Turkmens should work for unity: Gül
Iraq’s Turkmens should not only work to protect the rights of their community but also for the unity of Iraq, Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said.
Gül met yesterday with Erşat Salihi, the leader of the Turkmen Front party, expressing Turkey’s desire to maintain close ties with all ethnic and religious groups in Iraq.
“I believe that while defending the rights of the Turkmens in the best possible way, [Salihi] will make contributions also to the fraternity and peaceful co-habitation in Iraq between Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs,” Gül said. Read the rest of this entry »
President Gul receives Iraqi Turkmen official
Turkish President Abdullah Gul received the new chair of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Arshad Salihi and an accompanying delegation in Ankara.
Speaking to reporters prior to his meeting with Salihi behind closed doors, President Gul said that Salihi was recently elected the chair of the Iraqi Turkmen Front and was a deputy from Kirkuk at the Iraqi Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi Parliamentarians Representing Various Minority Communities Attend Meeting at EU Parliament
On 5 October 2011, Fourteen Iraqi Parliamentarians representing the Chaldeo-Assyrian, Shabak, Yezidi and Mandaean-Sabean communities attended a meeting with the EU Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq.
The Iraqi delegation was composed of: Mr Younadam Kenna, Mr Amin Farhan, MissAmeena Said, Miss Vian Dakhil, Mr Hussain Nermo, Mr Meham Khaleel, MissBasma Pitrus, Mr Luis Gaor, Mr Qasim Birgis, Mr Sharif Sulayman, Mr Khalid Roomi, Mr Kaliss Eisho, Mr Imad Yako, and Mr Mohammed Jamsheed. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkmen form special security force in Kirkuk
The Turkmen community in Kirkuk will form a special security force to protect the Turkmen citizens of the disputed city.
Najat Hassan, representative of the Turkmen in Kirkuk, announced the new unit with 100-150 armed men Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi doctor shot in battle over Kirkuk
Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi neurologist and his brother in the northern disputed city of Kirkuk on Monday, police said, while five people were wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
Police said that Dr. Yalderin Abbas al-Damarchi, a 48-year-old Shiite Turkmen father of four, was killed by gunmen along with his brother, Zein al-Abdeen, while driving after he left his clinic in central Kirkuk. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi Bektashis demand their rights in Iraq
“We want our educational, cultural and religious rights to be recognized by the central government in Baghdad,” says Abbas Beyetli, a spokesman for the Iraqi Bektashi community.
In an interview with Today’s Zaman, Beyetli said the Iraqi Bektashis are facing difficult challenges in Iraq. “We want the Iraqi government to officially recognize the Bektashis of Iraq, and we want to establish our own federation with a budget from the Iraqi government,” he stated. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkmen Policy on the Rise in Iraq
Until the elections in 2010 the Turkmens who have not been effective in the Iraq policy and who were put out of action in the process of restructuring of Iraq began to take important steps. Particularly, in pursuit of the formation of new government, an observable increase is being talked about in Turkmen policy. After the general elections on 7 March 2011 in Iraq, the Turkmens who gained 10 deputies and 3 ministries seem to be risen from the ashes. The Turkmens who were maybe most influenced by the political polarization and the corruption within the state, managed to make their voice heard especially with the last moves by the Iraqi Turkmen Front. The Turkmens started to take part in Iraq policy, under the leadership of Arshad al-Salihi who became and eminent figure in the Turkmen politics as of the day when he returned to Iraq from Syria. Salihi was at first as the head of Kirkuk province of Turkmen Front and he was elected the head of Iraqi Turkmen Front in May,. The Iraqi Turkmen Front has been undergoing a reorganization, which is evident in both management structure and policy strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Higher Strategic Policies Council should go to Turkmen – White Iraqiya
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The head of White Iraqiya bloc, Qutaiba al-Jubouri, suggested today that the post of Higher Strategic Policies Council go to the Turkmen because they did not get a real post in the present government.
Jubouri made a statement today, a copy of which was received by Aswat al-Iraq, stating that “granting this post to the Turkmen is important because they are the third ethnic entity in the country.
Their popular participation and history should enable them a real representation.” Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi refugees wait for new lives in Istanbul’s ’Little Baghdad’
A neighborhood known as ’Son Durak’ (Last Stop) in Istanbul’s Kurtuluş area is a way station for Iraqis who have fled the Iraq war since 2003. The community, also called ’Little Baghdad,’ is mostly populated by Christian refugees from central and southern Iraq whose meeting-point is a café on the neighborhood square
Sitting inside the Genç Kardeşler Café behind the bus station in Istanbul’s Kurtuluş area, it is easy to see why the “Son Durak” (Last Stop) neighborhood is also called “Little Baghdad.” Read the rest of this entry »
UN envoy calls for talks over Kirkuk elections
Negotiations must begin shortly over finally holding long-delayed provincial elections in the divided flashpoint Iraqi province of Kirkuk, the UN’s envoy to Baghdad said.
UN special representative Ad Melkert called for a conference to be held in Baghdad involving all of the religious and ethnic communities in Kirkuk, which is at the centre of a tract of disputed territory that is claimed by both the central government and Kurdish regional authorities. Read the rest of this entry »