In Iraq, twin bombings follow insurgent's renewed call to fight US

The attacks underscore the security challenges after the US withdrawal from cities, particularly in the volatile areas in the north.

By Jonathan Adams

posted July 09, 2009 at 8:10 am EST

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Dozens were killed in bombings in Iraq Thursday, underscoring the security challenges remaining after US combat forces withdrew from Iraqi towns and cities last month.
At least 34 people died in back-to-back suicide attacks in the town of Talafar, in northern Iraq, the BBC reported. A suicide bomber blew himself up early in the morning, then a second blast ripped through the crowd that had gathered after the first.

Separately, seven were killed and 20 injured in bombings in Baghdad's notorious Sadr City. (Click here for a map from the Associated Press.)

The Associated Press reports the Talafar attacks targeted the home of an antiterrorism officer. The first blast killed the officer, along with his wife and child, at around 6:30 a.m., the news service reported.

The New York Times reported that the bombings in Talafar "bore the signature" of the Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda, without giving details.

The attacks came a day after a reputed leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, whom the Iraqi government claimed to have captured this year, issued a taped statement calling on Iraq's Sunnis to join the fight against Shiites and American troops.
The statement, which was released on the Internet and attributed to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said attacks on American forces should continue despite the withdrawal from Iraqi cities by U.S. combat troops....

"Even if they are in one spot in the Iraqi desert, away from all forms of life, every Muslim must fight them until they are kicked out of that spot," the statement said.

Northern Iraq has increasingly become the most violent area of the country. Thursday morning's bombings followed attacks in Mosul the day before that killed at least nine. The New York Times reported that a truck bomb killed 68 in northern Iraq on June 20, the single worst attack in Iraq this year, and a car bomb killed 24 in Kirkuk on June 30.

The attacks have centered on "an oil-rich region that lies on the tense ethnic fault line between Iraq's Arabs and Kurds," the Times reported. "The area is populated largely by the Turkmen, the third largest ethnic group in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, who have their own territorial claims in the region."

Talafar lies west of Iraqi Kurdistan (click here to see a map of the region from NPR), and less than 60 miles east of Iraq's borders with Syria and Turkey. (Click here for a detailed map from GlobalSecurity.org.)

Competing historical claims to the region by Turkmen and Kurds has fueled tensions, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

In a 2006 report called "Iraq and the Kurds: The Brewing Battle Over Kirkuk" the ICG quoted Muzaffer Arslan, adviser on Turkmen affairs to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, as saying: "the Kurds claim Tel Afar for the same reason they claim Kirkuk, Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu. They want to take as large an area as possible to add to their Dreamland [a stock Turkoman reference to the Kurdish region]."

The ICG has warned that the region has been neglected amid broader efforts to stabilize Iraq.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0709/p99s01-duts.html

U.S. FORCES TERRORIZING TURKMENS IN IRAQ

URGENT APPEAL FROM THE TURKMENS OF IRAQ TO IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI, TURKISH PRESIDENT ABDULLAH GUL, JOURNALIST UNIONS AND ALL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS.

TURKMENS TERRORIZED BY THE US FORCES

Mr. Falah Hassan Younis is a Turkmen citizen and a member of the Iraqi Turkmen Advisory Council in Kerkuk who works as a Director of the sub district of Alaiyaziya which is a link to the Turkmen district of Telafer. Currently he is in charge of the district in the absence of its councillor.

On the 25th of December 2008 Mr. Falah Hassan Younis was summoned by the American forces for a meeting and Mr. Falah Hassan was obliged to attend at the request of the American forces. He attended the meeting with the US forces while he was accompanied by his bodyguards.

During the meeting with the American counterpart his body guards were disarmed by the American forces as this was backed up by the Iraqi Turkmen Front representative in the Turkmen District of Telafer Mr. Nabil Harbu.

Mr.Falah Hassan Younis and his body guards were physically abused and beaten badly by the US forces.

Mr.Falah Hassan Younis and one of his body guards were detained by the US forces whereas the remaining body guards were released. Then both the body guards were handed over to the Iraqi forces in the city of Mosul. As the election approaches in Iraq, they would like to silence the voice of the Turkmen; various steps have been taken by Kurdish parties and American forces to do this.

However, the Turkmen, Arabs, and Chaldo Assyrians had high expectations of the interim administration established after April 9, 2003. The Turkmen expected to see democracy, fairness, an end to discrimination, the right to self-determination and an end to violence.

Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred regarding the human rights situation in Iraq, in particular concerning the Iraqi Turkmen. The Turkmen have been subject to campaigns by the Kurds and the American in Turkmeneli in an often more brutal fashion than carried out on Kurds by Saddam Hussein.

The arbitrary arrests of the Turkmen citizen Mr. Falah Hassan Younis by US force is a clear violation of human rights. They are still detained and being imprisoned by the Iraqi forces and no one knows where they are imprisoned. The most striking thing is that, the detainees have not been given any reason for their arrest and have not been given access for a lawyer.

Turkmen of Iraq call upon the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri AlMaliki, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Journalists Union, all Iraqi and international organizations defending the human rights and freedom to move immediately to the authorities of the Iraqi government at the highest levels for the protection of the Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrian from the Kurdish and American oppression that are carried out under the pretext of fighting of the terrors.


Mofak Salman
Turkmeneli Party Representative for Both Ireland and United Kingdom

Kurdish Terror in the north of Iraq

National Identity certificate of Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed

Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed was born on 1st July 1968 in the district of Telkeef that is linked to the city of Mosul. He was arrested on the 8th of July 2007 on the Iraqi/Turkish border Ibrahim Alkhalil by the Kurdish secret police that are known as Asayish while he was travelling from the city of Mosul to Turkey with a group of a Turkmens [1] from the city of Erbil.

Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed was working as a deputy of the ITF (Iraqi Turkmen Front) in the city of Mosul and according to the witnesses who were with him at the time. They have confirmed that Mr. Lokman Nejam was forced out of his car by the Kurdish police at the Iraqi Turkish border Ibrahim Alkhalil by the Asayish.

However, after months following his arrest his family with the help of Kurdish friends have managed to find out that he has been imprisoned in the city of Duhok by the Kurdish authorities.
Only his immediate family has been allowed to visit him in prison. His family is allowed visit him once every two months. Mr. Lokman Nejam has been accused of various unfounded accusations and nevertheless the Kurdish police have totally failed to produce any evidence or proof of his illegal involvement against the Kurdish authorities.

Thus Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed’s family have approached the deputy governor of the city of Mosul for help and support but unfortunately no support was provided. In my personal opinion the Turkmen people in Turkmeneli [2] and especially the ITF members have been continuously arrested, imprisoned, tortured and treated inhumanely by the Kurdish police only for being Turkmens as this happened recently to a teacher called Ganim Mahmud who is 60 years old, he was tortured and insulted by the Kurdish authority in north of Iraq but later on Mr. Ganim Mahmud was released after a month of continuous torturing and was asked why his nephew is helping the Turkmen teachers in promoting Turkmen teaching.

Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed has been kept in the Kurdish prison without formal charges and his case has not been submitted to the court. Thus, the Turkmens plight to all the human rights organisations, government officials, intellectuals, Iraqi and Turkish government for immediate intervention to put pressure on the Kurdish police whom are terrorising the Turkmen people in Turkmeneli.


Mofak Salman
Turkmeneli Party Representative for Both Ireland and United Kingdom
msalman@eircom.net



[1] Turkmens: The Iraqi Turkmens live in an area that they call “Turkmenia” in Latin or “Turkmeneli” which means, “Land of the Turkmens". It was referred to as “Turcomania” by the British geographer William Guthrie in 1785. The Turkmens are a Turkic group that has a unique heritage and culture as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is like the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. Their real population has always being suppressed by the authorities in Iraq for political reasons and estimated at 2%, whereas in reality their numbers are more realistically between 2.5 to 3 million, i .e. 12% of the Iraqi population.

[2] Turkmeneli is a diagonal strip of land stretching from the Syrian and Turkish border areas from around Telafer in the north of Iraq, reaching down to the town of Mendeli on the Iranian border in Central Iraq. The Turkmens of Iraq settled in Turkmeneli in three successive and constant migrations from Central Asia, which increased their numbers and enabled them to establish six states in Iraq.

Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative's comments and recommendations to Representatives from the EU Parliament and the EU Commission

Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative’s comments and recommendations to Representatives from the EU Parliament and the EU Commission

at the Heinrich Böll Foundation

On Thursday 26th June 2008 at Regus House - Brussels.

Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative, Dr Hassan Aydinli

and Mrs. Merry Fitzgerald of the Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens' Rights were invited at the Heinrich Böll Lecture.

Is the security situation in Iraq improving?

According to US General David H Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq who has been nominated to head American forces in the Middle East, the security situation in Iraq has improved significantly since September 2007, even though the progress that has been made since spring is "fragile and reversible". In other words, the surge is showing effect. French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner during his visit to Baghdad on 1 June expressed the feeling "that things are better as statistics show a drop in security incidents". Is this assessment shared by the EU institutions? How should the EU's involvement in Iraq develop and what can we expect from the French presidency? Finally, what will change under the new US administration (McCain or Obama) and (how) are the US presidential election already influencing the US policy in Iraq?

Speakers:

Ilana Bet-El, academic, author and policy adviser, Brussels

Karin Gatt-Rutter, European Commission, DG External Relations, Unit F2, Iraq Desk

Ivana Vuco, independent consultant, formerly deputy head of human rights office with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)

William H. Wiley, Director (Rule of Law) Tsamota Ltd; International Law Advisor, Iraqi High Tribunal (2006-2008)

Moderator:

Claude Weinber, Director EU Regional Office Heinrich Böll Foundation Brussels.

***
25 People had been invited to this lecture, among whom:

Mr. Nickolay MLADENOV, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chairman of Inter-Parliamentary delegation for Relations with Iraq

Ms. Sabine MEYER, Adviser on International Relations, Security and Coordination of urgent resolutions at the European Parliament

Mr. Alexander BLYTH, Chief of Staff, Eujust Lex

Ms. Alina CHRISTOVA, Political Adviser at the European Parliament

Several senior advisers at the European Parliament, representatives of European Institutions and a representative of the U.S.



Organizer:

Ms. Marianne EBERTOWSKI, Director Foreign and Security Policy Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative's comments and recommendations

Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF Europe Representative, took part in the discussions and made a general assessment of the situation in Iraq since the invasion of the country in March 2003, he condemned the aggression on the Iraqi people by the Anglo-American forces which has caused the deaths of over one million two hundred thousand Iraqis, has made more than one million widows and four million orphans, has caused the displacement of over 4.5 million Iraqis inside and outside Iraq, and has destroyed the entire infrastructure of the country as well as the social fabric of the Iraqi society.

Dr. Aydinli contested the propaganda of the American and British occupiers who claim that by changing the regime in 2003 they brought democracy in Iraq; he added that democracy cannot be imported and that the Occupation is illegal and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.

He said that the January 2005 and December 2005 elections were rigged and were anything except ‘democratic’ adding that the people in the government are mostly inefficient and corrupt and are not working in the interest of the Iraqi people, that they do not represent the Iraqi people and that if true democratic elections were held the majority of the Iraqi people would not vote for them.

Concerning the Constitution Dr. Aydinli said that it is totally unfair as it classifies the Iraqi people in two categories: the Arabs and Kurds as first class citizens and the rest of the Iraqi population, namely, Turkmens, Keldo-Assyrians and others, as ‘minorities’ and hence as second class citizens. Furthermore he deplored the inclusion of some unusual terms such as ‘contested territories’ in the ‘new’ Iraqi Constitution, as within the boundaries of a sovereign country there are no such things as ‘contested territories’.

He also deplored the inclusion of some disputed articles in the Constitution, such as article 140 which was supposed to deal with the so-called ‘contested territories including Kerkuk’ through a three phase process: normalization, census and a referendum which was supposed to be held before 31st December 2007.

He said that the terms ‘contested territories’ and article 140, which was supposed to deal with these ‘contested territories’, have been written and included in the Iraqi Constitution under pressure from the Kurdish parties who took advantage of the chaos caused by the invasion and occupation of Iraq to maximize their gains. The Kurds’ objective is to annex these so-called ‘contested territories’ which consist mainly of Turkmen districts, cities and towns, i.e. Turkmeneli, which is the region inhabited by Turkmens, as well as the plains of Ninewah which is the region inhabited by Keldo-Assyrians and some Arab districts in the north of Iraq to the Kurdish autonomous region.

Kurds pretend that the entire north of Iraq is ‘Kurdistan’ therefore, they want to annex the territories of Turkmens, Arabs and Keldo-Assyrians to their Kurdish autonomous region, including the cities of Kerkuk and Mosul which have never been Kurdish, and this after having been given the Turkmen city of Erbil (a historical Turkmen city since 1.200 years) by the Ba’ath regime in 1970, against the will of the Turkmen inhabitants of the city.

The Kurds’ ambition and illegitimate demands to incorporate the ‘contested territories’ to their autonomous region have turned the entire north of Iraq and especially the oil rich city of Kerkuk into a powder keg.

Moreover, Dr. Aydinli pointed out that the new Iraqi Constitution as it is written is undemocratic seeing that it gives the Kurdish minority the right to veto any modification of the Constitution even if the modification is demanded by the majority of the Iraqis !

Dr. Aydinli said that one must stop referring to the Iraqi people as: “Kurds, Sunni and Shi’a” because this classification is an invention of the neo-cons to divide the Iraqi people along ethnic and sectarian lines, he said that this classification has no legitimacy and is irrational as it mixes ethnicity (Kurds) with religion (Sunni, Shi’a) and deliberately omits to name the Arabs, the Turkmens, the Keldo-Assyrians, and other ethnic groups which together represent at least 84% of the Iraqi people.

The Turkmens with their 3 million people, representing 12% of the Iraqi population, are the third main ethnic group composing the Iraqi people, they represent 30% of the population in the north of Iraq where they constitute the second most important ethnic group after the Kurds, however, despite these facts, the Turkmens are unjustly referred to as a “minority” in the Iraqi Constitution. Furthermore, Turkmens are also unjustly considered as a “minority” in the “draft Constitution” of the Kurdish region.

Dr. Aydinli also complained about the process of normalization and about the Iraqi Property Claims Commission (IPCC) which to-date has not done anything to compensate the Turkmens for the loss of their properties and lands under the former regime, he said that from the 35.000 claims which have been handed to the Commission in Kerkuk four years ago, the Commission has dealt with less than 5.000 claims, all belonging to Kurds, while the remaining 30.000+ claims, ALL belonging to Turkmens, are still ‘pending’.

Dr. Aydinli urged the Europeans to get more involved in Iraq; he said that all countries which had not participated in the aggression would be welcomed by the Iraqi people.

He asked the EU representatives to put pressure on the Iraqi government and especially on the Kurdish parties asking them to stop their policy of marginalization and discrimination against the Turkmens, and asking them to proceed with the revision of the Iraqi Constitution without delay in order to eliminate discriminatory articles and terms, so that it can be accepted by ALL Iraqis, including the Turkmens and Keldo-Assyrians.

Dr. Aydinli further stated that the majority of the Iraqi people want the withdrawal of all foreign occupation troops as their presence is the source of all the problems in Iraq.

He insisted on the necessity to send EU observers for the coming elections in Iraq, especially in the north of the country, to prevent the frauds and cheatings in favour of the Kurds which characterised the last two general elections.

He asked the EU representatives to put pressure on the Iraqi government to improve the human rights in Iraq, saying it is urgent to improve the living conditions of Iraqis who have suffered too much and too long from lack of security, lack of basic services such as potable water, electricity, lack of jobs, healthcare and education.

Finally, Dr. Aydinli insisted that special attention should be given to Iraq’s Turkmens and Keldo-Assyrians who are very vulnerable and are suffering under Kurdish hegemony in the north of Iraq.

Turkmens, Turkmeneli and the Musul Region, by Orhan Ketene - PART I

Northern Iraq or the Musul Region is home of the Iraqi Turkmens for over a millennium. The economic and strategic importance of this land, had made it one of the most sensitive parts of the Middle East in general and of Iraq in particular.

Introduction :

Turkmen is the name of the Turks inhabiting the Musul region and the rest of Iraq. Turkmeneli means Turkmen-Land in Turkish. It is the name of areas where Turkmens are concentrated.
Musul Region is the Northern part of Iraq that is naturally separated from the rest of Iraq by Himrin and Mechul mountains. It is a multi-ethnic region that includes the homelands of the Turkmens (Turkmeneli), of the Kurds (Kurdistan), of the Jazira Arabs (west of Tigris) of the Assyrians (Plains of Ninewah) as well as Ezdi and Shahbek minorities.

HISTORY:

The Musul Region was called Turcomania by the British geographer William Gutherie in his map of 1784.
The Musul region was the power base of the Atabeg Turkmen states in the 12th and 13th
centuries. Its 3 major cities; Musul, Erbil and Kerkuk were the capitals of those states.
Later, it became part of the larger Turkish-Turkmen states. The total statehood of the Turkmens in Iraq lasted for 9 centuries.
It was called the “Musul Province” by the Ottomans in the 19th century and it was one of the three provinces (beside Baghdad and Basrah provinces) that formed Iraq.

The Musul region, despite its multi-ethnic nature, is geographically, economically, historically and culturally a connected unit. The cities of Musul, Erbil, Kerkuk and Suleymaniye as well as the towns and villages of the mountains and steppes have always been interconnected and in close relations with each other.

Up until the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the British occupation of Iraq, Musul, Erbil and Kerkuk had always a Turkish character, However, after the British occupation of Iraq and the formation of the state of Iraq, the Jazira Arabs (Jubur and Shammar Arab tribes) began to influx into Musul from the twenties and on. The mountainous Kurds began to influx into Erbil from the fifties and on. With the fall of the monarchy in Iraq in 1958 and for political and economical (oil) reasons, the Kurds (in the sixties, seventies and recently after the American invasion) and Arabs (in the eighties-Baath era) settled in Kerkuk in mass numbers. Those politically and economically motivated settlements have significantly changed the demographic structures of those three cities.

Currently, the city of Musul is dominated by the Arabs. Erbil is dominated by the Soran Kurds. The struggle for domination in Kerkuk city and its region is going on and the ethnic tension is quite high.

GEOGRAPHY :

The Turkmens in the Musul Region are concentrated in five areas;

1- Telafer : Located west of Musul, it is bordered by the Tigris river from the north-east and the Syrian border from the west and the Jazira flatland from the south. It consists of the city of Telafer with 300 towns and villages around it. The population in this area is overwhelmingly Turkmen.
2- Eastern Musul : In the city of Musul, Turkmens are concentrated in the eastern part of the city called Ninewah, They are also concentrated in the towns and villages on the Tigris river located to the north and south of the city.
3- Erbil : Turkmens originally were concentrated in the downtown and the castle of Erbil. Later they were relocated from the castle for historical restoration.
4- Kerkuk : Kerkuk area is bordered with the Lower Zab river in the north, Diyala river in the south, Himrin Mountains in the west and Qaradagh mountains in the east.
This area is considered as the hub of the Turkmens. Kerkuk is considered as the capital of the Turkmens.
5- Khanaqin : This area is located between the Diyala river and the Iranian border. Main cities are Khanaqin, Qizlarbat (Sadiyye) and Qaraghan (Jalawla).


Natural Resources:

Turkmeneli is very rich in natural resources and minerals. Oil and natural gas is the most important mineral, oil fields are located in three areas:

1- The largest field is in Kerkuk, the underground reservoir stretches from nearby Erbil in the north to Tuz Khurmatu in the south.
2- Sasan and Eyn Jaleh, Batma fields, located north of Telafer to the west of the Tigris River
3- Neftkhana field located on the Iranian border south of Khanaqin.

The land is fertile and is irrigated with the rivers of Tigris, upper Zap, lower Zap, Khasa-Su, Tawuq-Su, Aqsu, Narin and Diyala.

POPULATION :

The Turkmen population of Iraq is approximately 3 million or %15 of the Iraqi population.
The Turkmens who are ethnically Turkish, belong to the Oghuz Turkish group which is one of the three major Turkish groups.
{The other two Turkish groups are the Karluks (Ozbeks and Uyghurs) and the Kipchaks (Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Tatars, Bashkurds...etc.). The reader must not confuse the Turkmens of Iraq with the other Turkmen groups such as the Turkmens of Turkmenistan, Turkey, Syria, Caucasia, Iran or Afghanistan.}
The bulk of the Turkmens live in the Musul region, However, there are considerable numbers of Turkmens in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, mostly concentrated in the northeastern sections of Adhamiyye, Raghiba Khatun, and Waziriyyah.
There are also sizeable numbers of Turkmens in the central provinces of Diyala (Baquba, Shahraban, Mendeli), Kut (Bedre, Aziziyya), Karbala and Najaf in central Iraq.

Since the creation of Iraq after WWI and the fear of Turkey claiming the Musul Region, Britain and the successive Iraqi governments as well as the Kurdish administration in the north, until today, tend to suppress the Turkmen numbers to the lowest level possible. Therefore, there hasn’t been a single reliable census. Results were always forged and a policy of discrimination and bias against the Turkmens resulted in suppressing their actual numbers to be shown by the official Iraqi statistics as %2, which means in today’s numbers as 500.000 out of a total of 25 million.
Whereas, the northern city of Telafer alone counts for 500.000 Turkmens.

KURDISH SETTLEMENTS :
Originally, Kurds lived mostly in mid-western Iran (Hamadan, Nahawand). The word “Curdestan” was officially mentioned for the first time by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century.

The migration of Kurdish tribes westward into Eastern Anatolia, Syria and Northern Iraq was encouraged by the Turks (Seljuks, Atabegs, Ottomans, Safawids) throughout the second millennium. The history of Kurdish-Turkish cooperation could be summarized as follows:

1- Cooperation with the Atabeg Turks against the Crusaders. Salahaddin the famous Kurdish commander was sent by the Atabeg of Musul Imadeddin Zengi to liberate the Holy Land.
2- Cooperation with the Ilkhanid Sultan “Mahmud Ghazan” in 1295 to subdue Northern Iraq and western Iran.
3- Cooperation with Tamerlane in 1398-1401 in subduing northern Iraq and eastern Anatolia.
4- Cooperation with the Ottoman Turks (Sultan Selim-1508, Sultan Murad-1743) against the Shiite expansion in Eastern Anatolia that started by the Safawid Turks from Iran.
5- Cooperation with the Safawid Turkish Nadir Shah in 1734 to subdue northern Iraq to his rule.
6- Cooperation with the Ottomans (Sultan Mahmud-1843, Sultan Hamid-1894) to quell rebellions against the empire in northern Iraq and eastern Anatolia.

The Turks (Seljuks, Atabegs, Tamerlane, Ottomans and Safawids) in return for this cooperation by the Kurds, allowed large numbers of Kurdish tribes to move from Iran and settle in northern Iraq and eastern Anatolia. They gave them vast lands as well semi autonomous status.
The city of Suleymaniye was built by Suleyman Pasha the Ottoman governor of Baghdad at the beginning of the 18th century, to be a major Kurdish city.
In the 20th century and before the start of the Kurdish revolts in the forties, Kerkuk and Erbil were considered as major Turkmen cities, but, due to economical and political reasons, large numbers of Kurdish peasants settled in Erbil and Kerkuk. Also, because of continuous revolts against the Iraqi government, significant numbers of Kurdish villages in the mountains were destroyed by the troops and those peasants were forcefully settled by the government around Erbil and Kerkuk to keep them under control. Within time, two thirds of Erbil and one quarter of Kerkuk became Kurdish. The first large scale Kurdish settlement was a suburb called “Iskan”(meaning settlement), established in 1960 by Gen. Abdul Kerim Qasim. The second Kurdish quarter was Azadi established in 1970.

