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

Iraqi Turkmen begin to return home in northen Iraq

file photo

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minister Torhan al-Mufti announces that the Iraqi government has agreed to transform Talafar and Tuz Khurmatu into provinces

The Iraqi parliament in session in Baghdad, Nov. 11, 2010. (photo by REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani)

Statements on forming new Iraqi provinces cause uproar



Iraqi Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Torhan al-Mufti caused confusion among the media and the public when he announced on Jan. 21 that the Iraqi government had agreed to transform two districts — Talafar in the Ninevah province and Tuz Khurmato in the Salahuddin province — into provinces. Both of these districts have a Turkmen majority.

Summary: Iraq’s Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Torhan al-Mufti caused an uproar when he made statements that the government had decided to transform two Turkmen-majority districts into provinces, yet the actual governmental decisions left the matter open.

Author Mushreq Abbas Posted January 31, 2014
Translator(s)Tyler Huffman




Yet, Mufti, who belongs to the Turkmen minority himself, only mentioned the parts that related specifically to Turkmen when speaking about these decisions. In fact, the decisions — issued in a statement on the same day — referred to two points:

First: "[The Iraqi government] has agreed, in principle, to turn the districts of Tuz Khurmato, Fallujah and the Ninevah Plains into provinces, and the cabinet will decide on this after the fulfillment of the necessary requirements. A committee will be formed that is headed by the concerned minister of state [Mufti], and includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Municipalities and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. This committee will develop the controls and standards to support transforming the districts into provinces."

Second: "[The Iraqi government] has agreed on a draft law to create the province of Talafar in the Iraqi Republic, and it will be referred to the parliament based on the provisions of Article 61 (Item I) and Article 80 (Item II) of the constitution."

Articles 61 (Item I) and Article 80 (Item II), which the government decision referenced, stipulate that the government has the right to propose draft laws to parliament, and that parliament has the right to ratify these laws. Meanwhile, the other clauses of Article 80 specify the government's jurisdictions.

The constitution does not stipulate the mechanisms for transforming an administrative unit into a province, but a part of Article 120 does describe the provinces and their administration. The article notes:

"First: The provinces shall be made up of a number of districts, subdistricts and villages.

"Second: Provinces that are not incorporated in a region shall be granted broad administrative and financial authorities to enable it to manage its affairs in accordance with the principle of decentralized administration. This will be organized by law.

"Third: The governor, who is elected by the Provincial Council, is the highest executive official in the province to practice his powers authorized by the council.

"Fourth: A law shall regulate the election of the Provincial Council, the governor and their powers."

It's strange that Law No. 21 of 2008, which organized the work of the provinces, did not specify the mechanisms and controls to convert districts into provinces. These mechanisms and controls were also not included in the amendments to some of the paragraphs of this law that were ratified in 2013.

Furthermore, the 1969 Provinces Law (No. 159), which was canceled after the ratification of the 2008 Provinces Law, gave the executive branch the absolute right to create new provinces. Article 4 of this law noted: "When a new province is created, the provincial center should be specified, its name should be changed, its borders established and it is no longer affiliated with districts and subdistricts of [the old province it belonged to]. It will be [a new province or join another province] as per a presidential decree issued upon the proposal of the [concerned] minister, with the approval of the cabinet and ratification by the Revolution Command Council."

Such precision regarding terminology was necessary to prevent the confusion in understanding this issue, which has continued to this day. The reactions that accompanied the government's most recent announcement were characterized by misunderstanding. For its part, the official Al-Iraqiyya news channel reported on Mufti’s statements without providing the wider context. Other media outlets then spread this report.

The truth is that the only district that [the government] has approved turning into a province is Talafar. The proposals to transform the Ninevah Plains, Fallujah and Tuz Khurmatu into provinces are being studied. These proposals are awaiting the relevant committee's completion of the preparation of conditions and mechanisms for turning these districts into provinces, which are not specified in the Provincial Powers Law of 2008. These conditions and mechanisms are also not listed in the amendments made to the same law on June 23, 2013.

