayor and a Kurdish Chief of the Police. Almost all the high official posts were handed to the Kurds. The USA-made Kerkuk administration brought about 500.000 Kurds to settle in Kerkuk city.
The Kurdish threat to the Turkmen of Erbil continues systematically since 1991 as follows:
• The Barazani Kurds, in order to limit the Turkmen presence and restrict their activities in Erbil, have forced the landlords in Erbil who rented their properties to Turkmen political parties and Turkmen organizations to either terminate their contracts or to abusively increase their rents.
• Turkmen political, social and cultural activities have been severely restricted. Conferences and congresses of Turkmen organizations have been prevented to take place out of the organizations’ buildings.
• During campaigns Turkmen are not allowed to hang their boards and flags, except on their buildings and even then they disappear during the night. Almost the same inspection and security methods which were used by the Ba’ath regime are now used Barazani offices. The Turkmen of Erbil feel threatened, they avoid exposure fearing persecution and losing their jobs.. As a result; the Turkmen of Erbil are hesitating to register their children in Turkmen schools, the Turkmen staffs are afraid to talk Turkmen in their offices. Many employees have been dismissed for such reasons.
• In the Turkmen schools and in the education sector, Kurds imposed their will and hegemony by appointing Kurds to the Turkmen education office; these deliberately downgraded the Turkmen education system by ignoring the requirements of the Turkmen students.
• By appointing Kurds who cannot even speak the Turkmen language as directors or head masters to most Turkmen Schools in the regions under their control and by deliberately understaffing the Turkmen schools, they targeted the Turkmen education system in preparation of their Kurdification policies of the Turkmen regions.
• They have imposed the Kurdish language in the Turkmen shools from the first class in primary schools. Turkmen students are forced to sing the Kurdish national anthem, although they have their own Turkmen national anthem which is forbidden and their history teaching books only contain Kurdish History.
• Turkmen newspapers are prevented to be distributed to the bookshops and libraries. Since the late 1990s, the cafés and other public places were prevented by the Barazani security elements to open the Turkmen TV and radio.
• In addition to the economical support from the Western powers and Israel for decades and the huge gains made from customs duties they imposed since 1991 on all imported goods to Iraq via the north of the country, the Kurdish political parties also received a considerable amount of money from the infamous U.N. ‘oil for food program’. Meanwhile, the Turkmen political parties and organizations have received nothing and they were even deprived from their fair share from the ‘oil for food program’.
• The Turkmen are being discriminated, they are seldom appointed in governmental offices or in the university in Erbil, those who want to be appointed must show allegiance to Barazani and support his party’s ideology. For these reasons very few Turkmen have been appointed in governmental offices in the Kurdish region.
The last political attack on the Turkmen of Erbil by the Barazani authorities was carried out on 22 April 2005 and it continues until now. After the agreement between the Barazani security authorities and the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front office in Erbil, the following Turkmen organizations were occupied by armed militants and the flags of so-called Kurdistan and Kurdish parties were raised on the buildings for several hours:
• Head office of the ITF in Erbil city
• Turkmeneli Television station – almost all the instruments and archives were stolen.
• Turkmeneli radio station
• Turkmeneli Printing House – most of its contents were robbed • All types of publications of Turkmeneli printing house were stopped, such as the bi- weekly Turkmeneli Newspaper.
• Turkmen House
• The building of Turkmen education and culture and the al-Shifa dispensary House were evacuated and their contents were stolen.
Support of the American troops and non presence of the observers and power to resist made the Kurdish politicians and militants to violate freely the rights of the other sections of the Iraqi community. The Kurdish militants in national guards, security services and other armed forces started to arrest arbitrarily, the innocent Turkmen and Arabs and bring them to Kurdish prisons.
Demands
In view of the above stated facts and problems faced by us as a Turkmen in Iraq, I address this assembly on behalf of the Turkmen, requesting your support and asking the UN to intervene in our favor to defend our just cause with the Iraqi authorities. So that finally the 3 million Turkmen obtain full rights equal to those obtained by the Arabs and Kurds and that these rights be clearly stated in the new Iraqi Constitution.
To stop further deterioration of the political, social, and security situation in Iraq and to avoid more bloodshed, more killing of innocent Iraqis and further destruction of the infrastructure of our country we demand the immediate departure of the occupation powers from our country. If needed, we demand the United Nations to send to Iraq peace keeping forces for a limited period of time and from neutral countries who did not participate in any of the wars against Iraq since 17th January 1991.
The Turkmen believe in a true democracy and demand the establishment of a TRUE DEMOCRACY in a FREE and UNITED Iraq. They want to be a part of this FREE and UNITED Iraq, and refuse to be ‘a part of a part’ of divided “federal” Iraq’.
But if a federal system is accepted by the majority of the Iraqi people, then the Turkmen should be given the right to govern their own federal region where they constitute a majority.
Since all the Iraqi census was designed to serve state policy and the last election was mainly to serve the occupation authorities and the Kurds, we demand that the upcoming census and/or upcoming election be achieved totally by the United Nations and the international community.
We demand that the Kurdish administration be prevented from interfering in the election and census processes in the Turkmen region and security should no longer be exclusively in the hands of the Kurdish militants but should be provided by neutral police force from Central and Southern Iraq.
To safeguard the unity of Iraq, the sole official language should be Arabic since Arabs constitute the majority of the Iraqi people. However, as the Temporary Administrative Law has given the Kurdish language the status of second official language in Iraq while the Kurds represent a minority of no more than 17% of the Iraqi population, we Turkmen who are the third ethnic community in Iraq representing 13% of the total Iraqi population, demand that the Turkish language be considered as the third official language in Iraq along with Arabic and Kurdish.
We also demand a fair representation of the Turkmen in the Commission charged with the writing of the new constitution in order to safeguard our constitutional rights.
We demand with insistence that the Kurdification processes be stopped and that the hundreds of thousands of Kurdish immigrants who were brought to Kerkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Daquq and other Turkmen cities be returned to Erbil, Duhok and Sulaymaniyya where they came from.
We also demand that the thousands of Kurds who were brought by the two Kurdish parties KDP and PUK, after April 2003, to take positions and jobs in Kerkuk and other Turkmen regions, with the objective of imposing their policy of ‘fait accompli’ to Kurdify the Turkmen region, be returned to where they came from.
We demand that the Kerkuk Council be dissolved and that the Kurdish governor, Kurdish mayor, Kurdish police chief be dismissed and that these high positions be fairly shared between the three main communities in Kerkuk: Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs.
We demand that the international community be engaged directly to stop oppression, marginalization and assimilation of the Turkmen of Erbil.
We demand that the Kurdish militias be disbanded and disarmed and that they leave the Turkmen region.
I thank you for your interest and attention.
Iraqi Turkmens attended the ALDE- UNPO Conference in Brussels on 16-17 May 2008 (Part I)
From left to right: Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative
Mr. Attila KALANDAR
Mr. Mohammed KHOJA, Editor of Turkmen Times
Dr. Sheth JERJIS, President of SOITM
ALDE Conference in partnership with Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization and Nonviolent Radical PartyIX UNPO General Assembly
16-17 May 2008
Brussels, Belgium
16 May 2008 Session at the European Parliament
Chair: Ledum Mitee Esq. , President, UNPO General Assembly
Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary
Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, President, World Uyghur Congress (WUC)
Mr. Marco Cappato, Member of European Parliament, ALDE Group
Venerable U. Uttara, Secretary General of Sasan Moli-International Burmese Monks Org.
Mr. Marco Perduca, Senator of the Italian Parliament
Mr. Michael van Walt van Praag, Executive President, Kreddha
About the UNPO:
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is an international, nonviolent, and democratic membership organization. Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognized or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments, and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is an international, nonviolent, and democratic membership organization. Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognized or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments, and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.
Although the aspirations of UNPO Members differ greatly, they are all united by one shared condition - they are not adequately represented at major international fora, such as the United Nations.
As a consequence, their opportunity to participate on the international stage is significantly limited, as is their ability to access and draw upon the support of the global bodies mandated to defend their rights, protect their environments, and mitigate the effects of conflict.
In today's world where over 90 percent of conflicts are intra-state, UNPO has been established to fill this gap, proficing an internaitonal forum through which its Members can become effective participants and contributors to the international community.
The UNPO was founded in 1991 at the Peace Palace in The Hague (the Netherlands).
The Iraqi Turkmens are Members of the UNPO (*)
Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, ITF Europe Representative
Mrs. Merry FITZGERALD, Europe-Iraqi Turkmens Friendships
Please see article published in TURKMEN TIMES
by Mr. Mohammed KHOJA (in Arabic):
and
UNPO Declaration: Opening the World Order to De facto States
Limits and Potentialities of de facto states in the International Context
15 May 2008
European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
On 15 May 2008, UNPO hosted the conference "Opening the World Order to De facto States" in the European Parliament, Brussels.
Attendees at the conference included Graham Watson, Member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the ALDE Group, Marco Panella, Member of the European Parliament and Leader of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Michael Kau, Representative of Taiwan to the European Union and Belgium, Maxim Gunjia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, Mohamoud Daar, Representative of the Republic of Somaliland to the European Union, Scott Pegg, Associate Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Marino Busdachin, Secretary General, UNPO.
Below is the text of the UNPO Declaration on De facto States, prepared in consultation with the de facto states representatives and speakers present at the conference:
Declaration
Recognising that beyond the confines of the world’s internationally recognised State borders exist entities without official recognition as States, yet who possess many or all of the traditional empirical criteria for statehood and sometimes even function as States in international fora.
Recognising that these de facto states may have their own democratically elected government, political system, laws, judiciary, police force, defence force, currency, foreign representation, or all of the above, independent of any officially recognised State in whose (claimed or sovereign) territory they may lie.
Recognising that many sovereign States are not in favour of opening up the World Order to de facto states.
UNPO has convened this conference, not to address whether or not these entities should be independent and sovereign, which is a very complex and controversial matter, but to deal with the reality that these pockets of the world do exist and function, to varying degrees, as states, and the practical implications of this fact.
This conference will show that, without full access to the World Order, both the peoples of these de facto states and the international community at large suffer. We suffer in terms of trade and investment, international security, health, safety and the prosecution of transnational, international and domestic crime. Negligence towards de facto states harms human rights and human dignity.
On a domestic level, examples of this suffering can be seen in the obvious consequences to the commercial sector of the de facto state lacking an internationally recognised central bank, the health of the peoples of the de facto state suffering because, for example, the de facto state entity is denied access to the World Health Organisation, or their safety being jeopardised by the de facto state airline having to conduct its air traffic controlling from a neighbouring State.
On an international level, the practical implications of the restricted access of de facto states to the World Order are more profound still. Obviously, whilst the very same domestic concerns mentioned can have wide-ranging international consequences, in a globalised world, the dangers created by the legal voids that these areas represent in international security and crime should be of grave concern to all State governments.
This conference, then, brings together officials from unrecognised governments with the main aim of creating and sustaining permanent mechanisms of involvement and consultation of unrecognised state entities in the international community, for the benefit not only of the peoples of these de facto states, but for the international community at large.
It is the sincere hope of UNPO that following on from this conference, a series of consultations between de facto states and between de facto and sovereign States can begin.
Office of the General Secretary
P. O. Box 85878 - 2508 CN The Hague - The Netherlands
Tel: +31(0)70 3646 504 - Fax: +31 (0)70 3646 608 - unpo@unpo.org
mercredi 30 avril 2008
The Demographic Situation of Kerkuk and the Iraqi Constitution
by Erşat Hürmüzlü
mailto:ersat@umgco.com
19.04.2007
The demographic structure of the Turkmens in Iraq is unlike those of the Arabs, Kurds and other minorities. The tribal system, with its advantages and disadvantages, is rooted among Arabs and Kurds, rendering blind loyalty to the tribe, granting tribal chiefs absolute powers, which led to the birth of the feudal system removing debate from decision-making and creating a lack of equal opportunities.
The Turkmens, however, are more family oriented, having intimate feelings for descendants from a grand grandfather who held the same family name. The family system, however, did not prevent any member from getting his share of respect, honor and fame due to a religious, academic or professional status.
This very difference, which was neglected by many researchers, may be a reason for the diminished role of the Turkmen in the structure of the Iraqi society.
However, there are other reasons behind this issue, mainly the attempts to change the reality of the Turkmen existence in Iraq in order to annex Kirkuk into a specific region.
What we can see from either Kurdish political parties or from the publications of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq is that they were in agreement in only one subject, which is the denial of the actual size of this component of Iraq.
Let me give you one example, The Patriot Union of Kurdistan web site has published very recently an article adopted from their own newspaper “Kurdistani Nwe” saying:
We have found a document in the archives of the Foreign Affairs of Britain which depicted the makeup of the inhabitants of Kirkuk in the year 1919. At that time and according to this document the inhabitants of Kirkuk were 91 229, 75 thousand of which were Kurds.
In fact, the official documents of the National Archives in London, in which I have personally researched and studied, show clearly that the British delegation to Lausanne conference in early twentieth of the last century headed by Lord Curzon, had submitted their own figures which states clearly, and although the figures were questionable, that the Kurds were less than half in Kirkuk.
The cause of this disinformation was because an “error” was made in one of the Kurdish writers’ book, published in Arabic, saying that the division of the ethnicities in Kirkuk was as follows: 10,000 Arabs, 35,000 Turkmen, 75,000 Kurds, 600 Kildaniens and 1400 Jews. The total had been published as 92,000.
Simple arithmetic will clearly yield the total to be 122,000, and not 92,000. The reason was that in actual figures the number of the Kurds was 45,000 and not 75,000. That means that even with these false figures the Kurds were constituted less than half of the whole governorate and not the central city.
Why have we considered the figures submitted by the British delegation and Lord Curzon as false?
In his memorandum to the Head of the Turkish Delegation, Ismet Inonu, during the open sessions of the conference, Curzon claimed that the Turkmen population within Mosul Region was 66,000. He claimed also that these figures belong to the researches done by the British officers visited each and every settlement in the region, sometimes even on horseback or by any means necessary to count the people properly in 1919.
However we have discovered the same figures in the report of Wikie Young, one of the staff of British Consulate in Mosul, who clearly states his own estimates by saying that the inhabitants of Kirkuk at that time was 40,000, save 3000 non Muslims, the rest (i.e. 37,000) were all Turkmen.
He adds 1,500 Turkmen living in Tuzhurmato, 10,000 Turkmen in Telafer and quarter of Erbil inhabitants who were as much as 60000(i.e. 15000) were Turkmen. He also mentions that the all Bayat tribe people were Turkmen, say 2500 at that time. The total is 66000. (The Report of Mr. Young dated 5th.April 1910, The National Archives, File No: FO 371/1008.
If we look at the figures presented by the Turkish delegation at that time, we see that the Turks were not claiming that they have collected these figures by officers riding on horsebacks, but from the official records of the state which used to be registered by each part of the Ottoman Empire. These figures were registered before the war when there was no reason to exaggerate the numbers at all. The figures mentioned in this statement show the Turkmen at 146,000.
The same statements show the Kurds at that time at 263,000. If we consider the estimations made in the Oil for Food programme of the United Nations and the percentage adopted in the new Iraqi budgets we see that the Kurds are at 17% of the Iraqi population. Now, 17% of 25 million should be slightly more than 4 million. If we consider in the absence of a real census in Iraq that the Turkmen are above 2 million, we see that really the figures of the Turkish delegation were accurate.
The British authorities never denied that the majority of Kirkuk is Turkmen. This was even stated in 1952 in a report from the British Ambassador in Iraq Mr. J.M. Trulbil, addressed to the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, about the former’s visit to Kirkuk, Suleimaniya and Erbil during the period from 10-14 May 1952, he stated:
“The issue of minorities in Iraq is based on the relationship between the Arabs and non-Arabs, and this relation is evident now than ever before. The coexistence and harmony is clearly demonstrated in Kirkuk, for Turkmens constitute the majority of the population in that region and they live with Arabs and Kurds side by side”. (The British National Archives, London, File No. F.O/173/98738, report of the Oriental Dept. E/1018/2).
We know that the accurate figures of the Turkmen announced by the Iraqi republic after the military coup in 1958 show the real stand as 567 000( as stated in the report of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy watch No. 735, March27, 2003).
If we adopt and again in the absence of accurate census, the growth rates of Iraq in general which based on Iraqi population growth rates being approximately 3.2% throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s; 2.6% in the 80s; 2.4% from 1990-92, and 2.3% in 1993 as per the figures quoted in the 1993 Unified Economic Report published by the Arab Fund for Economics and Social Development; the Arab Monetary Fund, and the Arab Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, then we can calculate this figures nowadays as more than 2 millions.
This fact is in conformity with the above said report stating the percentage of the Turkmen population in Iraq as 9%. In the present we are talking about 25 million living in Iraq, 9% of which is 2,250,000.
Especially in Kirkuk, the situation was always in this regard, until recent attempts began to severely change the ethnic stance of Kirkuk and its surrounding areas. Even the Kurds have accepted this reality during the negotiations between the Iraqi Kurds and the government.
We see in David McDowell’s book, A Modern History of Kurds, ف.B. Tauris, New York 1996, the following statement:
“Mulla Mustafa (Barzani) accused the government of resettling Arabs in the contrasted areas Kirkuk, Khaniqin and Sinjar and told government that he would not accept the census results if the indicate is an Arab majority. He also dismissed the offer of 1965 census, which he said forged. When the government proposed to apply 1957 census to Kirkuk, Mulla Mustafa refused it, since this was bound to show that the Turkmen’s, although outnumbered in the governorate as a whole was still predominant in Kirkuk town.”
Documents:
I have presented tens of the documents including the official maps and reports of the British government, researchers and authors, which none of them are Turks or Turkmen, stating the ethnic reality of Kirkuk as Turkmen.
In dispute, the majority of the Kurdish authors persistently deny the extent of the historical Turkmen presence in Kirkuk; referring to Shemseddin Sami’s Kamus al Alam (Dictionary of the Individuals) as a factual and reputable authority. It is, in fact, an Ottoman encyclopedia of history and geography which makes the highly-dubious claim that three quarters of Kirkuk’s population are Kurds, the remainder being made up of Turkmen, Arabs and other ethnic groups.
Almost all of these authors refer to what they regard as the most authoritative and reliable sources in this regard. They always mention Shamseddin Sami’s work already referred to, as an author they describe as a Turkish historian and traveler holding no particular allegiance to the Kurds, who had visited Kirkuk and written, according to them, an accurate account of the area and its inhabitants.
As a matter of fact, Shamseddin Sami was not Turkish. He was born in Albania in 1266 (AH) (1849 G) where he received his early education in the Greek school at Yanya, and learned Turkish, Persian and Arabic from a private tutor. He later moved to Istanbul where he launched a newspaper ‘Sabah.’ He then turned to writing fiction, among his early stories being ‘The Love Story of Talat and Fitnat,’ which openly questioned Ottoman marriage traditions and ethics.
He followed this with ‘The Revolution of Kawa, the Blacksmith,’ which depicted the hero’s struggle against the dictator, Dhahhak. The reaction of the Turkish authorities was to exile him to Tripoli, but he eventually returned to Istanbul where he devoted his time to writing language texts and works of non-fiction.
Ironically, Sami was not a traveler at all, never having once visited Kirkuk or Baghdad despite writing knowledgeably and authoritatively about both cities. The reference to his major work, referred to above, in the Islamic Encyclopedia clearly states that he compiled it from information he obtained in Bouillet’s Dictionaries et de Geographie Universal d’Histoire, various Arab and Persian sources and the largely inaccurate reports and records of government officials. His credibility is also seriously undermined by his references to Baghdad as a ‘Turkish’ city where, he claimed, mainly Turkish was spoken, with Arabic being relegated to second place.
Last statement
In a debate, one of the colleagues was mentioning that the Turkmen always exaggerate their numbers in Iraq and that they do not exceed, as he thinks 7-8 hundred thousands.
In my answer I have mentioned that the natural rights of any individual in any community, are totally independent of the latter’s size or strength, in accordance with the principles laid down by the International Declaration of Human rights (and, in addition, upheld by the terms of the aforementioned Iraqi constitution, the temporary constitution which succeeded it and finally the new permanent constitution).
Even if the testimony of Kurdish writers or others like the said colleague is accepted as valid (though they have generally tended to grossly underestimate the numbers of Turkmen in the Kirkuk region) the fact has to be recognized that the Turkmen population actually exceeds that of several entire independent, internationally recognized nations, for instance in The Arabian gulf, Europe and Africa.
I have reminded this friend who resides in Geneva, Switzerland to have a look at the Swiss currency, the Swiss Frank. He would see four native languages on it, including Romansh who at time did not exceed 30,000 people, but had 5 members in Parliament in Bern, not because they were a minority, rather because they had the capability and qualities to hold the seat in the parliament.
We wish to affirm our views as Iraqi Turkmens toward the ethnicities issue in Iraq adopted from the Turkmen Charter, in which we believe: It is the firm belief of the Turkmen that the ideal solution for the ethnic problems in Iraq will come to fruition only when the process builds on a solid foundation that embraces all the ethnicities and groups and considers them all as first class citizens and partners in a single nation. The selection of a free and sovereign united government system should be according to the resolve and free will of the Iraqis.
There should be no attempt to push aside any ethnic group or sect of people and withstand from exaggerating the role of one group over another because of certain exceptional state of affairs.
The Turkmen citizens affirm their respect for a comprehensive decision by the Iraqis that should take into consideration all the Iraqi ethnic groups who should exercise equal rights in shouldering similar duties in the regions that they inhabit and, that this should be conditional on the credible and just demographic census under the supervision of the United Nations after eliminating the last attempt to change this situation in favor of one group.
The Iraqi Turkmen predict a united, democratic, pluralistic and parliamentary Iraq, in which the government will be chosen by a free and credible election according to international standards, and will not be subjected to narrow-minded ethnic determinations in the distribution of authority or governmental positions. In the public service, the Turkmen believe that efficiency, qualifications, experience, and clear vision should become the standard.
Some people talk sometimes about the rosy futures and urge the people not to live in the past but to look forward. May I suggest here that we should specifically in this subject go backward to the past. To adopt and implement the norms accepted in 1948 in the International declaration of Human Rights. Moreover to go back to the Iraqi constitution of 1925, which I believe it was more moderate and acceptable than all constitution followed, including the so called permanent constitution. Let me share with you what I have counted in 2005 constitution. There are references in this to Sunni, Shea, Arab, Arabic, Kurds, Kurdistan, Turkmen, Assyrians, Kildaniens, Yazidies, Sabia, Armenians, Muslims and Christians 25 times. While such a reference in 1925 constitution is only one and it is related to the official language of Iraq provided that the other languages are also respected.
Now we declared what we prefer as Turkmen of Iraq, I wish however to express how anxious we are about the situation in Kirkuk and other Turkmen inhabited areas in Iraq. Let me remind you that, at the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of the United Nations 2005, the Greek Cypriot president Papadopoulos expressed his opinion about how to solve the Turkish Cypriot-Greek Cypriot dispute, by saying that the Turks should dropped into the rest of Cyprus.
He used the ward “Osmosis”. By this, the plan was to melt the Turks into the other part. I am afraid that, what was planned in Cyprus is nowadays implemented and taking place in Turkmen areas of Iraq.
“Osmosis” is taking place to annul the Turkmen presence in Iraq and annex Kirkuk to a specific region. We urge the free world to stop this tragedy.
mailto:ersat@umgco.com
19.04.2007
To read the article (first published one year ago) and see the charts (which are missing in the excerpt below) please click on the following link:
http://www.kerkukvakfi.com/english/makaleler.asp?id=119
Excerpt:
The demographic structure of the Turkmens in Iraq is unlike those of the Arabs, Kurds and other minorities. The tribal system, with its advantages and disadvantages, is rooted among Arabs and Kurds, rendering blind loyalty to the tribe, granting tribal chiefs absolute powers, which led to the birth of the feudal system removing debate from decision-making and creating a lack of equal opportunities.
The Turkmens, however, are more family oriented, having intimate feelings for descendants from a grand grandfather who held the same family name. The family system, however, did not prevent any member from getting his share of respect, honor and fame due to a religious, academic or professional status.
This very difference, which was neglected by many researchers, may be a reason for the diminished role of the Turkmen in the structure of the Iraqi society.
However, there are other reasons behind this issue, mainly the attempts to change the reality of the Turkmen existence in Iraq in order to annex Kirkuk into a specific region.
What we can see from either Kurdish political parties or from the publications of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq is that they were in agreement in only one subject, which is the denial of the actual size of this component of Iraq.
Let me give you one example, The Patriot Union of Kurdistan web site has published very recently an article adopted from their own newspaper “Kurdistani Nwe” saying:
We have found a document in the archives of the Foreign Affairs of Britain which depicted the makeup of the inhabitants of Kirkuk in the year 1919. At that time and according to this document the inhabitants of Kirkuk were 91 229, 75 thousand of which were Kurds.
In fact, the official documents of the National Archives in London, in which I have personally researched and studied, show clearly that the British delegation to Lausanne conference in early twentieth of the last century headed by Lord Curzon, had submitted their own figures which states clearly, and although the figures were questionable, that the Kurds were less than half in Kirkuk.
The cause of this disinformation was because an “error” was made in one of the Kurdish writers’ book, published in Arabic, saying that the division of the ethnicities in Kirkuk was as follows: 10,000 Arabs, 35,000 Turkmen, 75,000 Kurds, 600 Kildaniens and 1400 Jews. The total had been published as 92,000.
Simple arithmetic will clearly yield the total to be 122,000, and not 92,000. The reason was that in actual figures the number of the Kurds was 45,000 and not 75,000. That means that even with these false figures the Kurds were constituted less than half of the whole governorate and not the central city.
Why have we considered the figures submitted by the British delegation and Lord Curzon as false?
In his memorandum to the Head of the Turkish Delegation, Ismet Inonu, during the open sessions of the conference, Curzon claimed that the Turkmen population within Mosul Region was 66,000. He claimed also that these figures belong to the researches done by the British officers visited each and every settlement in the region, sometimes even on horseback or by any means necessary to count the people properly in 1919.
However we have discovered the same figures in the report of Wikie Young, one of the staff of British Consulate in Mosul, who clearly states his own estimates by saying that the inhabitants of Kirkuk at that time was 40,000, save 3000 non Muslims, the rest (i.e. 37,000) were all Turkmen.
He adds 1,500 Turkmen living in Tuzhurmato, 10,000 Turkmen in Telafer and quarter of Erbil inhabitants who were as much as 60000(i.e. 15000) were Turkmen. He also mentions that the all Bayat tribe people were Turkmen, say 2500 at that time. The total is 66000. (The Report of Mr. Young dated 5th.April 1910, The National Archives, File No: FO 371/1008.
If we look at the figures presented by the Turkish delegation at that time, we see that the Turks were not claiming that they have collected these figures by officers riding on horsebacks, but from the official records of the state which used to be registered by each part of the Ottoman Empire. These figures were registered before the war when there was no reason to exaggerate the numbers at all. The figures mentioned in this statement show the Turkmen at 146,000.
The same statements show the Kurds at that time at 263,000. If we consider the estimations made in the Oil for Food programme of the United Nations and the percentage adopted in the new Iraqi budgets we see that the Kurds are at 17% of the Iraqi population. Now, 17% of 25 million should be slightly more than 4 million. If we consider in the absence of a real census in Iraq that the Turkmen are above 2 million, we see that really the figures of the Turkish delegation were accurate.
The British authorities never denied that the majority of Kirkuk is Turkmen. This was even stated in 1952 in a report from the British Ambassador in Iraq Mr. J.M. Trulbil, addressed to the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, about the former’s visit to Kirkuk, Suleimaniya and Erbil during the period from 10-14 May 1952, he stated:
“The issue of minorities in Iraq is based on the relationship between the Arabs and non-Arabs, and this relation is evident now than ever before. The coexistence and harmony is clearly demonstrated in Kirkuk, for Turkmens constitute the majority of the population in that region and they live with Arabs and Kurds side by side”. (The British National Archives, London, File No. F.O/173/98738, report of the Oriental Dept. E/1018/2).
We know that the accurate figures of the Turkmen announced by the Iraqi republic after the military coup in 1958 show the real stand as 567 000( as stated in the report of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy watch No. 735, March27, 2003).
If we adopt and again in the absence of accurate census, the growth rates of Iraq in general which based on Iraqi population growth rates being approximately 3.2% throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s; 2.6% in the 80s; 2.4% from 1990-92, and 2.3% in 1993 as per the figures quoted in the 1993 Unified Economic Report published by the Arab Fund for Economics and Social Development; the Arab Monetary Fund, and the Arab Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, then we can calculate this figures nowadays as more than 2 millions.
This fact is in conformity with the above said report stating the percentage of the Turkmen population in Iraq as 9%. In the present we are talking about 25 million living in Iraq, 9% of which is 2,250,000.
Especially in Kirkuk, the situation was always in this regard, until recent attempts began to severely change the ethnic stance of Kirkuk and its surrounding areas. Even the Kurds have accepted this reality during the negotiations between the Iraqi Kurds and the government.
We see in David McDowell’s book, A Modern History of Kurds, ف.B. Tauris, New York 1996, the following statement:
“Mulla Mustafa (Barzani) accused the government of resettling Arabs in the contrasted areas Kirkuk, Khaniqin and Sinjar and told government that he would not accept the census results if the indicate is an Arab majority. He also dismissed the offer of 1965 census, which he said forged. When the government proposed to apply 1957 census to Kirkuk, Mulla Mustafa refused it, since this was bound to show that the Turkmen’s, although outnumbered in the governorate as a whole was still predominant in Kirkuk town.”
Documents:
I have presented tens of the documents including the official maps and reports of the British government, researchers and authors, which none of them are Turks or Turkmen, stating the ethnic reality of Kirkuk as Turkmen.
In dispute, the majority of the Kurdish authors persistently deny the extent of the historical Turkmen presence in Kirkuk; referring to Shemseddin Sami’s Kamus al Alam (Dictionary of the Individuals) as a factual and reputable authority. It is, in fact, an Ottoman encyclopedia of history and geography which makes the highly-dubious claim that three quarters of Kirkuk’s population are Kurds, the remainder being made up of Turkmen, Arabs and other ethnic groups.
Almost all of these authors refer to what they regard as the most authoritative and reliable sources in this regard. They always mention Shamseddin Sami’s work already referred to, as an author they describe as a Turkish historian and traveler holding no particular allegiance to the Kurds, who had visited Kirkuk and written, according to them, an accurate account of the area and its inhabitants.
As a matter of fact, Shamseddin Sami was not Turkish. He was born in Albania in 1266 (AH) (1849 G) where he received his early education in the Greek school at Yanya, and learned Turkish, Persian and Arabic from a private tutor. He later moved to Istanbul where he launched a newspaper ‘Sabah.’ He then turned to writing fiction, among his early stories being ‘The Love Story of Talat and Fitnat,’ which openly questioned Ottoman marriage traditions and ethics.
He followed this with ‘The Revolution of Kawa, the Blacksmith,’ which depicted the hero’s struggle against the dictator, Dhahhak. The reaction of the Turkish authorities was to exile him to Tripoli, but he eventually returned to Istanbul where he devoted his time to writing language texts and works of non-fiction.
Ironically, Sami was not a traveler at all, never having once visited Kirkuk or Baghdad despite writing knowledgeably and authoritatively about both cities. The reference to his major work, referred to above, in the Islamic Encyclopedia clearly states that he compiled it from information he obtained in Bouillet’s Dictionaries et de Geographie Universal d’Histoire, various Arab and Persian sources and the largely inaccurate reports and records of government officials. His credibility is also seriously undermined by his references to Baghdad as a ‘Turkish’ city where, he claimed, mainly Turkish was spoken, with Arabic being relegated to second place.
Last statement
In a debate, one of the colleagues was mentioning that the Turkmen always exaggerate their numbers in Iraq and that they do not exceed, as he thinks 7-8 hundred thousands.
In my answer I have mentioned that the natural rights of any individual in any community, are totally independent of the latter’s size or strength, in accordance with the principles laid down by the International Declaration of Human rights (and, in addition, upheld by the terms of the aforementioned Iraqi constitution, the temporary constitution which succeeded it and finally the new permanent constitution).
