Archive for November, 2009
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 »