It is necessary that there be legal controls, mechanisms and clear conditions for converting districts into provinces. This prevents the issue from being politicized and from being used in the framework of demographic changes, or to provoke new conflicts.

Unlike the Iraqi government's decision in December 2013 to convert the district of Halabja into a province — which was met with wide popular support — this recent decision has sparked a chain of negative reactions and threats.

On Jan. 21, the Ninevah Provincial Council threatened to declare the province a [federal] region as soon as the decisions to convert Talafar and the Ninevah Plains into provinces are implemented.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Salahuddin Provincial government to transforming Tuz Khurmato into a province, claiming that political motives were behind this move. Statements released by the provincial government insinuated [that they may declare Salahuddin a federal] region as well.

The same applies to the Anbar province, which objected to applying this decision to the Fallujah district.

In turn, the Kurdistan Alliance bloc, strongly protested this decision. Especially since the Ninevah Plains, Talafar and Tuz districts are located in the areas that are being disputed between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Baghdad government.

In addition, the decision prompted various other Iraqi districts to call for being turned into provinces. Calls that had been made previously to turn the district of Zubair in south Basra into its own province re-emerged and escalated. There were also calls to turn some districts of Baghdad into provinces, including Sadr City.

Transforming any administrative unit into a province involves several fundamental changes in terms of the administrative structure of these units. This includes forming local governments, obtaining an independent share of the general budget, and gaining access to legal provisions that allow [the province] to declare itself a federal region, or representation in parliament.

One could speak at length about the fact that most of the administrative units that have proposed turning into provinces do not possess the infrastructure nor the adequate administrative cadres for such a shift. There are also ethnic and sectarian sensitivities that such steps could provoke.

But the foundation of any administrative structure is its legal basis. The latter should be based on a law with clearly defined articles, which relies on the Iraqi constitution. Moreover, it should be consistent with the form and direction of the Iraqi state post-2013, not with those prior to this date. The absence of such a legal structure opens the door for a period of crises and disputes that precedes a parliamentary vote on whether to accept or reject the Council of Ministers' decisions.

From a legal perspective, the Iraqi parliament must first pass the law on "the demarcation of administrative borders of the provinces," which to this day is still under study. It is not expected that this law will be passed any time soon, because of the disputes that could result from redrawing borders and restoring them to what they were in 1968.

It was understandable that these governmental decisions about forming new provinces caused confusion. Before announcing the names of those districts may be turned into provinces, it would have been better had the government finished determining legal controls and conditions, as well as geographic, demographic, economic and service-based standards that would frame such a step.



Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/iraq-statements-new-provinces-dispute.html#ixzz2sNCdn1QK

Turkmen district of Tuz Khurmatu wants to join Kerkuk province

A man holds rosary beads as he inspects the ruins of a popular coffee shop after a suicide bomb attack in Tuz Khormato, 170 km (106 miles) north of Baghdad, July 17, 2006. (photo by REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed)

Author Omar al-JaffalPosted December 16, 2013

Translator(s)Sami-Joe Abboud

Minorities in Iraq are once again demanding autonomous areas or to have their districts joined to other provinces as a wave of attacks targets them in Salahuddin, home to a Turkmen minority, and Ninevah, home to minorities such as the Christians and the Shabak

Tuz Khormato, located in Salahuddin province, shocked everyone when the district council announced during a Nov. 25 news conference that it wanted the district to join Kirkuk province, instead of being affiliated with Salahuddin. Tuz Khormato has not been calm for years, and on a monthly basis the district is subject to bombings carried out by al-Qaeda or other groups the central government knows nothing about.

The provincial council made this call in light of the failure of both the Salahuddin provincial administration and the security agencies to protect the lives of citizens and to prevent terrorist groups from targeting them.

Vice President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Kosrat Rasul Ali welcomed this decision and stressed that he is in favor of returning the town to the province of Kirkuk.

The predominantly Turkmen district of Tuz Khormato was part of Kirkuk province until 1976. The regime of Saddam Hussein, however, detached the district from Kirkuk province from its four sides — Amerli, Bestamli, Suleiman Beik and Qadri Kerm — and appended it to Salahuddin province, which had been recently created under a presidential decree.

Political blocs had always called for declaring Tuz Khormato a disaster zone due to it being continuously bombed by al-Qaeda, as well as the lack of medical and educational services. Ali Al-Shalah, a member of the parliamentary State of Law Coalition, described the issue of returning Tuz Khormato to Kirkuk as “delicate.”

Shalah told Al-Monitor, “All of the political blocs need to give their opinion about this issue,” and stressed, “The opinions of those living in Tuz Khormato should be a priority, as they are the ones affected.”

A member of the Kurdistan Alliance, Hamid Bafi, pointed out, “Tuz Khormato was previously a part of Kirkuk province, and [this issue] must be reviewed within the framework of the administrative border law for these regions. These borders were manipulated by the former regime based on sectarian, political, ethnic and non-administrative grounds.”

Bafi told Al-Monitor, “Tuz Khormato is one of the disputed areas,” and pointed out, “The central government ought to address these areas, which have been unfairly treated by the former regime through Article 140 of the Constitution.”

Article 140, which relates to resolving the issue of Kirkuk and determining whether it will join the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as well as the powers of the Iraqi president, the powers of the Kurdistan Region and the distribution of wealth, is one of the most prominent points of contention between the central government in Baghdad and the regional government in Erbil.

“The central government should make haste to address this issue so that the residents can determine their fate,” Bafi said. He suggested, “Things staying the same in this region will not lead to the stability of Iraq,” adding, “This may affect relations between the Kurdistan Region and [our] brothers in Baghdad.”

Legal expert Tareq Harb told Al-Monitor, “No district council or provincial council in Iraq should issue a resolution to separate or attach a part of a province to or from another province, as district councils are not elected, but rather appointed.”

Meanwhile, Fawzi Akram Tarzi, a member of the National Turkmen Alliance, which is part of the Ahrar bloc, said, “Calling for attaching Tuz Khormato to Kirkuk is aimed at putting pressure on the central government, in order to rescue the district from the disaster it is experiencing.”

Tarzi told Al-Monitor, “The Turkmen have been the target of genocide since 2003 up to this very day, across all of the Turkmen regions without exception, especially in the ‘disaster zone’ of Tuz Khormato.” He indicated, “Some people in Tuz Khormato want to turn this district into a province in order to secure infrastructure, among other things.”

On Nov. 25, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani formed a higher committee to discuss the implications of the security situation in Tuz Khormato, and stressed that the government will do all it can to maintain security in the district. A Turkmen deputy, however, accused him of neglecting the district’s security.




Published in al-monitor

Political Balances Changing in Favour of Kurds, Shiites in Iraq, Hasan Kanbolat, ORSAM Director

Political Balances Changing in Favour of Kurds, Shiites in Iraq

Hasan Kanbolat, ORSAM Director

Things are not going well in Iraq; the deal between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to change the political balances in the country.

We have seen the outcomes of the new political balances in favor of Kurds and Shiites in the provincial assembly elections in Mosul and Anbar and the bombing incident in Tuz Khurmatu on June 25.

Mosul and Anbar are two predominantly Sunni-Arab provinces of Iraq. Maliki made a deal with Iraqi Kurdistan which cleared the way for the increased influence of Kurds in Mosul. A Kurdish list won the elections in Mosul, a stronghold of Sunni Arabs. The Kurds won 11 seats in the 39-seat provincial assembly. The Muttahidun, a list of Sunni Arabs which won 19 seats in the 2009 provincial assembly elections, won only eight seats this time. In addition, five of these eight are Turkmen. Maliki attracted Sunni Arab allies in Mosul and Anbar, causing the Sunni Arabs in these two provinces to be divided.

Thirteen people died in the suicide bombing in Tuz Khurmatu in the province of Salahuddin on June 25 while 71 were wounded. Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) Vice President Ali Hashem Mukhtar Oglou and former Salahuddin Deputy Governor Ahmed Abdel-Wahed died. Over the last two years, frequent attacks have been held in the Turkmen areas in Tuz Khurmatu. These attacks intensified in 2013. Why Tuz Khurmatu? Why Turkmens?

Tuz Khurmatu was part of Kirkuk but it was transferred to the province of Salahuddin in 1976. Its population is around 150,000. It is a Turkmen residential area in terms of its historic, cultural, social and political features. The population is predominantly Shiite Turkmen. However, the Turkmen identity is stronger than the Shiite identity. The Sunni Turkmen tend to adopt the Arabs' culture whereas the Shiite Turkmen preserve their cultures. Tuz Khurmatu is one of the most important centers for Turkmen. It is a place where Turkmen politicians, writers and poets are born and raised. For this reason, Tuz Khurmatu has always been important in Turkmen politics since 2003. The most influential provincial organization of the ITF, the most important political institution of the Turkmen people in Iraq, is in Salahuddin; its headquarters are also in Tuz Khurmatu.

Tuz Khurmatu, located along the Baghdad-Kirkuk road, is not included in Iraqi Kurdistan. However, it is shown in the enlarged Iraqi Kurdistan. Even in the official maps of Arbil, Tuz Khurmatu is shown within the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan. To this end, a policy to increase the Kurdish population in the enlarged Iraqi Kurdistan and to reduce the impact and presence of non-Kurdish ethnicities is being systematically implemented. For this reason, Tuz Khurmatu was one of the places where Kurds preferred to settle in the aftermath of 2003.

Today, Kurdish identity is dominant in Kirkuk. However, in Tuz Khurmatu, Turkmen identity is dominant. Even though al-Qaeda has been blamed for the attacks in Tuz Khurmatu, this organization has no interest in this region. Its name is used for manipulation. Al-Qaeda has become an organization whose name is most frequently used in the Middle East, but in reality, this organization does not exist. The main goal in Tuz Khurmatu is to destroy the Turkmen identity. In addition to bombings, threatening letters are sent to Turkmen people. The policy of harassing the Turkmen people in Tuz Khurmatu has been successful so far. Nearly 400 families have migrated to the south, predominantly Shiite areas, over the last two years. This has cleared the way for an increased presence of Kurds in the city.

The change in the political balances in Iraq is affecting Turkey because it shares the same physical, political, ethnic, religious, sectarian and cultural geography.

Commemorating poet Muhammed Mehdi BEYAT

MARTYRED MAN OF LETTERS MUHAMMET BEYAT WAS COMMEMORATED WITH A CEREMONY

12 ŞUBAT 2013

The renowned man of letters and poet Muhammet Mehdi Beyat who lost his life in the suicide attack organized against the condolence assembly held in  Tuzhurmatu on the 23rd of January was commemorated with a ceremony in the capital. The ceremony which was organized by the Iraqi Men of Letters and Authors Union Turkmen Cultural Office was attended by many poets and men of literature from Baghdad and Turkmeneli regions. The commemoration ceremony started with the recital of versus from the Koran and continued with the recital of the Fatiha for the soul of Beyat.

The opening speech of the ceremony was made by Fevzi Ekrem Terzioğlu, Officer of the Iraqi Men of Letters and Authors Union Turkmen Cultural Office. Terzioğlu indicated that the Turkmen held a significant part in the literature and culture of Iraq and pointed out major names such as Fuzuli, Nesimi and Mustafa Cevat as examples. Terzioğlu emphasized that the Turkmen had not only made their mark in the field of literature but also left major achievements and marks in other areas.

The head of the Iraqi Men of Letters and Authors Union also indicated that terror targeted all parts and explained that Beyat had made significant contributions to Iraqi literature.

Poems about Beyat were recited by the Turkmen men of letters who participated in the ceremony.

Iraqi forces agree with Kurds to defuse tension

27 November 2012 / MINHAC ÇELIK, ZAMAN -

Iraqi military leaders agreed on Monday with commanders from the Kurdistan region to defuse tension and discuss pulling their troops back from an area over which they both claim jurisdiction. Military leaders from both sides met at the Ministry of Defence in Baghdad in the presence of a senior military officer from the United States on Monday.



A statement from the commander in chief of the Iraqi armed forces said the two sides had agreed to “start pacifying the situation and discuss a mechanism to return the forces which were deployed after the crisis to their previous positions”.

A spokesman for the Kurdistan regional government said the Kurdish delegation would report back to the political leadership, which would decide what steps to take next.

Turkmens, Kurds on tenterhooks over Iraqi-Kurdish prospect of war

Iraq’s Kurdish and Turkmen minorities are unnerved that a recent standoff between the Kurdish peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army could turn into clashes, undermining stability in the country’s Kurdish-run north and leaving the Turkmens in the middle of a debilitating conflict. Tension has been mounting in Iraq as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region began sending troops last week to an area over which they both claim jurisdiction. On Saturday, a Kurdish military official said peshmerga troops and tanks had been sent to the Kirkuk area to block the road to the disputed city to the Iraqi troops.

Although the confrontation seemed to be easing on Monday, Kurds and Turkmens of northern Iraq are on tenterhooks. The Kurds are worried that the prospect of a war between the Iraqi army and the Kurdish forces is already taking its toll on the Kurdish region’s economic stability, while the Turkmens fear they will suffer as a result of collateral damage from a Kurdish-Arab war.

A delegation from the Kurdish Ministry for Peshmerga Affairs had talks with Iraqi military officials in Baghdad on Monday to resolve the tension following mediation by Iraqi Parliament Speaker Usama al-Nujayfi. The two sides discussed ways to ease the tension and set guidelines for the withdrawal of Kurdish and Iraqi forces from areas where they are currently in a standoff, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs Jabbar Yawar told the Anatolia news agency.

The Iraqi government and the Kurdish administration have been at loggerheads over the formation of a new command center for Iraqi forces to operate in the disputed areas, called the Dijla Operations Command. Kurds consider the Dijla Operations Command as a threat and an attempt by Prime Minister Maliki to seize control over the oil rich territories along the internal border that demarcates the Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq. Maliki, on the other hand, says the Dijla Operations Command is necessary to keep order in one of the most volatile parts of the country.

The tension took a new turn about a week ago when Iraqi troops went after a fuel smuggler who had taken refuge in the office of a Kurdish political party in Tuz Khurmato, 170 kilometers north of Baghdad, sparking a clash with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in which one passerby was killed.

The Turkmens, the third biggest ethnic group in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, are concerned that they will end up paying the price for a Kurdish-Baghdad conflict, given their status as a community with no military force for self-defense. “The Turkmens will pay the biggest price because, unlike all other Iraqi groups, we have no militia force,” Hasan Turan, an executive board member of the umbrella group, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC). “We have no armed forces yet we are in the middle of the conflict zone,” he told Today’s Zaman, urging Turkey “not to remain a bystander” as long-running tension risks turning into clashes.Most of Iraq’s Turkmen population lives in northern Iraq and the areas whose control is a matter of dispute between Arbil and Baghdad. In fact, the site of the recent flare-up, Tuz Khurmato, is a predominantly Turkmen town. 

Turkmens share close ethnic and linguistic links with Turkey, which threatened in the past to declare war on the Kurds if they violated Turkmen rights. But the relations between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds have improved drastically over recent years, replacing the talk of war on Kurds with impressive economic cooperation. The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which has been at loggerheads with Maliki, has blamed the Shiite prime minister for the recent tension with the Kurds and Erdoğan himself warned that Maliki’s policies could lead to a sectarian conflict in Iraq. According to Hicran Kazancı, the Turkey representative of the ITC there are signs that the tension is subsiding but Turkey should keep channels of communication with all sides open so as to establish lasting peace. “Because we do not know what tomorrow will bring in the region where balances are very delicate,” Kazancı said.