Even if the testimony of Kurdish writers or others like the said colleague is accepted as valid (though they have generally tended to grossly underestimate the numbers of Turkmen in the Kirkuk region) the fact has to be recognized that the Turkmen population actually exceeds that of several entire independent, internationally recognized nations, for instance in The Arabian gulf, Europe and Africa.
I have reminded this friend who resides in Geneva, Switzerland to have a look at the Swiss currency, the Swiss Frank. He would see four native languages on it, including Romansh who at time did not exceed 30,000 people, but had 5 members in Parliament in Bern, not because they were a minority, rather because they had the capability and qualities to hold the seat in the parliament.
We wish to affirm our views as Iraqi Turkmens toward the ethnicities issue in Iraq adopted from the Turkmen Charter, in which we believe: It is the firm belief of the Turkmen that the ideal solution for the ethnic problems in Iraq will come to fruition only when the process builds on a solid foundation that embraces all the ethnicities and groups and considers them all as first class citizens and partners in a single nation. The selection of a free and sovereign united government system should be according to the resolve and free will of the Iraqis.
There should be no attempt to push aside any ethnic group or sect of people and withstand from exaggerating the role of one group over another because of certain exceptional state of affairs.
The Turkmen citizens affirm their respect for a comprehensive decision by the Iraqis that should take into consideration all the Iraqi ethnic groups who should exercise equal rights in shouldering similar duties in the regions that they inhabit and, that this should be conditional on the credible and just demographic census under the supervision of the United Nations after eliminating the last attempt to change this situation in favor of one group.
The Iraqi Turkmen predict a united, democratic, pluralistic and parliamentary Iraq, in which the government will be chosen by a free and credible election according to international standards, and will not be subjected to narrow-minded ethnic determinations in the distribution of authority or governmental positions. In the public service, the Turkmen believe that efficiency, qualifications, experience, and clear vision should become the standard.
Some people talk sometimes about the rosy futures and urge the people not to live in the past but to look forward. May I suggest here that we should specifically in this subject go backward to the past. To adopt and implement the norms accepted in 1948 in the International declaration of Human Rights. Moreover to go back to the Iraqi constitution of 1925, which I believe it was more moderate and acceptable than all constitution followed, including the so called permanent constitution. Let me share with you what I have counted in 2005 constitution. There are references in this to Sunni, Shea, Arab, Arabic, Kurds, Kurdistan, Turkmen, Assyrians, Kildaniens, Yazidies, Sabia, Armenians, Muslims and Christians 25 times. While such a reference in 1925 constitution is only one and it is related to the official language of Iraq provided that the other languages are also respected.
Now we declared what we prefer as Turkmen of Iraq, I wish however to express how anxious we are about the situation in Kirkuk and other Turkmen inhabited areas in Iraq. Let me remind you that, at the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of the United Nations 2005, the Greek Cypriot president Papadopoulos expressed his opinion about how to solve the Turkish Cypriot-Greek Cypriot dispute, by saying that the Turks should dropped into the rest of Cyprus.
He used the ward “Osmosis”. By this, the plan was to melt the Turks into the other part. I am afraid that, what was planned in Cyprus is nowadays implemented and taking place in Turkmen areas of Iraq.
“Osmosis” is taking place to annul the Turkmen presence in Iraq and annex Kirkuk to a specific region. We urge the free world to stop this tragedy.
Please see also:
http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/2008/04/constitution-of-iraq-and-issue-of.html
samedi 26 avril 2008
Turkmens, Turkmeneli and the Musul Region, by Orhan Ketene - PART II
Turkmeneli: region indicated in blue on the mapThe Role of the Turkmens in the Iraqi History:
Being the local backbone of the above mentioned empires and states in Iraq, the Turkmens formed the bulk of the army and the administrative elite throughout the Middle East. Especially in Iraq, there are numerous monuments universities, mosques, cities, bridges and other achievements from that long era. Throughout their history the Turkmens defended Iraq and Syria from foreign invaders:
1- They drove out the Crusaders in the 11th century after fighting for 70 years under the command of Imadeddin Zengi the Atabeg of Musul and Salahaddin Eyyubi who was brought up by the Zengi family.
2- They defended Baghdad against the Mongol invaders in 1258 especially the heroic efforts of commander “Aytoghdu” and his Turkish battalion. Eventually, all Mongols were assimilated and blended with other Turkish tribes.
3- They defended Iraq against the Iranians and prevented them from occupying Iraq through many wars that started in 1508 and ended in 1638.
4- They defended Iraq against the Wahhabi Bedouins who attacked the Shiite holy sites in Karbala, Kufa and Najaf in the 18.th century and drove them out of the country.
The most important issue is that during this long period, the Turkmens, being part of or related to the rulers, never harmed the local peoples, there were no massacres, no ethnic cleansing, and no force to change other people’s languages or religions. On the contrary they blended with the locals, and in some cases even assimilated. Today we know that almost half of the Bayat tribe has been arabized.
The Politics of Oil :
With the beginning of the 20.th century, oil was becoming the prime source of energy. The British, with the help of their intelligence network and “archeological” explorations, knew that Kerkuk area in the Musul province had large deposits of oil. As a fact, the eternal fire of Baba Gurgur was burning for thousands of years, oil and tar was being used by the local people since the beginning of history. In order to stay as global super power it was necessary for Britain to possess those oilfields. Therefore, the British laid plans to end the Ottoman Empire years before the First World War. As a first step Kuwait was occupied in 1899, to serve as a foothold to invade Iraq when the time was right.
In the meantime the British oil companies were attempting to buy those oil rich lands privately. Sultan Abdulhamid II., through his powerful intelligence agency, “The Special Organization” or “Teshkilat-i Makhsusa”, knew about the British intentions in the oil fields of Musul. So, he purchased those lands as crown properties to protect them from being sold to foreign companies, then he ordered the establishment of the Turkish Petroleum Company, a Turkish-German joint venture and gave it exclusive rights to explore oil in those lands. He also connected Musul to Anatolia through the Toros Railway.
The First World War and the British Tactics:
The Ottoman Empire recognizing the power of the British Empire, tried to ally itself with Britain, and as a sign of good will, they ordered for the building of two of the most advanced and expensive war ships, at that time, by the British “Vickers” company and paid for them in advance. But the British, as previously planned, did every thing possible to intimidate the Turks and push them into the opposite German camp. Therefore, it allied itself with Russia, the eternal enemy of the Turks. And to further provoke them, Britain confiscated both war ships, “Sultan Osman” and “Reshadiye” which were ready to go to Turkey.
The Germans immediately compensated the Turks with two legendary German warships “Breslau” and “Goeben” which sailed to Istanbul then continued to the Black sea under a Turkish flag to bombard the Russian port city of Odessa, pulling the Ottoman Empire into the First World War unwillingly and unprepared.
Britain declared war on Turkey on Nov.5, 1914 and from their bases in Kuwait, they launched an attack and landed in Basra on Nov 7.
The Ottoman army, compared to the British army, was ill equipped, but despite that,
They managed to defeat the British army at the battle of Kut-al-Amara on April 26.th 1915, and took General Townsend, prisoner of war.
In order to break the Turkish resistance, the British intelligence service based in Cairo, decided to use Sharif Hussein, the Arab governor of Makka and promised him with help to be the King of all Ottoman Arabia, stretching from Syria and Iraq in the north to Yemen and Oman in the South. Lured by the dream of becoming a Caliph and a king of Arabia, he declared war on the Ottoman Empire on June 5, 1915 starting the Arabian revolution. The British troops landed at the port of Jeddah to help Hussein, and to give the impression of occupying the holy lands of Islam. This critical action forced the Ottomans to divert large numbers of troops to Hejaz, weakening the Iraqi and Syrian fronts. The British sent fresh troops to Iraq and Egypt pushing the Turks to the north.
They occupied Baghdad on 11 March 1917 and managed to sweep through, all the way up to Kerkuk which fell on March 24, 1918. The Ottoman army fought back and recaptured Kerkuk on May 24th 1918, pushing the British to the Himrin Mountains which was the border of the Musul province. But the British changed tactics and prepared to attack Musul from the west bank of the Tigris River, therefore, the Ottoman army withdrew from Kerkuk on October 26.th 1918, to strengthen their forces in Qayyara, at the border of the Musul province. Armistice and cease-fire was declared on October 30th , 1918. The First World War had officially ended with rival troops stationed at the southern border of the Musul province.
The war ended and the British still couldn’t achieve the main reason of their mission which was the possession of the oil rich areas of the Musul province, so, ignoring and violating the cease-fire agreement and using article-7 of the armistice regulations as a pretext to occupy any area where there is a local disturbance, they moved towards Musul. In fact, there weren’t any disturbances in Musul except for a provocation by few Armenians who called the British for help, which was a prepared scenario by the British agents to give the occupiers a reason to use this clause. The British General William Marshall, gave an ultimatum to General Ali Ihsan Pasha on November 7.th 1918 to evacuate Musul. To avoid further bloodshed and believing that Musul legally belongs to Turkey, the Turkish army started to withdraw on Nov. 8.th and by Nov.11.th the British troops entered Musul, ending 863 years of Turkish rule in Iraq.
The British Era
Local Resistance:
The people of Iraq, never accepted the British occupation, they preferred to rejoin Turkey as the successor of the Ottomans for religious reasons. Sheik Mahmud Hafid the head of the Soran Kurdish tribes in Suleymaniye and the sheiks of the Behdinan Kurds in Imadiye rose up against the British authorities. Suleymaniye was liberated on May 22.nd 1920, but the British response was very harsh. Emadia and Suleymaniye were bombed heavily from the air. By June 17.th 1920 Suleymaniye had fallen and sheik Mahmud was captured and sent to exile in India.
In June 1920, the Turkmen of Telafer revolted against the British, this revolution (Qach-qach revolution) spread like a wild fire to the rest of Iraq. By the end of 1920, the British suppressed the uprising and killed over 10.000 people, also, it cost them too many soldiers and officers and drained the British budget to the limit.
Britain decided to move behind the scene and create a puppet Iraqi regime controlled by them, so they brought Faisal, who was thrown out of Syria by the French, and declared him as the king of Iraq.
Turkey persists on regaining Musul:
The newly formed Turkish National Assembly declared Musul within the “National Pact” which defined the minimum limits of the “New Turkey”, and persisted on re-taking it back even if it cost another war. The Mesopotamian Army was mobilized to Mardin.
The Ozdemir Mission:
The Turkmen chiefs Nazim and Kerim Fettah begs as well as the heads of the Kurdish tribes asked Mustafa Kemal Pasha to help them organize the resistance against the British occupation.
In February 1922 Major Shefik Ozdemir was assigned by Mustafa Kemal Pasha to go to Northern Iraq to help the locals organize the resistance.
A military contingent headed by Major Shefik Ozdemir arrived in Rawanduz on June 22.nd 1922. Supported by the local Turkmen chiefs Karim Fattah Beg and Nazim Beg as well as the local Kurdish tribes, they started a guerrilla war and achieved a major victory in the battle of Derbent on August 31, 1922 (This coincides with the major victory of the Turkish army at the battle of Inonu against the Greek army in Sakarya, northwest Turkey) on September 7.th, Marshall Fevzi Chakmak, the chief of staff of the Turkish Army, cabled the commanders of the Mesopotamian Army, to get ready to take Musul back by force. On September 18.th 1922, the Ozdemir mission entered Shaklawa, east of Erbil. Towards the end of October they were able to infiltrate deep inside Iraq while the Turkish Mesopotamian army was waiting across the border, in Mardin and Cizre, ready to attack.
Turkey switches to diplomacy - The Lausanne Conference :
The victorious Turkish army was marching to regain Istanbul and the straights which were under the allied occupation. The Italians and the French were in no mood to fight the Turks, the British were left alone in the field facing the Turkish army. Under these conditions they signed up the armistice of Mudania on October 11, 1922 in which they gave back Istanbul, the straights and Eastern Thrace.
Peace conference convened in Lausanne, Switzerland on Nov. 20, 1922. Turkish claims on Musul and British counter claims were at odds. The British authorities declared on December 8.th 1922, that they will never give up Musul even if that meant another war.
The Turkish general staff ordered the army to be on alert.
Fierce arguments and disagreements between the Turks and the British regarding the Musul issue, resulted in excluding it from the agenda of the conference, and it was left to be dealt with in between the two governments.
Loosing The Kurdish Support :
Up till now, the Kurdish tribes in northern Iraq were supporting Turkey for religious reasons. But later, some changes in the nature of the Turkish state had resulted in negative effects on the Kurdish tribes.
In November, 1, 1922, the Turkish parliament terminated the Ottoman Sultanate and stripped the Sultan of his title and expelled him from Turkey. along with the rest of the members of the Ottoman dynasty, stripping them from the Turkish citizenship.
The termination of the Ottoman empire was used extensively by British agents to put a rift between the Kurdish tribes and Turkey. Traditionally the Kurds were loyal to the Ottoman Empire, whereas The British were agitating the Kurds against Turkey. Naturally, this situation affected the Ozdemir mission, and the Kurdish support was lost to the other side.
The Termination of the Ozdemir Mission :
On April 8.th 1923, the British, with the support of some Kurdish tribes headed by Seyyid Taha, attacked the Ozdemir forces, stationed in Rawanduz, from two directions, they cut his supply route from Hakkari, and without any support from the awaiting Turkish army in Cizre-Mardin, he had no choice but to abandon his positions and entered Iran on April 23, 1923, reaching Van, Turkey, on May 10, 1923, thus ending a mission that had a great chance of success.
The Assyrian Rebellion:
While the diplomatic efforts were going on, Britain was using the principle of “the best defense is offence” to further discourage the Turks from any effective action to regain Musul. New British intelligence agitations led the Assyrians, who were allied with Britain, to commit a massacre in Kerkuk on May 4.th 1924 against the Turkmen who were naturally allied with Turkey, hundreds of civilians were killed.
Also in Turkey, the Assyrians rebelled in Hakkari on August 7.th 1924 in order to keep the Mesopotamian Army busy.
This incident in Hakkari was used by Lord Curzon during the peace conference to lay claim on Hakkari as part of the Musul province and as a sign that the local people rejected the Turkish rule.
The Kurdish Rebellion:
The British agitation among the Kurds in south eastern Turkey to react to the removal of the Caliphate and the Islamic law was successful. Sheik Said started his rebellion against the Turkish state on February 2.nd, 1925. This campaign diverted the attention of the Turkish government away from Musul, and the Mesopotamian army was used to suppress this unexpected rebellion.
Britain, of course, used this issue also against the Turks to convince the League of Nations that Turkey has no right to claim Musul where half of the population is Kurdish, while the Kurds inside Turkey were unhappy for being under Turkish control.
The end of the Musul Problem:
Turkey was exhausted with wars since 1912. Persistence on regaining Musul meant a new war with Britain which was the greatest super power at that time. Turkish economy was in ruins, therefore, Turkey wasn’t able to continue this campaign anymore.
Turkey reluctantly, signed the Ankara agreement on June 5.th 1926, Leaving Musul to Iraq, recognizing Iraq as a state and defining its borders.
Unlike similar agreements with Greece for Western Thracian Turks, with France for Iskenderun and with Russia for Nahchevan, the British did not allow Turkey to be a guarantor for the Turkmens in Iraq. They promised that all minority rights will be respected by the Iraqi state as it was mentioned in their constitution of 1925 which declared that Iraq's official languages are: Arabic, Turkish and Kurdish. Every citizen of Iraq is entitled to use his/her language in education and courts and administration where they constitute a majority.
To further appease Turkey, the British offered half a Million Sterling Pounds annually for 25 years for the lost (upcoming) oil revenues.
Since that date, Turkey officially never mentioned Musul. The Turkmens were left on their own. It was agreed that within one year from the date of signing the border agreement, people of the region were free to move to Turkey. The Turkmens, preferred to stay in their lands.
THE IRAQI STATE AND THE TURKMENS:
The Monarchy Era:
In 1921 referendum, the Turkmens voted against Faisal as the king of Iraq. This action alienated the monarchy against the Turkmens. The British authorities and the successive Iraqi governments always kept the Turkmens away from administration and treated them as remnants of the Turkish Empire, never wanted to use their expertise in the civil administration nor in the military, never gave them any high governmental posts except for very few instances.