CHALDO-ASSYRIANS:
The Chaldo-Assyrians are the original Christians of this area, mostly concentrated east of Musul, in the plains of Ninewah, which a triangle between the Tigris river and the Upper Zab river. They also exist in small numbers in Erbil and Kerkuk.
Most of the Assyrians and Armenians were settled by the British after WWI in Kerkuk.
The Arafa (New Kerkuk) quarter was established mostly for the Assyrians working in the oil industry.

ARAB SETTLEMENTS:
West of Kerkuk is Hawija, inhabited by the Arab tribes of “Obeidies” and Hadidies who were settled west of Kerkuk by the Iraqi government in the Thirties and Forties.

As a result of an intense Arabization policy during the Ba’ath era, large numbers of Arabs were forced or lured to move to Kerkuk and the rest of Kerkuk province, Arabic suburbs have been built around Turkmen cities, new Arabic settlements and irrigation projects built in the Turkmen rural areas which altered the demographics of the area beyond recognition.

LANGUAGE :
Turkmen language is a dialect of Turkish which is a part of the Western Turkish language group that includes also the Turkish spoken in Turkey, Cyprus, the Balkans, Azerbaijan (North and South), Northern Syria, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Southern Turkestan (Northern Afghanistan). The Turkmen language with its 5 major accents is closer to the Turkish spoken in Azerbaijan and Urfa in southeastern Turkey rather than Turkmenistan which is part of Turkestan (central Asia).

MAIN CITIES :
The main Turkmen cities from north to south are : Telafer, Musul, Erbil, Altun Kopru, Kerkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Kifri, Qaraghan, Qizlarbat, Khanaqin, Mendeli and Bedre.

Cities with population over 250,000 are as follow:

Telafer (pop. 0.5 million): This city is the northernmost Turkmen city and it is %99 Turkmen, located on the Teymurlenk (Tamerlane) hills which are part of the Sanjar- Zambar mountain range. Together with the surrounding Turkmen villages, the Turkmen population of the area is around 0.8 million. The great revolution against the British rule in Iraq in 1920 started here.
Mainly an agricultural area, there are also oilfields in Sasan, Eyn Jaleh (Eyn Zale) and Batma located in the north, nearby the western banks of the Tigris River.

Musul (pop. 1.5 million): The largest city in northern Iraq. Located on the Tigris River. It was the capital of the Atabegs of Musul in the 12th century. Atabeg Imadeddin Zengi fought the Crusaders and sent his commander Saladdin (Salahaddin) to defeat the Crusaders in Syria and Palestine. Atabegs main monument in Musul is the “Ulu Jami”(Grand Mosque) with its famous “curved minaret”.
Neynewa (Nineveh), the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris river where the Turkmens and other non-Arabs are concentrated, whereas the Arabic population is concentrated in the western side of the city.

The Turkmens of Musul are mostly concentrated in Neynewa, Yunus Peygamber, where Prophet Jonas is buried, Qadikoy, Reshidiye, Qara Yatagh, Qarakoyunlu, Shirkhan, and Sellamiye. The Shahbeg (Shabak) tribes and their branches the Sarili’s and the Mawulu’s, are the remnants of the Mongol armies. Together with the surrounding villages, the Turkmen population is approximately 0.5 million. They stretch from north of Musul to the upper Zap river which borders Erbil.

Erbil (pop. 0.75 Million): Located between the upper and lower Zap rivers, Erbil is the second largest Turkmen city after Kerkuk. Erbil is the oldest surviving city in the world. It has a historical castle, which was restored few decades ago.
Erbil was the capital of the first Atabeg state known as the Begtekin's, established in 1149 AD., the most famous Atabeg was Muzaffereddin Gokboru. The existing "Desert Minaret" was built during his era.
Prior to the Kurdish rebellions which started in 1949, Erbil was a major Turkmen city.
In the Forties, Erbil was made of 5 quarters:

- Qal’a (castle) which included: Saray, Topkhana and Tekiyya sections.
- Tajil Islam
- Tajil Yahud
- Arab Mahallesi
- Khanaqah (Kurdish)

By 1947 the quarter of Tayrawa was established and by 1957 the district of Seydawa was established. After 1958, the number of Kurdish quarters increased.
The reason for this increase in Kurdish population was economical. Rural Kurdish peasants moved to Erbil for better job opportunities. Also because of the continuous destruction of the rebel Kurdish villages in the mountains east of Erbil, by the Iraqi army, large numbers of Kurds were settled in Erbil. Today, Turkmens, mostly concentrated in the ancient castle, constitute approximately one third of the population.