Iraqi Kurds are Sunni while Turkmens are not monolithic in terms of sectarian identity. Turan said the fact that there are both Shiite and Sunni Turkmens does not mean they are divided along sectarian lines. “We know how to act united when it comes to issues of strategic importance,” he said.

Kazancı said Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmato will be affected most seriously in the event of clashes between the peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army and called for the formation of armed forces that will include Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmato for the protection of these areas.

Stability at risk in northern Iraq

In the Kurdish-run northern provinces of Arbil and Dohuk, residents are worried that their hard-won stability and economic prosperity will disappear as the prospect of an armed conflict with the Baghdad government loom. “Stability is our priority. Possibilities of a military confrontation harm the stable atmosphere,” said a source close to the Kurdish administration, complaining that it is getting increasingly difficult to convince investors to keep their investments in northern Iraq. Northern Iraq has been the most stable region of Iraq since the US-led war in 2003. Stability has gradually brought prosperity and economic development, as well as foreign investors from a number of countries, including Turkey. According to Mohsin Hassan, who sells sports equipment, the recent tension has brought back the fears of the past. “Every time we hear the noise of a plane, we look up to the sky with fear to see if warplanes are flying above us,” he told Today’s Zaman in Arbil. “There were similar disputes in the past years but this time it is different. We have never been that close to an armed conflict before,” he said.


In Dohuk, tension is less visible and business seems brisk. Residents complain about Maliki’s policies but say war as a means to resolve the disagreements should be avoided. “There could be war if it is necessary but we want a political solution,” Bawer Ibrahim, a member of the peshmerga, said, adding, “It does not mean we are afraid of war.”

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-299384-.html

Tuzkhurmatu - Türkmenlere bombalı saldırı

Irak`ın kuzeyinde Türkmenlerin yoğun bulunduğu Tuzhurmatu`daki bombalı saldırılarda en az 10 kişinin hayatını kaybettiği bildirildi. Kerkük polisi, 20 kadar evin yıkıldığını belirttiği saldırıda enkaz kaldırma çalışmalarının sürdüğünü, bu yüzden de ölü sayısının artabileceğini açıkladı. Yaklaşık 60 kişinin yaralandığı saldırının bomba yüklü 3 araçla düzenlendiğini belirten polis, iki aracın infilak etmeden etkisiz hale getirildiğini aktardı.

The Turzhurmatu Turkmens: A success story

ORSAM REPORTS

THE TUZHURMATU TURKMENS: A SUCCESS STORY

Tuzhurmatu that constitutes a buffer zone between the Arabs and Kurds due to its location is a significant Turkmen settlement in terms of demographic and geographic qualities. Tuzhurmatu is one of the places in Iraq where the Iraqi Turkmen community gained success in the post-occupation period. Tuzhurmatu consolidated this success in the latest provincial council elections as well. Tuzhurmatu is a transition point between Kirkuk and the Turkmens of Diyala. It also provides support to Kirkuk with its political status and Turkmen entity. Therefore, it has been one of the most important districts for the Iraqi Turkmens throughout the years.

Tuzhurmatu which is the provincial district of Salahaddin, located on the north of Baghdad is the second largest district of the province. As usual in the region, the relations are based on earthbound production; therefore the mode of organization is merely tribal-structured. The population is increasing rapidly. Tuzhurmatu’s population which was 128,000 in 2003 before the occupation, increased up to 190,000 nowadays. This figure shows that the population increased 50% during the six years after the occupation. The majority of the Turkmen population in Tuzhurmatu city center is of Shiite origin but the villagers are mostly Sunni. Though there isn’t any sectarian discrimination, the Turkmens are living in peace and are willing to cooperate. Despite there were some provocations to evoke sectarian discrimination in some villages, such efforts were ignored by the locals. Majority of the Turkmens living in Tuzhurmatu are members of the Turkish Bayat branch. Tuzhurmatu’s social structure had a significant influence on the political arena as well. Turkmen’s who were alienated by the former regime, were prematurely politicized and participated in the Shiite movements within Iraq.

There are some facts about politics in the district: ITF who won two seats in Salahaddin in the 31 January 2009 elections, probably gained its greatest victory in Tuzhurmatu. The number of total voters in the district was 90,000 and the electoral turnout was 50 %. Still, ITF managed to get 20,000 votes. This shows that the majority of the Turkmens have voted for ITF. When we take a look at the overall figures in other regions, we see that, Tuzhurmatu was ITF’s greatest success on proportional basis. In particular when considering facts such as the canons of provincial committee elections of 2005 and nonparticipation of Arabs, Tuzhurmatu is a success.

Full text



http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/20091126_sayi06_eng.pdf

Turkmens continue to be targeted in Iraq: Hazim Akbar was shot in Tuz Khurmatu

Tuz Khurmatu:


Gunmen raided the home of Mr.Hazim Akbar, a Turkmen living in Tuz Khurmatu district, to the northeast of Tikrit, early Friday.

They shot Akbar, a 54 year old father of eight several times and ran off.
Akbar died soon after he reached the hospital.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq-daily-violence/story/80080.html

Iraq's Provincial Elections: Kurds are positioning their Peshmerga militias in front of the Polling Centres of Tuz Khurmatu

The Peshmerga stand in front of the polling centres in

Tuz Khurmatu.

ITC Media Kerkuk
29th January 2009

Yesterday, two police members, one of whom was an officer, have been killed in front of one of the polling centres in the city of Tuz Khurmatu (75 Km south of Kerkuk).
As usual, the identities of the perpetrators of these assassinations are not known.

Using these attacks as a pretext, the Kurds have brought the Suleymaniya battalion from the fourth squad, known as Peshmerga, to Tuz Khurmatu and they have positioned 15 elements of this battalion to each of the city’s polling centres with an excuse of weakness in security. This, despite the fact that a battalion from the Governorate of Salaheddin had arrived immediately after the attack as has been confirmed by an official source from the Ministry of Interior.

When the Tuz Khurmatu branch of the Iraqi Turkmen Front objected to this procedure the Kurds suggested they would position their Peshmerga 200 meters from the polling centres. ITF refused this proposal and demanded the withdrawal of the Peshmerga outside the boundaries of the city.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front asked the government authorities to intervene immediately and together with other political parties ITF demanded that the security of the polling districts should be under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior in order to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the elections so as to avoid the vote rigging and forgeries committed by the Kurds during the January 2005 elections.

A bloody day in the district of the Turkmen city of TUZ KHURMATU

On Thursday 27th November 2008, at about 4.30 pm. Mr. Abdulamir Huseyin Bektaş, member of the Turkmen Municipal Council of Tuz Khurmatu and Mr. Talib Ali, member of the Supreme Islamic Council Representative in the village of Yengejeh which lies 4 km west of Tuz Khurmatu were assassinated by unknown gunmen.

They died after their car was sprayed with bullets while they were leaving the Yengejeh village and heading towards the Turkmen district of Tuz Khurmatu.

Their bodies were taken immediately to Tuz Khurmatu hospital for identification and were transferred to Kerkuk in order to carry out a post-mortem examination.

In the meantime another group of unidentified gunmen cut off the road and seized a bus carrying workers travelling home from the poultry field which is located about 10 kilometres north of Tuz Khurmatu. These gunmen shot the bus driver and a worker. Both victims were Arabs from the district of Suleyman Bag.

The gunmen were chased by the police and they were surrounded in a rural area near the village of Albu Sabah which is located about 5 km north of the district of Tuz Khurmatu.

The following statement was released by the chief police of Tuz Khurmatu, Colonel Hussein Ali Rashid: “After an exchange of fire between the two parties, one of the gunmen blew himself up and the other terrorist was shot by the police. The rest of the terrorists managed to escape and 3 policemen were injured as a result”.

http://www.turkishforum.com/content/2008/11/29/a-bloody-day-in-the-district-of-the-turkmen-city-of-tuz-khormatu/