Representative of Iraqi Turkmens: “Azerbaijan has very distinct place in the hearts of Iraqi Turkmens” – INTERVIEW

Representative of Iraqi Turkmens: “Azerbaijan has very distinct place in the hearts of Iraqi Turkmens” – INTERVIEW




[ 31 Oct 2011 14:43 ]

“We see Azerbaijan as Motherland, Turkey – as Fatherland”

Baku. Parvin Abbasov – APA. APA’s interview with representative of Iraq-based Kerkuk News Agency Ersan Sarikahya

- What is current state of Kerkuk Turkmens in Iraq?

- We couldn’t bring the problems we faced in 85 years and during Saddam’s tyranny to the notice of anyone in the world, because we faced with media embargo too. We lost many people because of media embargo. Their only guilt was that they were Turks.


Azerbaijan has very distinct place in the hearts of Iraqi Turkmens because we speak in same language, carry same culture. It can not be accidentally. We moved to those lands one time, but we didn’t hurt anyone. We brought only culture to those lands. We were not against any ethnic group. In return for it, other ethnic groups were against us.


- What is the level of relations of Kerkuk News Agency with Azerbaijani media?


- We signed a deal with the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. But we would like to work with other TV channels and media organizations too. We must have the right of expression here. We see Azerbaijan as Motherland, Turkey- as Fatherland.


- Which problems do the Kerkuk Turkmens have most of all?


- I will describe the situation after Saddam Hussein. At present we have school problems. We can send our children, students to good schools, though according to the ethnic division of Iraqi population, we are third. We must have to open own schools, university, get education in our native language. But we don’t have these opportunities. The state doesn’t help us necessarily, because we didn’t take a side there, we take neutral position in the domestic struggle. Being a Turkic nation, we support only peace. There are 10 MPs from our nation in Iraqi parliament. But one tries to press them behind closed doors, their votes are not enough. Despite the activity of our MPs, the situation is still uninspired. The question is, we can’t deliver our voice to the world. Despite being a third ethnic group, they don’t hear us, because the foreign press doesn’t work with us.

- The various figures are sounded on the number of Iraqi Turkmen, what is the real number?


- Some try to show that we are several thousands. But by the official figures of 1957, the community which’s number is 1 mln, must be doubled up to now, thus, it must be 2 mln. How we can be several thousands, the real figure is more than 3 mln.

Orta Fırat aşiretleri Türkmen Milletinin işareti emrindedir

ITC MEDIA

KERKÜK

30 EKİM 2011



Salihi: cephe açılım siyasetini tüm Iraklı siyasi taraflarla devam ettirmektedir


Kerkük meselesi Iraklı bir meseledir,geleceği ve servetleride tüm Iraklıları ilgilendirmektedir,şeyh Adnan Raşid Elhamad,Irak’ta Muamire aşiretlerinin baş şeyhi ,vurguladı.

Bu vurgu,Hilla ilinde aşiretin yaptığı geniş toplantısı sırasında aşiret büyüğü olarak seçilen Şey Hamad tarafından söylendi, toplantıda hazır bulunan millet vekili veIrak Türkmen Cephesi başkanı Erşet Salihi toplantıda kürsüye çıkarak önemli bir demeç vermiştir, Salihi demecinde şunları söyledi :

Irak Türkmen Cephesi , mücadele sürdürdüğü tüm meselelerde , kerkük meselesi dahil,

manevi destek kazanmak için başlatığı açılım siyasetini tüm Irakl taraflarla devam ettirecektir.

Salihi ve şeyh Hamad , kardeşlik ve af etmek ruhunu genel olarak Iraklılar ve özellikle Kerkük milletleri arasında yayması her türlü sıkışmış meselelerin çözümüne kefil olacağına anlaştılar,Salihi toplantı sırasında verdiği demecte Türkmenlerin selamlarını orta Fırat aşiretlerinin tümüne iletti, ve Türkmenlerin çoğunluk oluşturdukları ve yaşadıkları çok şehir ve kasabalarda,özellikle Kerkük ve Tuzhurmatu’da Türkmenleri hedef alan terör olaylarına değindi, ve bu konuşmayı destekleyerek , Muamire aşiret şeyhleri ve önde gelen adamları , kerkük’e bağlı olduklarını vurguladılar,ve yeni şeyhleri ile Kerkük meselesinin bir Irak meselesi olduğu üzerine anlaşmışlar, kendilerini ve aşiretlerini Türkmenlerin işareti emrinde olduklarını ve Türkmenlerin savunmasına katılacaklarını vurguladılar,ve Türkmenlerin hedef alınmasını red ettiler,Kerkük meselesinin Irak’ın arazı ve millet bütünlüğünü etkileyen bir mesele olduğunu tekrar ederek vurguladılar, toplantıda bulunanlar bölgesel şarkılar söyleyerek orta Fırat’ta bulunan arap aşiretlerin Türkmenlerin maruz kaldıkları zulm’ı ve sürekli hedef olmalarını kınadılar ,ve adil meselelerinde Türkmenlerin yanında duracaklarını anlattılar.

Salihi, Dileym kabilesinin misafirhanesini ziyaret ettiğinde,şey Raad Elduleymi tarafından karşılandı,Duleym kabilesinin Türkmenler yanında durduklarını ve tüm büyük küçük meselelerinde destek verdiklerini vurguladı, Kerkük’ün tüm Iraklıların boyunlarında bir emanet olduğunu sözüne ekledi.

Sonradan, Salihi Irak Türkmen Cephesi Hilla kolunu ziyaret etti, kolun sorumlusu Hazım Aydın ve Hille sivil toplum sorumluları ,ve aydınları ile’de görüştü, görüşmede Kerkük meselesi veTürkmen milletinin hakları konuşuldu ve tam desteklerini bu meseleye verdiklerini ve bu meselenin bir Irak meselesi olduğunu ve çözümü sadece Iraklıların elinde olduğunu vurguladılar.

Ve bundan Sonra, Salihi çalışmak veya eski rejim tarafından uzaklaştırılan,ve bazı çök eskiden ve Türkmen kökenliği ile gurur duyan Hille’de yaşayan bazı Türkmen vatandaşların evlerini ziyaret etti.

Salihi’nin Hille ziyaretine ,millet vekili Hasan Özmen, Türkmen Kardeşlik ocağı’nın idare heyeti başkanı Dr.Mehmet Ömer Kazancı, Irak Türkmen Cephesi Bağdat kolu idare sorumlusu Sabit Abdulgaffur ve aktif Türkmen vatandaşı Hasan Asker eşlik etmişler.

Wikileaks Cables And The Iraq War

10/30/2011


By Glenn Greenwald.

From a CNN report on why the Iraqi Government rejected the Obama administration’s conditions for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline:

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top brass have repeatedly said any deal to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the withdrawal deadline would require a guarantee of legal protection for American soldiers.

But the Iraqis refused to agree to that, opening up the prospect of Americans being tried in Iraqi courts and subjected to Iraqi punishment.


The negotiations were strained following WikiLeaks’ release of a diplomatic cable that alleged Iraqi civilians, including children, were killed in a 2006 raid by American troopsrather than in an airstrike as the U.S. military initially reported.

That description from CNN of the cable’s contents is, unsurprisingly, diluted to the point of obfuscation. That cable was released by WikiLeaks in May, 2011, and, as McClatchy put it at the time, “provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi.” The U.S. then lied and claimed the civilians were killed by the airstrike. Although this incident had been previously documented by the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the high-profile release of the cable by WikiLeaks generated substantial attention (and disgust) in Iraq, which made it politically unpalatable for the Iraqi government to grant the legal immunity the Obama adminstration was seeking. Indeed, it was widely reported at the time the cable was released that it made it much more difficult for Iraq to allow U.S. troops to remain beyond the deadline under any conditions.

In other words, whoever leaked that cable cast light on a heinous American war crime and, by doing so, likely played some significant role in thwarting an agreement between the Obama and Maliki governments to keep U.S. troops in Iraq and thus helped end this stage of the Iraq war (h/t Trevor Timm). Moreover, whoever leaked these cables — as even virulent WikiLeaks critic Bill Keller repeatedly acknowledged — likely played some significant in helping spark the Arab Spring protests by documenting just how deeply corrupt those U.S.-supported kleptocrats were. And in general, whoever leaked those cables has done more to publicize the corrupt, illegal and deceitful acts of the world’s most powerful factions — and to educate the world about how they behave — than all “watchdog” media outlets combined (indeed, the amount of news reports on a wide array of topics featuring WikiLeaks cables as the primary source is staggering). In sum, whoever leaked those cables is responsible for one of the most consequential, beneficial and noble acts of this generation.


And yet (or more accurately: therefore) the person accused of accomplishing all of this, Bradley Manning, has been imprisoned for more than a year without trial, and, if convicted, is almost certain to remain in prison for many more years (with the possibility, albeit unlikely, of death, and as the Obama administration continues to block an unmonitored visit by the U.N. official investigating what had been the inhumane conditions of his detention). If one believes the authenticity of the chat logs produced byWired, Manning’s goal in leaking those cables — “hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms . . . i want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public” – have been fulfilled beyond what must have been his wildest dreams. Assuming the truth of those chat logs, he was motivated precisely by seeing cables of the sort that detailed this civilian slaughter and subsequent cover-up in Iraq, and the extreme levels of theft and oppression by Arab dictators, and the desire to have the world know about it. Meanwhile, those responsible for the Iraq War, and who suppressed freedom and democracy in the Middle East by propping up those tyrants, and who committed a slew of other illegal and deeply corrupt acts, continue to prosper and wield substantial power.

History is filled with examples of those who most bravely challenged and subverted corrupted power and who sought reforms being rewarded with prison or worse, at the hands of those whose bad actions they exposed. If Bradley Manning did leak these cables, his imprisonment is a prime example of that inverted justice.



Posted by TONY on 30.10.11

http://neoclassics.blogspot.com/2011/10/wikileaks-cables-and-iraq-war.html

Shiite Turkmen demonstrate to regain their lands

Tens of Shiite Turkmen demonstrated before Kirkuk province premises to demand regaining their original lands in their villages.


(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Tens of Shiite Turkmen demonstrated before Kirkuk province premises to demand regaining their original lands in their villages.


A demonstrator told that the Iraqi government approved the return of the lands from Arab beneficiaries during the ex-Saddam Hussein regime, "but there are officials at the central government hinder the implementation of these decisions, so we demand the President and Kirkuk governor to solve these problems".


Kirkuk, center of the province, lies 255 km north east the capital, Baghdad, which is one of the disputed areas between the federal and Kurdistan governments.

ABNA.ir

IRAQ'S MISSING MONEY CNBC VIDEO

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'US seeks to keep presence in Iraq'

'US seeks to keep presence in Iraq'


Mon Oct 24, 2011
Moqtada Al Sadr has accused the Americans of a clumsy strategy for holding onto their military stanglehold in Iraq.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/206347.html

Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr

Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says the United States is seeking to maintain its occupation of Iraq through keeping trainers and private contractors in the Middle Eastern country.

Sadr said on Sunday that Washington will continue hatching plots against Iraq through its remaining forces in the US embassy and security firms in the country, Fars News Agency reported.

The Iraqi cleric went on to say that the US plan to keep some of its troops in Iraq is pointless, adding that Washington would not be able to deceive Iraqis under the guise of training soldiers.

The US State Department has been tasked with training Iraqi police since October 1, when it took over the responsibility from the US Defense Department.

Washington has been pressing Baghdad to agree to keep the remaining US troops in Iraq beyond December 31, a deadline which was set in a security agreement between Baghdad and Washington in 2008, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
The Sadr movement is awaiting the full withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq, the influential cleric stated.

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqi forces are ready to take over security after the pullout of US troops from the country.

Maliki has also rejected the US proposal that 3,400 of the troops remain in the country, saying “we do not need such a large number.”



HSN/HJL

TURKMEN IN IRAQ AND THEIR FLIGHT A DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTION by Ibrahim SIRKECI

REPORT N° 21
JANUARY 2011

Please see:


 

http://regents.academia.edu/sirkeci/Books/383971/Turkmen_in_Iraq_and_Their_Flight_A_
Demographic_Question

Assyrian Appointed As UN Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq

GMT 10-25-2011 2:24:38

Assyrian International News Agency

(AINA) -- The United Nations Embassy in New York has appointed Dr. William Ishaya Odisho to be the new Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq. Dr. Odisho has been an Assyrian activist with Iraqi oppositions since 1991. In July of 2002, he was elected as one of the High Committee members of the Iraqi Military Council for Liberation.