Kerkuk (pop. 1.25 Million): Located on the river Khasa Su. It is the cultural center of the Iraqi Turkmen and the largest Turkmen city in Iraq. It is also called ‘the Bride of the North’ because of the many parks and green areas.
The rich oilfields around Kerkuk, made it the most important city in Iraq. Being the center of the oil industry, it produces one third of the Iraqi oil. The eternal fire of Baba Gurgur is located in the middle of those fields, it has been active for thousands of years.

It was the capital of the Iwak Atabegs in the 11.th century. South of Kerkuk is the city of Tawuk or Daquq on the river of Tawuq Su, which was the first Turkish city built in this area around 850 AD by the descendants of the Turkish troops placed in the Abbasid capital Samarra.

The distinctive castle of Kerkuk was built 3000 years ago. Prophet Daniel is buried here. Populated entirely by the Turkmens, among them the Christian Turkmen, whose numbers dwindled down to few hundred in recent years, Kerkuk castle had all the aspects of ancient Turkish architecture. There are a lot of historical Turkish buildings and monuments in the city. In 1997 Saddam ordered the demolition of this ancient castle which was a unique historical monument and a symbol of Kerkuk.

The majority of Assyrians and Armenians were settled in the thirties by the British to work in the oil industry. The majority of Arabs were brought by the Iraqi government in the thirties, forties, seventies and eighties, for political reasons, to upset the ethnic balance in their benefit. The majority of the Kurds came to Kerkuk for economical and political reasons. Some were forcefully settled by the government, in the forties and the Qasim era, to keep them under control, others were settled by the Kurdish parties to change the ethnic balance in their benefit during the proposed ethnic plebiscite in 1970 which was suspended by the government.

Prior to the massive arabization of Kerkuk, in the Eighties, the city was made of 21 Turkmen and 5 Kurdish quarters. The original Kerkuk quarters are:

Turkmen Quarters:

A- West of the river Khasa Su:

1- Qorya
2- Ahmad Agha
3- Shaturlu (1/5 Assyrian, Armenian)
4- Sari Kahya (1/5 Assyrian)
5- Mahatta
6- Almas (1/3 Kurdish and 1/3 Assyrian)
7- Begler
8- Arafa (1/2 Assyrian-new Kerkuk)
9- Baghdad Yolu
10- Tisin(demolished)
11- Yengi Tisin
12- Hamzalilar
13- Gawur Bagi (Mixed: All nationalities)

B- East of the river Khasa Su:

1- Qal’a (the Castle)(demolished in 1997)
2- Musalla(1/5 Arabs)
3- Chay
4- Piryadi
5- Awchi
6- Bulagh (1/5 kurt
7- Chuqur
8- Akhir Huseyn (1/5 Kurdish)
9- Kasapkhana

Kurdish Quarters:

A- West of the river Khasa Su:

1- Rahimowa (1/4 Turkmen, Assyrian, Armenian)

B- East of the river Khasa Su:

1- Imam Qasim (1/3 Turkmen)
2- Shorja (1/3 Turkmen)
3- Iskan (established in 1960) (1/4 Turkmen)
4- Azadi (established in 1970)

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY :

Turks existed in Iraq for quite a long time. The Sumerians who came to Iraq (3500-4000) years ago from Central Asia, established the first civilization of the world. The linguists found at least 300 words to be of Turkish origin. Excavations in Turkmenistan revealed cities of Sumerian origin similar to the ones in Nuzi (Kerkuk) Ur and Eridu.

Turks assumed important positions in the Sassanid Empire, the prime minister and chief financial officer of the emperor Yezdigerd was Begir Khan Buda. There were also many Turkish tribes and principalities in Central and Southern Euphrates, the most important ones were the Batuqlu and Banuqlu principalities, headed by Bozboru who fiersly resisted the Muslim Arab armies, His son prince Solubay, later became a Muslim and cooperated with the Arab armies. The military tradition of the Turks attracted the attention of the Umayyads and they started to bring more Turks to Iraq as elite forces.

Ubeidullah bin Ziad the Umayyad governor of Basra brought 2000 soldiers in 674 AD. Another group was brought in 692 AD by Hajjaj bin Yusuf Al-Thaqafi, the governor of Iraq, to protect his capital Waset (Al-Kut). Later they were settled in Badrah on the Iranian border in central Iraq. Badrah is the oldest existing Turkmen settlement with more than 1300 years in history.
The Abbasid Caliphs Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur, Haroun Al-Rashid and Alma'moun brought at least 2000 Turkish soldiers every year to serve as the elite protection forces and settled them in Baghdad.

In 835 AD. The largest group of selected Turkish soldiers numbering 40.000 were brought by Caliph Al-Mu'tasim along with their Turkish brides (40.000) and a new city of Samara was constructed for them, Samarra became the capital of the Abbasid Empire during the Mu’tasim era. After his death, the capital was moved back to Baghdad and most of the Turkish inhabitants of Samarra moved across the Hamrin Mountains to establish the first Turkish settlement in northern Iraq; Tawuk or Dakuk which is located south of Kerkuk.

The Attraction of the Land:
It was the hilly landscape of these lands which was identical to their homeland in Turkestan and Central Asia that attracted the Turkish tribes to this area. With a plenty of water and a fertile land that included the strategic castles of Kerkuk, Erbil, Musul and Telafer, served as military control posts for the northern and central Iraq and to protect transportation routes from Iran to Anatolia, as well as being close to the center of the Empire in Baghdad, all those factors played a significant role in the settlement of this land by the incoming Turkish tribes over the centuries.

Turkmen Name:
There are many theories about the name Turkmen, but the most logical one is the way a Turk, in those days, would have introduced himself or herself when asked about his or her national identity, by saying in the Central Asian Turkish accent : " Men Turk’ men " which means "I am a Turk". Even today, an Ozbek or an Uygur from Turkestan, introduces himself as Ozbek'men or Uygur'men. Whereas in today’s western Turkish accent, self introduction is: "Men Turkem or Ben Turkum ".

The Start of the Turkish Rule:

The military superiority, reliability, loyalty and the durability of the Turkish forces increased the dependence of the Abbasid Empire on the Turks. At the time of Caliph Mu’tasim the army was under the command of a Turkish commander called Afshin.
In 1055 the Seljukian commander Tughrul Beg was asked by Caliph Al-Qaim-bi-Amrullah to save Baghdad from the Persian Buweihy domination. Tughrul Beg was awarded the rank "Sultan" and since then, Turks became the official rulers of Iraq until 1918.

Although the Bayat tribe is one of the major tribes that make up the Turkmen population, the Turkmens all over Iraq are a mix of too many Turkish tribes that came to this area to support the 8 different Turkish states and empires that ruled this land for nine centuries. These Turkish states and empires are:

STATE, DATES and DURATION

1- The Seljuk Empire 1055-1149 = 94 Years

2- The Atabegs 1149-1258 = 109 Years

3- The Ilkhanids 1258-1336 = 78 Years

4- The Jalairids 1336-1360 = 24 Years

5- The Karakoyunlu (Baran) 1360-1469 = 109 Years

6- The Akkoyunlu (Bayindir) 1469-1508 = 39 Years

7- The Safawids
1508-1534 = 26 Years
1623-1638 = 15 Years
Total : 41 Years

8- The Ottoman Empire
1534-1623 = 89 Years
1638-1918 = 280 Years
Total : 369 Years

TOTAL : 863 Years

The chronology above, explains the 5 major accents the Turkmens speak today.

RELIGION :

The Turkmens adhere to the Islamic religion with both its branches the Sunni-Hanefi (two thirds) and the Shia (one third). There is also a small group of Christians, these used to be located in the Castle of Kerkuk before its demolition by Saddam in 1997.

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Please see next post for PART TWO

Some militias are better than others, deux poids deux mesures...

The Turkmen region in Iraq, known as TURKMENELI, is indicated in blue on the map below

Turkmens are opposed to Kurdish hegemony over their ancestral lands, therefore peshmerga must be banned from Turkmeneli.

US-collaborationist peshmerga militia must be withdrawn from all Turkmen towns, starting from Kerkuk!

The Associated Press
Saturday, April 12, 2008

Maliki: Status of Kurdish peshmerga remains unchanged despite crackdown on militias

BAGHDAD: Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the head of the Kurdish regional authority agreed Saturday to retain the current semiautonomous status of the peshmerga — the military force responsible for security in Iraqi Kurdistan — despite a government crackdown on militias elsewhere in Iraq.

"The guards of the province have the cover of legitimacy inside Kurdistan because they form organized forces," al-Maliki said after a meeting with Nechervan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish government in northern Iraq.

The decision on the peshmerga comes after al-Maliki demanded that anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr disband his Mahdi Army or quit politics.

Iraqi forces supported by U.S. and British troops have mounted a series of attacks on the militants in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City district and in the southern port city of Basra, both strongholds of the Mahdi Army.

Hundreds have died in a series of clashes which started with an offensive by government troops in Basra on March 25.

Al-Maliki and the political parties supporting his government — which includes the Kurds — insist on the disbanding of all militias groups.

During Saturday's meeting between al-Maliki and Barzani, the two agreed that peshmerga forces in Kurdistan will remain organized within two Iraqi army divisions numbering 25,000-30,000 troops, said a government official who attended the meeting.

Other peshmerga forces outside the Kurdish areas will be disbanded, said the official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The fighters have been in control of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish areas for more than a decade. During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, they assisted advancing U.S. forces and provided security in other parts of Iraq after the disbanding of the Saddam Hussein's security forces.