Iraqi Turkmen: ITF Calls for Immediate Assistance by International Community
As one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Iraq, the Iraqi Turkmen are widely targeted by the Islamic State. At a press conference, officials from the Iraqi Turkmen Front stated that the USA and the Western countries have abandoned them and called for a campaign to provide immediate relief for their people.
Below is an article published by Todays Zaman;
Iraqi Turkmens who have been the target of the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for months said on Saturday [25 October 2014] in a press conference in Kirkuk that they have been abandoned, especially by the Western world, to face the atrocities of ISIL.
The press conference was held by the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) to call for help against ISIL attacks on
Turkmen areas. ITC Kirkuk representative Mehmet Saman said Turkmens did not receive the same interest from the United Nations and the Western world that Yazidis and Christians received in the face of ISIL attacks. He said the Iraqi government has also abandoned them.
The ITC called for a campaign to provide immediate relief for Turkmen areas that are under ISIL control. According to Saman, Turkmens are forced to migrate under very difficult conditions. In June, ISIL captured a predominantly Turkmen town in Iraq, Tal Afar, which alarmed the country's Turkmen community, half of which are Shiites -- the extremist group's stated target. In August [2014], the United States carried out air strikes against ISIL fighters near the besieged Shiite Turkmen town of Amirli in northern Iraq and airdropped humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there.