Iraq applied to the League of Nations in 1932, and declared its determination to respect all minority rights. After being admitted, their policy changed in 1933 and Arabism became dominant. Turkish schools were down sized, Turkmens who were suspected of Turkism were exiled. Arab tribes such Obeidies and Hadidies were settled west of Kerkuk in the thirties and Forties.
Barzani’s Kurdish uprising started in 1949, the Iraqi army suppressed the rebellion and destroyed hundreds of Kurdish villages, moving the villagers to the major northern cities of Kerkuk, Erbil and Musul, to keep them under government control.
The Republican Era:
After the removal of monarchy in 1958, Kurds were favored and included in the constitution. Mulla Mustafa Barzani was invited frm his exile in Russia back to Iraq. He demanded the establishment of Kurdistan including Kerkuk and all Turkmen lands.
This demand alienated the Turkmens, ending good neighborly relations with the Kurds that lasted for over a millennium.
Kurdish and Communist elements committed the Kerkuk massacre on July 14th 1959, intending to ethnically cleanse the Turkmens from Kerkuk. Hundreds of Turkmens were tortured, viciously killed and mutilated.
Turkey issued a warning to Iraq and mobilized the army from Diyarbakir to the Iraqi border. In the meantime, the Soviet army was mobilized in Georgia and Armenia against any Turkish moves into Iraq.
On the third day of the Kerkuk massacre, fearing the start of a regional war. General Abdulkarim Qasim sent an army from Baghdad to Kerkuk and stopped the massacre.
General Qasim tried to appease the Turkmens by arresting the criminals who committed the massacre, allowed Turkmen broadcasting from radio Baghdad, and allowed the establishment of the Turkmen Brotherhood Club in Baghdad. For the first time in the Iraqi history he declared that the “Million Turkmens”(out of seven million Iraqis) were part of the Iraqi nation.
In the meantime, Qasim declared war on Barzani for demanding separation of Kurdistan from Iraq. Hundreds of Kurdish villages were destroyed, the villagers were transferred to the major northern cities of Kerkuk, Erbil and Musul. The district of Iskan in eastern Kerkuk was built by general Qasim for the new Kurdish settlers.
The Baath Era:
The Baath party took over in 1968 and inherited the Kurdish problem, in order to curb Kurdish demands on Kerkuk, they gave cultural rights to the Turkmens on January 24, 1970. Which included education in the Turkish language, issuing Turkish periodicals, forming cultural associations and the establishment of Kerkuk television. They also allowed the opening of a Turkish Cultural Mission in Kerkuk.
The Kurdish Autonomous region including the three northern provinces of Duhok, Erbil and Sulaimanieh was granted on March 11, 1970, to the Kurds by the Baath government. But the Kurds insisted on the inclusion of Kerkuk province, parts of Musul and Diyala provinces into their Autonomous region. They demanded a plebiscite all across the traditional Turkmen lands from Musul to Mendeli.
Tens of thousands of Kurds were settled by the KDP in Kerkuk and other Turkmen cities such as Altun Kopru, Tuz Khurmatu. The District of Azadi in eastern Kerkuk was established at that time.
Turkmens demanded political rights to establish a Turkmen political party, this was flatly rejected by the Baath Party. Disagreements between the Turkmens and the Baath Party began to surface on the issue of the Turkmen alphabet. The Baath party insisted on the use of the Arabic alphabet, whereas the Turkmens demanded the Latin alphabet which was used in Turkey. Within 2 years, Turkish schools were suspended by the Baath Party.
On October 11, 1972 and for the first time in Iraq’s history, the Turkmens started a general strike in all Turkmen areas. This action pushed the Baath Party to respond harshly. Suspecting an organized resistance, arrests, torture and killings became the regular practice of the Baath Party against the Turkmens.
Kerkuk province name was changed to Al-Tameem (Nationalization) in 1976. The area of Kerkuk province was down sized. The eastern part of Chemchemal and Qadir Kerem were given to Suleymaniye province, the central part of Tuz Khurmatu was given to Salahaddin (Tikrit) Province and the southern part of Kifri and Qara Teppe were given to Diyalah province. The Turkish Cultural Mission in Kerkuk was closed down.
The arrest and execution of the top four leaders in Baghdad on January 16, 1980, was the beginning of a total crack down on the Turkmens. The arabization of Kerkuk started on a wide scale in the Eighties. Turkmen language was banned in public and even in telephone conversations, selling properties to any Turkmen was forbidden. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs were brought from central and southern Iraq and settled in newly constructed districts around Kerkuk. In the meantime thousands of Turkmens were transferred to the southern provinces of Iraq.
Turkmens were not allowed to declare their nationality during the general census they were forced to declare themselves either Arabs or Kurds.
During the Iranian and Gulf War, the Turkmens were sent to the front lines to be eliminated. The mainly Shiite Turkmen district of Tisin in Kerkuk and the towns of Beshir, Leylan and Turkalan, south of Kerkuk, were razed to the ground under the pretext of treason and aiding the Iranians. During the Kurdish uprising of 1991, the Iraqi army massacred hundreds of Turkmen in Altun Kopru.
The Safe Haven Period:
After the establishment of the “Safe Haven Area” by the allies in northern Iraq, only %10 of the Turkmens in Erbil and Kifri were fortunate to be included in this zone.
The Turkmens enjoyed the freedom and formed their first political party, the Iraqi National Turkmen Party (INTP), which participated along with other Iraqi opposition parties to establish a democratic model for Iraq.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) although not admitting to complete Turkmen rights especially in Kerkuk, was generally in good relations with the Turkmens. Other Iraqi opposition parties while giving in to the Kurdish demands, they remained conservative towards Turkmen rights.
On April 24, 1995, The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF)was established in Erbil from six organizations:
1- Iraqi Turkmen National Party (INTP)
2- Turkmeneli Party (TP)
3- Independents Movement
4- Turkmeneli Cooperation and Cultural Foundation
5- Iraqi Turks Cultural and Solidarity Association
6- Turkmen Brotherhood Center
The emblem of the ITF is a white crescent on a sky blue background with six stars symbolizing the six states established by the Turkmen in Iraq.
Turkmen political, social and cultural institutions were established to serve the 250.000 Turkmens of Erbil as well as the Turkmens of Kifri.
The rivalry between KDP and PUK escalated to full scale war, which led to the invitation of the Iraqi army by Massoud Barzani to defeat PUK and establish KDP control in Erbil.
The Iraqi army remained three days in Erbil, destroying the Turkmen Front buildings, executing 17 top Turkmen leaders and taking 39 others to Baghdad.
Relations with the KDP in Erbil began to deteriorate after the refusal of ITF to submit to KDP demands which were:
- Recognizing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as the legitimate government of Kurdistan which regards Turkmens as a minority. The ITF objection was based on the absence of a fair elections and the existence of two rival regional governments, one in Erbil and the other one in Suleymaniye.
- Obligation of having a permission to form a political party from KDP. The ITF objection was based on the reality that ITF is a political entity same as KDP. No party needs permission from another one to operate.
- Disbanding of the Turkmen militia. ITF refused this demand, because it didn’t trust the KDP in providing protection for ITF personnel and installations as happened in 1996, 1998 and 2000. This militia was necessary to protect ITF personnel and installations. Also, other political parties continued carrying their weapons, such as the Islamic Kurdish parties.
- Kurdish parties claimed that ITF was connected to Turkey:
Turkey is the only country in the world that supports the Turkmen cause, it is natural that Turkey supports, ITF. In fact, Turkey supported both KDP and PUK since 1991, and allowed them to enjoy their autonomy. Now they have established 5 puppet Turkmen parties to counter ITF influence and they are showing them as the legitimate Turkmen political organizations.
The main issue is the way KDP looks at the Turkmens as a small minority. They declared the Turkmen population of Erbil as 10.000 instead of 250.000. They exiled Turkmen teachers to Kurdish areas, and brought Kurdish teachers to Turkmen schools, reduced Turkish classes to one a day and imposed Kurdish on Turkmen students.
Daily Harassments on ITF personnel in the streets continued.
TURKMENELI UNDER KURDISH OCCUPATION:
The Turkish parliament refused on March 01, 2003, to allow the US troops to use Turkish soil for the invasion of Iraq. However, the Turkish government allowed US to use the Turkish air space and land for logistical supplies.
This issue angered the US administration. The invasion of Iraq started n March 19th 2003, on April 10th, 2003, U.S. Ignored Turkish Red Lines against Kurds entering Kerkuk and Musul and allowed PUK to occupy Kerkuk and the rest of the Turkmen cities, also allowed KDP to occupy Musul.
After this date, the U.S. was completely bias towards the Kurds and indifferent and sometimes hostile towards the Turkmens.
They disallowed the Turkmen militia and did not allow the Turkmens to govern themselves. But, allowed Kurdish hegemony in Kerkuk and other Turkmen towns.
PUK established their de-facto Kurdish administration in Turkmen towns, disregarding the Turkmen majority, Kurds began evicting the Arabs brought by Saddam, ethnic tensions reached a height that was never seen before.
All government offices were occupied by the Kurds, Turkmens or Arabs are forced to communicate in Kurdish in order to achieve any official work. Land Registry offices were robbed of its contents to be modified in favor of the Kurds. Fake identification cards showing Kerkuk as their birth place were issued to hundreds of thousands of Kurds.
All exits to Turkmen towns and cities were controlled by Peshmergas. Kerkuk was and is still surrounded by 35.000 Peshmergas ready to enter when the ethnic cleansing starts.
On August 30 and 31st, 2003, Turkmens in Kerkuk and Tuz Khurmatu protested these chauvinistic actions through peaceful demonstrations, Peshmergas fired on them, Turkmens suffered large number of casualties. Every peaceful Turkmen protest ended in bloodshed.
The purest Turkmen city of Telafer (pop. 500.000) was reduced to rubble after 3 major attacks by the American forces which were misled by the Peshmergas, to be the center of the “foreign Terrorists”.
Major Turkmen leaders and active individuals were and are assassinated by daily car bombs in Kerkuk and surrounding areas.
Since the American occupation of Iraq in 2003, the two major demands of the Turkmens for:
a) A fair and internationally observed census and b) Disbanding the Peshmerga militias, were ignored. On the contrary, the Peshmergas were included in the new Iraqi army which was headed by a Kurd as the Chief of Staff.
Under their mercy, there were two elections in Iraq, in which results in Northern Iraq were manipulated and modified to a level that surpassed even the Soviet styles.
Election Violations were committed under the watchful eyes of the Americans the aim was to reduce Turkmen votes to a symbolic level.
Under the wide scale vote forgery, ITF managed to get only one deputy., Shiite Turkmens had no choice but to get their deputies from the Shiite list. Currently, the Turkmens have only 8 deputies among 275 which makes 3% of the population.
THE SITUATION TODAY:
The Turkmens managed to preserve their existence and culture against Arab chauvinism for 85 years. But after 2003, they are facing Kurdish chauvinism and barbarism supported by the United States of America which did not fulfill it own promises of bringing justice, fairness and political honesty to Iraq. It is impossible to see the application of American values in Iraq.
Today, as a reward for their services, Massoud Barzani has been promoted to be the president of the Kurdish region and Jalal Talabani has been promoted to be the president of Iraq. Their final aim is to include Kerkuk in the Kurdish area and then declare it as the Capital of Kurdistan.
With Kerkuk's rich oil revenues they are planning for secession and declare independence from Iraq under U.S. Protection.
Currently, they are preparing to include Kerkuk in the Kurdish region through a tailored referendum at the end of 2007.
To achieve this goal they brought 350.000 Kurds from the mountains of Northern Iraq as well as from Syria, Iran and Turkey (Please see note at the end of the text). They settled some of them in the houses of the fleeing Arabs who were brought earlier during the Saddam era. The rest are waiting in their makeshift houses and slums established on the lands of the Turkmens, as well as government and public lands.
If this happens, the widest ethnic cleansing in Iraq's history will occur. Turkmens and Arabs will be either killed or flee or accept assimilation. The Turkmens of Iraq will cease to exist as a nation. This action will push Turkey, Iran and Syria to interfere militarily, U.S. Will counter attack them and the Middle Eastern War will start.
THE REAL CONDITION OF THE KURDISH PEOPLE:
Although the victims of this occupation primarily are the Turkmens, Sunni Arabs and the Christians, but in fact, even the general Kurdish population is unhappy too. The despotic and undemocratic regimes of the feudal warlords Barzani and Talabani didn't give the Kurdish people their democratic rights and fairness. Barzani and Talabani are presidents for life and so are their dynasties after them. No Kurd has the right to challenge them in tailored elections. Their foreign bank accounts are in Billions. No Kurd has a chance of getting a job without being a member in either KDP or PUK.
Any public protest by the Kurdish public is faced with suppression and disappearance.
TURKMEN DEMANDS AND CONCLUSION:
Despite this bleak reality there is a hope to recover.
Main Turkmen Demands:
1- Cancel Referendum: With the existing demographic changes in Kerkuk, the Turkmens and Arabs will definitely loose. This will start ethnic clashes and regional war. Therefore, the proposed 2007 referendum on Kerkuk must be nullified.
2- Disarm Peshmergas: Kurdish militias must be completely disarmed and authoritarian powers of both Kurdish parties (KDP, PUK) must be removed so that all individuals (Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs, Assyrians) can express their feelings and have the freedom of choice.
3- Reverse Demgraphic Changes: Thousands of Kurdish militias, officials and peasants brought from Erbil, Duhok and Suleymaniye as well as Turkey, Syria and Iran must be withdrawn from all Turkmen lands from Altun Kopru to Mendeli including Kerkuk and Tuz Khurmatu.
4- Turkmen Self-Determination: The Turkmens are the inhabitants of their lands for over a millennium. The Turkmens are a distinct society. They must have the right to self-determination. Their lands cannot be incorporated in either neighboring Arab or Kurdish regions.
5- Fair Census: Population Facts must be established by a fair and correct census under strict international observation.
6- Kerkuk is Turkmen: Kerkuk is a Turkmen city by origin, Kurds influxed to the city in the early seventies and after April 10, 2003. Large numbers of Arabs were placed by the Baath regime in the eighties and nineties. Therefore, the governor of Kerkuk and major administration posts should be given to the Turkmens. The 25% Kurdish residents of Kerkuk are not denied their rights. They should be given their rights proportionate to their real numbers.
7- 2 New Turkmen Provinces: Telafer and Tuz Khurmatu (including Mendeli) to be separate provinces. And the three provinces (Kerkuk, Telafer and Tuz Khurmatu) to form the Federal State of Turkmeneli.. In mixed areas such as Musul and Baquba to be jointly administered by Arabs and Turkmens. Erbil and Khanaqin should be jointly administered by Kurds and Turkmens.
8- Multicultural Iraq: Iraq should be declared a multi-cultural state with three official languages; Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish (i.e. Switzerland).
9- Turkmens a Fundamental Nationality: Turkmens should be recognized by the new Iraqi constitution as one of the 3 main nationalities of Iraq.
10- Turkish to be Official: Turkish language to be one of the official languages of Iraq and used officially in Turkmeneli Federal State.
11- Turkmen Fair Share: Turkmens should have their contingent in administrating Iraq according to their population ratio which will be declared by the general census.
-----
Note: since Mr. Orhan Ketene wrote this article (in 2006) the two Kurdish parties have brought more Kurds from the mountains of Northern Iraq as well as from Syria, Iran and Turkey. Today, the number of 'imported Kurds' has reached over 600.000.
dimanche 10 février 2008
IRAQI TURKMENS
History of the Iraqi Turkmens
Some publications in English
Book Title : The Turkmen and Iraqi HomelandAuthor: Ershad Al-Hirmizi
Press House: Kerkuk Foundation
Author: Scott Taylor
Press House: Esprit de Corps Books
Book Title : The Turkmen Reality in IraqAuthor: Arshad Al-Hirmizi
Press House: Kerkuk Foundation
Please see:
http://www.kerkukvakfi.com/english/kitaplarana.asp
Library
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)
