12.11.2006

Introduction:

Since the beginning of this millennium, the Turkmen of Iraq has been in a struggle for existence in their homeland. After the last four centuries of their history had passed in Ottoman State’s domain, Turkmen society remained on Iraqi State ground with the World War I. While the Allies shared Ottoman heritage, the Turkmen areas of Iraq felt to England’s share.

Under the Kingdom regime, Turkmen shared the same fate with the other Iraqi people and confronted the suppression movements. Turkmen, while being devoid of rights to education in own language and experiencing migrations and exiles had been even exposed to genocides. Especially, on March 4, 1924 Levy Massacre performed by Teyyari (Levy) soldiers’ and the Gavurbagi Massacre, manipulated by the security guards on 12, July 1946.

After the fall of the monarchic regime on July, 14 1958, the Republic was proclaimed. The coming of democracy had not only pleased every nation in Iraq, but also encouraged the Turkmen. Apart from the fact that parliamentary democracy regime and human rights abiding constitution didn’t come after the military coup, gradually increasing infighting and political tension in Iraq, sickened the citizens. In this period, Turkmen still couldn’t regain their rights; moreover they experienced suppressions, exiles and genocides again. The exclusively unprecedented genocide in Turkmen history is the Kirkuk Massacre committed on July 14, 1959. Prominent intellectuals and leaders of the Turkmen community, taken from their homes with indignity were murdered by shooting and their bodies were tied to the vehicles, dragged on the streets and hanged to the utility poles. Throughout this three days long matter of life and death, some of the Turkmen were vivisepultured or their eyes were chiseled out. That is, many Turkmen citizens were murdered or badly injured and their work places were knocked over.

Baath Government and the Turkmen

Baath Government applied unprecedented oppressions and repressions. In the beginning, they followed mild politics towards Turkmen. But after 1967, Baath Party gradually increased its pincers movement. The social and cultural rights had given by Iraqi Revolution Committee on January 24, 1974, so far, 1 year later, started to be taken back and the teachers and students who desired not to give their rights, were punished with severity. Similarly, the administration that started a prosecution against the Turkmen intellectuals placed the Turkmen teachers under arrest or banished them to the south regions of the country.

Saddam took the control of the Baath government after 1978 and carried out a dictatorial regime with racist and chauvinist approaches. According to the annihilation plan of dissolving the Turkmen, this administration placed the prominent people of Turkmen society under arrest and started to execute them in late 1979.

As far from 1980, Baath administration started to execute the Turkmen intellectuals and gradually expanded the circle. Apart from Kirkuk, they especially took aim at Shiite Turkmen and executed hundreds of Turkmen from Tisin, Beshir, Tuzhurmatu, Tavuk, Selamiye that are Turkmen areas of Musul and Telafar.

The dictatorial regime didn’t rest with these, but also expropriated the Turkmen’s lands and agricultural areas at giveaway prices and alienated them to the Arabic families. Furthermore, the areas settled entirely by Turkmen, like Tisin, Beshir, Turkalan, Tokmakli, and Kumbetler were emptied and especially the Turkmen houses canopied with earth roofs of Kumbetli, which are excellent samples of a Turkmen architecture were abolished with the entire village. Hundred years dwellers of these villages were uprooted from their forefather’s lands and exiled to different places.

The properties of the executed people were forfeited by the government and the survivor heirs and their families were forced into a life of destitution and misery.

The Turkmen in the Gulf War

1990 Gulf War started with U.S. air attack on Iraq lead the Turkmen and all the Iraqians into trouble. Particularly with the resulting lack of the authority, the Pehmerges’ rebellion gave way to more troubles in Turkmen areas ended with the sorrowful days of genocides.

In order to catch the rebels, Turkmen areas had mortar attacks carried by the former soldiers of Saddam and this gave rise to precipitate retreat of Peshmerges. Afterwards, the army turned to Kirkuk over Tuzhurmati and Tazehurmatu and murdered too many innocent Turkmen in Tuzhurmati. On March 25, 1991 innocent young Turkmen were murdered in Tazehurmatu and when the army entered Kirkuk and couldn’t find the Peshmerges, they took the revenge from Turkmen.

Extended troops went further to the north and entered to Turkmen city of Altunkopru. The army that couldn’t find the rebels again, took the young people from their homes and nearly a hundred of them were murdered by shooting on March 28, 1991. Even 8-10 years old children became martyr and buried to the mass graves in this genocide called as “Altunkopru Massacre”.

After the First Gulf War, even though Allies established the Parallel 36 in Northern Iraq to protect the Kurdish citizens, this case wasn’t discussed for Turkmen. With the alliance of Massoud Barzani, Iraqi army passed over the safety zone and went into Erbil on August 31, 1996. In this macabre massacre known as Erbil Massacre, offices of Turkmen organizations were messed up and approximately 50 Turkmen intellectuals were placed under arrest and executed.

The Turkmen after Saddam

During the beginning of the period that U.S. entered to Iraq and put an end to Saddam government, Iraqi people’s cheers and enthusiasm have reached its peak and they waited on tiptoe with expectation of democratic and human rights abiding treatments However, so far, a few months later, the country drifted again into chaos and anarchy. U.S. policy on choosing one of the minorities as an ally and treated others as enemies gave rise to an increase in violence and conflict

The created disunity between Iraqi people who used to live fraternally, caused to the formation of opponent cliques. That is, secterian and belief discrimination were added on ethnic discrimination.

In this period, Turkmen suffered more than before. The first of these grieves occurred in Tuzhurmatu on August 22, 2003. The Shiite dwellers of Tuzhurmatu were provoked with an attack on one of the holy places. This initiated the macabre Tuzhurmatu Massacre in which nearly 20 Turkmen were murdered.

The Iraqi Turkmen stronghold of Telafar city experienced utmost sorrow of its history. The unmixed Turkmen city of Telafar was bombed heavily on September 9, 2004 by the U.S. Air Force and hundreds of people were murdered according to a deep-laid schemes started with provocations. The sole reason of this attack that forced thousands of people leave their homes was to launch a pincer movement and sicken the Turkmen. The several days long air attack caused several civilian casualties.

The first attacks done on Telafar didn’t satisfy some and the city again experienced a second tragedy, full of brutal scenes on February 21, 2005. Unfortunately, these attacks which intended to change the population density of Turkmen people and replace them with another ethnic community, performed by U.S. who made a promise to bring the peace to the country.

Sufferings of the Turkmen community are gradually intensifying with each passing day. Just as Yengice Massacre on March 10, 2006 resulted in Turkmen’s death. Likewise, on June 4, 2006 traveling Turkmen students became martyrs in Karatepe Massacre.

Games Performed upon Kirkuk

Increased Kurdish population in the Turkmen areas put Turkmen to inconvenience as a sign of new difficulties and portend intensifying ethnic conflicts. Especially, densely Turkmen populated Kirkuk is exposed to a heavy Kurdish occupancy.

Throughout the history, Kirkuk has been a Turkmen city with its cultural and social structure. This ethnic color of Kirkuk was proved by data obtained from several foreigner travelers’ notes and historical documents. In spite of these facts, Kirkuk’s demographic population structure was modified in favor of Kurdish and thousands of Kurdish families rushed into Kirkuk to get the underground wealth of the city. Even though these Kurdish families were claimed as they were exiled from Kirkuk in the Saddam’s period, they didn’t have lands or houses because of not living in this city before. Kurdish administration distributed lands and money to build their houses. This process still continues.

The Peshmerges oppressed the non-Kurdish minorities and made appointments illegally in the name of democracy by force of arms. They didn’t even take into the consideration of Baghdad administration’s attentions. These behaviors that encouraged the ethnic conflicts resulted in increasing violence acts staged on the confidence and peace city of Kirkuk. The key objective of the increase in blasts and sabotages acts and of the widespread terror is just to sicken and drift the Kirkuk’s people into a depression. For this purpose, the severe blasts occurred in Kirkuk on June 13, 2006 caused nearly fifty innocent people’s death and hundreds of civilian casualties. Blasts and terrorist acts in the city didn’t stop on the September and October of 2006

As indicated in the reports of International Crisis Group that has its headquarters in Netherlands; the addition of the anti-democratic provisions into the constitution which divided the Iraqi citizens into different ethnical and sectarian cliques intensified the conflicts more. The Kurdish leaders’ attempts to appoint the Kirkuk’s fate with a referendum continue under the threat with arms tyranny which shows the result of the referendum already. The speeches of the Kurdish leaders which states that they will definitely annex Kirkuk as part of Kurdistan whether by the democracy or by the arms, shows how they fit for the democratic concepts.

In Brief, densely Turkmen populated city of Kirkuk became a powder barrel to put the Turkmen people to inconvenience and reduce their population ratio up to be a minority. Nowadays, the injustices performed on Turkmen who have been the component of the peace, confidence and stable environment, exceeded the treatments of the Saddam’s period. In this regard, it can be claimed form the signs that it will be worse in the future.

In the process of rebuilding Iraq, the powers that wants to exclude the Turkmen, are falling into a position to be devoid of the democratic, intellectual and high-level cultural experiences of Turkmen community. The Turkmen people who has remained true to the integrity of Iraq, thinks that the division of Iraq will not be favor of any of the minorities.