Nov 29, 2004

Iraqi Turkoman: Signs of Imminent Danger in Kerkuk City


Immediately after the occupation of Iraq by the US troops, the Kurds took control of Kerkuk and initiated their attempts to Kurdicize this originally Turkmen city
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Immediately after the occupation of Iraq by the US troops, the Kurds took control of Kerkuk and initiated their attempts to Kurdicize this originally Turkmen city. The first action of the US forces was to unfairly appoint and impose Kurds in the most important official posts, i.e. the posts of Governor, Mayor and Head of the Police in Kerkuk and other Turkmen regions in order to Kurdicize the personnel of all governmental offices, thereby preparing the conditions to bring in tens of thousands of Kurds to the Turkmen areas, particularly to Kerkuk.

Everywhere in the city the Kurds put up signs in Kurdish only: in the streets, in governmental offices and even in hospitals, thereby creating many difficulties for the original inhabitants of Kerkuk, the Turkmen, as well as for the other non-Kurdish inhabitants of this city. Kurds became more and more arrogant and their insults towards the non Kurdish people of Kerkuk city continued to increase. The incendiary and provocative speech of Masud Barazani, inciting the Kurds to fight for the occupation of Kerkuk city, further increased the aggressive behavior of the Kurds. On 2nd November 2004, the Kurdish Director of the Omer Ibn al-Hattab Secondary School, Abdul al-Samad Muhammad Ali, penetrated illegally into the al-Marifa School and began to insult the school’s Turkmen Director, Turkan Muhammad Siddik. He later incited the Kurdish students against the Turkmen students; as a consequence they tore the books of some Turkmen students into pieces.

The above named Kurdish Director, then continued to use swear words against the Head of the Turkmen Department of Kerkuk Education Directorate, against the Director of the Kerkuk Education Directorate and also against Iraq’s President, Ghazi al-Yawar. The gravity of the situation is clear, but it seems that the Iraqi government and the American occupation authorities consciously ignore the situation. If clashes occur, the unarmed Turkmen will once again be the victims, as it happened during the 14th July 1959 Kerkuk massacre, when Turkmen politicians and intellectuals were savagely killed by the Kurdish militants and by the Communists: many of the Turkmen victims were attached to vehicles and were pulled through Kerkuk’s main streets, some other victims were hanged from electric cables along the city’s streets.

We Turkmen condemn all these provocations and irresponsible actions by the Kurds and call upon the Iraqi authorities and the American authorities in Iraq, to assume their responsibilities and stop the violation of the Turkmen’s rights. We urge them to prevent further provocations by the Kurds against the non-Kurdish inhabitants of Kerkuk city and other Turkmen areas in Iraq.

Source: Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation