Iraq: The Legistive Election Campaign in Turkmeneli
3 Questions to Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative
By Gilles Munier
1) How many Turkmen parties will be represented at the upcoming legislative elections, in which coalitions?
There are two categories of parties:
- Those created by the Turkmens themselves which really defend the Turkmen cause.
- Those formed and financed by the Kurds (Barzani and Talabani). These are Turkmen in name only and they are serving Kurdish interests. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkish energy giant to establish refinery in northern Iraq
A Turkish oil exploration and production company active in northern Iraq plans to establish a refinery with a capacity of 60,000 barrels this year in the city of Koya, near the Taq Taq oilfield.
Genel Enerji, owned by Çukurova Holding, one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates with investments in the automotive, telecommunications, media, textile, energy and information-technology services sectors, is seeking loans for the refinery’s cost of $510 million.
The firm, which has the authority to establish a refinery and conduct oil exploration in the Taq Taq field as a part of its deal with the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, has prepared a report titled “Midstream Opportunity in Kurdistan” for the refinery investment.
According to the report, which was acquired by daily Milliyet, the refinery is expected to be built in three phases and will cost $510 million. The Regional Kurdish Administration supports investments in order to cover northern Iraq’s oil demand and export oil. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkey condemns killing of Iraqi Turkmen leader
Turkey on Monday condemned the killing of an Iraqi Turkmen leader in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice.
“We strongly condemn this terrorist attack,” which killed Yavuz Efendioğlu at his home on Sunday, a foreign ministry statement said. The ministry called for the perpetrators of the “cowardly” attack to be found as soon as possible and brought to justice.
Efendioğlu, provincial chairman of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, was shot dead by gunmen in a speeding car in front of his house on Sunday in eastern Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called relatives of Efendioğlu and the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front to offer his condolences. Read the rest of this entry »
Davutoğlu, Iraqi Shiite leader discuss cooperation
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Ammar Abdulaziz al-Hakim, leader of Iraq’s Islamic Supreme Council, discussed the upcoming elections in Iraq and future cooperation regarding the Kurdish issue on Wednesday in Istanbul.
Davutoğlu signified that the elections were could be a “turning point” in the two countries’ relations.During the meeting, Davutoğlu said Turkey wanted a peaceful and prosperous Iraq, reported Anatolia news agency.
Al- Hakim stressed the importance of preserving the rights of all Iraqis, including those of the Turkmen people in Kirkuk. He welcomed Turkey’s support of Iraq’s democratization process and cooperation on water policy. Read the rest of this entry »
Minorities in Iraq’s North Seen as Threatened
The policies and tactics of Kurdish authorities could expose minority groups in northern Iraq to “another full-blown human rights catastrophe” unless the minorities receive better protection, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch.
Members of the minority groups are being singled out by extremist insurgent groups and also are caught in the middle of a struggle for land and resources between Arabs and the central government on one hand and leaders of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region on the other, said the report, which was released in the Kurdish region’s capital, Erbil, and focused on Christians, Shabaks and Yazidis in Nineveh Province.
Rights report criticizes Iraqi Kurds for mistreating minorities
Minorities in northern Iraq are at great risk of violence, abuse and manipulation thanks to the ongoing power struggle between Arbil and Baghdad, warns a human rights group. A Turkmen living in Turkey says the issue is often misconstrued in the media
The ongoing dispute between Iraq’s central government and the Regional Kurdish Administration in northern Iraq is once again threatening to become a “human rights catastrophe” for minority communities, according to a report by a leading rights watchdog.
Meanwhile, experts on the region said it was nothing new that minorities in the region were being squeezed between the two power centers. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkey enters northern Iraq
Wait, wait! Don’t panic after looking at the headline. True, Turkey has entered northern Iraq, but unlike its past entries, it did it this time with diplomacy, peace and brotherhood.
Two years after a terrorist attack on the Dağlıca military outpost, which had brought the two countries to the brink of war, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu orchestrated a huge initiative of friendship and peace toward northern Iraq with his visit on Friday and Saturday. Being the lead figure of a Turkish foreign policy that has dispensed with its rigid habits and has undertaken a radical paradigm shift in parallel to the country’s painful process of evolution from a national security state to a democratic one, Davutoğlu visited Arbil, the most critical step of his unusual visit to Iraq. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraqi Turkmen groups agree on joint action
Representatives of more than 20 Iraqi Turkmen groups who gathered in Ankara last week released a joint declaration on Sunday announcing that they have decided to maintain a joint strategy in order to better protect the interests of Iraqi Turkmens in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iraq, scheduled to take place in January.
Iraqi Turkmen representatives had gathered in the Turkish capital upon an invitation by Bilkent University Rector Ali Doğramacı, whose family’s origin is Iraqi Turkmen. President Abdullah Gül last week hosted the representatives at an iftar (fast-breaking dinner) at the presidential palace. Read the rest of this entry »
ITF to open new offices in Turkey
In an effort to guarantee an electoral victory in January, Iraqi Turkmen are working on a database of Turkmen populations worldwide to boost their numbers in parliament. The Iraqi Turkmen Front is planning to open offices in various Turkish cities in line with this campaign
In an effort to boost support for Turkmen deputies in Iraq’s Jan. 16 general elections, Iraqi Turkmen leaders have decided to join forces to find and mobilize Turkmen populations worldwide.
A summit to unite Iraqi Turkmen and discuss ways to boost their numbers in parliament took place last week in Ankara. Iraqi Turkmen Front, or ITF, Chairman Sadettin Ergeç, Iraqi Turkmen Assembly President Yunus Bayraktar, Iraqi Turkmen Islamic Union Secretary-General Abbas Betyati, Iraqi Turkmen Justice Party Chairman Enver Bayraktar and other Turkmen deputies serving in the Iraqi parliament, along with chairs of Turkmen associations in Turkey, constituted the summit’s 23 participants. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkmen join Arabs to stop referendum in Kirkuk
Arab and Turkmen politicians in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province have banded together to try to block an impending referendum on the future status of the disputed oil-rich region.
Kurds, reckoned to form the majority of the province’s 900,000 population, are eager to press on with the vote in the hope of removing direct control of the area from Baghdad and including it in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
Political stalemate meant that Kirkuk took part neither in Iraqi provincial elections earlier this year nor Kurdish ones last month, but leaders of the province’s minority Arab and Turkmen communities believe they may have found a way of breaking the deadlock. Read the rest of this entry »