Turkish and Iraqi Turkmen teams to compete in July
Iraqi Turkmen teams will compete against Turkish teams in seven Turkish provinces on July 3 and 4.
According to a protocol signed by Turkey and Iraq on August 5, 2009, six sports clubs from Kirkuk, Mosul, Telafer and Selahaddin will compete against Turkish teams in Hatay, Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Mardin, Kilis, Kahramanmaras and Sanliurfa.
Selahaddin Aksu Sports Club, Kirkuk Kale Sports Club, Telafer Sports Club, Kirkuk Musalla Sports Club, Kirkuk Turkmen Sports Club and Kirkuk Turkmenistan Sports Club will participate in games in Turkey. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraq’s Allawi rejects partial vote recount only in Baghdad
Ayad Allawi, whose joint Shiite-Sunni bloc won the largest number of parliamentary seats in Iraq’s general election in late March, said Monday he would not accept a partial vote recount only in Baghdad because this process could be open to fraud.
“A recount only in Baghdad is unacceptable,” Allawi told Hürriyet Daily News & Review in an interview during a brief visit to Ankara for talks with top Turkish officials. “We need to know where (vote) boxes are… We won’t accept fraud.”
He said election results were also disputed in many other Iraqi provinces, including Basra, Najaf, Mosul and Kirkuk and a recount, if one can be done, should cover all such areas. Read the rest of this entry »
Common point of US-Iran-Turkey is united Iraq after elections
’The outcome of March 7 elections will be a compass to designate Iraq’s political direction. Turkey, however, will be more active by opening two more consulates regardless whoever wins,’ a diplomat close to President Abdullah Gül told Hürriyet Daily News
War-torn Iraq is voting Sunday to elect new parliament under the shadow of bloody attacks at polling stations and checkpoints. All key players such as the U.S., Iran, Turkey and other neighboring states keep their eyes on the events as Iraqis try to heal their wounds and form a new democratic government.
Although the U.S. and Iran have long been rival powers in the region, unity and stability of Iraq do serve for their common interests in the post-war era, according to Joost Hilterman of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, or ICG. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »