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Iraqi Turkmens

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Iraqi Turkmens
Total population
500,000[1] by most Western sources, to 2,500,000[2][3][4][5][6]

- 3,000,000[7][8][9] by other sources.
Regions with significant populations
Kirkuk, Arbil, Tal Afar, and Mosul
Languages

South Azerbaijani (spoken language), standard Turkish (written language), Arabic as second language
Religion

Shia and Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups

Oghuz Turks (Turks, Azeris, Syrian Turkmen), other Turkic peoples.
The Turkmeneli flag used by the Turks in Iraq

The Iraqi Turks or Iraqi Turkmens (commonly misspelled[10] as Turcomans, Turkomens, and Iraqi Turkmans) (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri/Irak Türkleri) are a distinct Turkic ethnic group, the third-largest ethnic group (after Arabs and Kurds)[11] in Iraq, living mostly in northern Iraq, in an area which they call "Turkmeneli", notably in the cities of Kirkuk, Arbil, Tal Afar, and Mosul. There are also significant numbers of Turkmen in the central provinces of Baghdad, Wasit. Estimates of their numbers vary dramatically, (in accordance with Iraq's assimilation policies no realistic and independent census results have been revealed regarding the Iraqi Turkmen population) from 500,000 by most western sources[12][13] [14] to 4,500,000 by other sources.[15][12][16][17][18][19] They have been undergoing decades of assimilation campaigns in Iraq.

The Turkmens of Iraq are not to be confused with the Turkmen of Central Asia who reside primarily in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Iraqi Turkmen form a distinct group within the Oghuz Turk classification, which includes Ottoman Turks, modern Turkish people, Azeris, and the Turkmen of Central Asia.[20][21]

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The official term "Turkmen" for Iraqi Turks seems to have been created during the course of the discussion on the Mosul issue in the third decade of the last century, in order to isolate the Iraqi Turks from Turkey.[22] This was used as a factor against Turkey during negotiations, in order to join this oil rich Ottoman province to the newly founded Iraq by Britain. The term Turkmen may also refer to Oghuz Turks who migrated to the west, and Muslim Turks which includes Turks of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Balkans, Cypriot and Syria.

[edit] Demography

Information regarding the Turkmen demographics has been kept secret for various reasons by the Iraqi administration. In accordance with the state’s assimilation policies no realistic and independent census results have been revealed regarding the Iraqi Turkmen population like the other ethnic groups.

Most of the Western sources indicates that Iraqi Turkmens make up from 1% to less than 5 % [23] of the Iraqi population while Turkmen scholars generally tend to claim higher [24][25] numbers for their people in Iraq.

The American administration, and the Western world in general, has underestimated the Turkmen presence in Iraq[citation needed]. Orhan Ketene, an ethnic Turkmen and the U.S. representative for the Iraqi Turkmen Front, argues that the basis for the erroneous estimates originates from various sources that provide false information regarding the Turkmen population. The United States uses two sources: the CIA’s World Fact Book and the Library of Congress. Both sources miscalculate the population of Turkmens in Iraq. They indicate that the Turkmens are less than 5 percent of the population. Ketene argues that both sources represent the information gathered by the Saddam Hussein government, which sought to eradicate the Turkmen presence in this oil-rich and strategic region. Consequently, the American administration in Iraq does not see Turkmens as a significant group in the reconstruction process. Iraqi Turkmen Front also argues that the American government should implement a comprehensive study on the demography of Iraq, in order to ensure a better position in the conflict. However, ITF, usually gains from 0.7% to 1.11% of votes throughout Iraq [26].

[edit] Language

Ethnologue classifies their spoken language as South Azerbaijani.[27] For their written language, they use the standard Turkish language and Latin-based Turkish alphabet.[21] Like Turkey, they have been using as a modified version of Arabic alphabet in the past.

The Turkish language is one the official languages in Kerkuk, the capital of "Turkmeneli"[28].

[edit] Religion

The majority of Turkmens are Muslims, but there are also about 30,000 Christian “catholic” Turks and some Jews living in Iraq.[29] One of the most important historical places in the city of Tuz Hurmatu (Turkmeneli) to visit is the Gawer Kalasi, which means ´Christian castle´ in the Turkmen language.

The Turkmens didn't own any hatred or any kind of racial or religious discrimination, hostility or perception of inferiority towards the Jews when they were living in Tuz Hurmatu, contrary to what is happening in the most advanced countries and in Western countries. There are also a sizeable number of Jews living in Turkmeneli in general and in Tuz Hurmatu in particular. Some Turkmen Jews have left for Israel after 1950. The Yahudiler Mahallesi (which means Jewish neighbourhood in Turkish) is located near the Temple Torah (synagogue), and is still referred to as the Yahudiler Mahallesi today. However, the presence of Muslim neighbours near the temples was not an obstacle or problem for the Jews. The Jewish Synagogue in Tuz Hurmatu is located next to the Buyuk Arkh – which means ´the Big Stream´ in the Turkish – on the east of the Tuz Hurmatu district.

Iraqi Turkmen Muslims are split between Sunni and Shia Islam by faith.[30] There is no difference at all between the Sunni and Shiite Turkmen in the dialogue, language or culture, and the same can be said about all kinds of Turkmens. Intermarriage between the Turkmen, especially Sunni and Shiite Turkmen is very common.

Most sources indicate that the Iraqi Turkmens are Sunnis and Shiites in equal parts[31]. According to Talip Büyük, Shiites are 65% of the population and Sunnis make up the rest.[32] Juan Cole says that they practice a ghulat form of Shiism (cf. Turkey's Alevis).[33] There are numbers of Turkmen mosques in Iraq, like The Ottoman Mosque.[34]

File:Costtr.jpeg

Turkmen boy wearing Turkmeneli traditional folklore costume in a Turkmen museum

[edit] Culture

Iraqi Turkmens are most known for folk songs, especially the the "hoyrats", longplay songs with nearly twenty different melodious voices forming rich literary texts are typical Turkmen musical works, and make up an important part of Turkish music. The songs often are prostest-like expressing sorrow and resenment over unjustice. Hoyrats are a form of uzun hava built on quatrains which often contain allusions and plays on words. They are sung throughout Eastern Anatolia, Southeast Anatolia and Turkmeneli.

The level of education of the Turkmen people living in Iraq was high (except for the last 10 years of the Saddam regime), they had a liberal mentality and they supported peace. They were humanists; they respected laws and were progressive, yet they were falsely accused for working for another state, and have been exposed ethnic cleansing. Therefore, the Turkmens are often compared to Jews, who have shared the same fate throughout history.

Every year, the week of 14th June, the date of the Kirkuk massacre, has been designated as "Captive Turks' Week" (Esir Türkler Haftası), is dedicated to all supressed Turks of the world.

[edit] History

Iraqi Turkmens are the descendants of the Oghuz Turks who originally came from Central Asia. They started to settle in Iraq (Mesopotamia) in 835 where they established 8 different Turkish states and empires which ruled the region for nine centuries (from 1055 to 1918)

The Turkmens are a Turkic group with a unique heritage and culture, as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups, such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is similar to the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. The Turkmens of Iraq settled in Turkmeneli in three successive and constant migrations from Central Asia, and increased their numbers; this enabled them to establish six states in Iraq: 1. The Seljuks 2. The Atabegs 3. The Ilkhanids 4. The Jalairids 5. The Kara Koyunlu, "Black sheep" 6. The Ak Koyunlu, "White sheep"

Turkmens have been living in present Iraq for over a millennium. Yet, since they were left outside the borders of a new Turkey in an artificially created Iraq, Turkmens felt the heavy-handed treatment by successive Arab rulers, the worst of whom were the Ba’ath Party. Though the Turkmens of Iraq consist one of the three major entities of the modern Iraqi State, the Turkmens have had the least of advantages. Since the foundation of Iraq in the aftermath of the First World War, the existence of Turkmens has been denied by the official regimes in Baghdad in accordance with the state’s policy. It was the attempt at sealing the border with Turkey that motivated the Baghdad regime, and their protector Britain, to deliberately ignore the existence of the Turkmen people in the early years of Iraq.

The disregard of the Turkmens' historical role and achievements in Iraq, the denial of their true representation as the third largest ethnic group and, consequently, their marginalisation in Iraq was initiated by the British colonial authorities at the end of World War One in 1918, for geopolitical and economical reasons. The British facilitated the separation of the Mosul Vilayat ‘Mosul Province’ (now representing five Iraqi provinces: Mosul, Kirkuk, Erbil, Duhok and Suleymaniyah) from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in order to control the huge oil reserves of Kirkuk which was inhabited mainly by the Turkmens, as it had been for centuries.

However, after the British invasion of Iraq in 1918, the Turkmens began to experience a different situation. They were branded unjustly as working for another state, Turkey: they were removed from the administration, pushed into isolation and ignored. Then, their fundamental human rights in culture and education were violated by the closure of their schools between 1933 and 1937.

During the time of General Abdul-Karim Qasim, the Turkmens suffered marginalisation and discrimination from both the Kurds and the Iraqi communists who dominated the regime in Iraq. They faced internal deportation, exile, arbitrary arrest and detention, confiscation of properties and agricultural land and, worst of all, the massacre of 120 of their intellectuals and community leaders on the eve of the first anniversary of the revolution on 14th July 1959 by the Kurdish rebel leader Mustafa Barzani and his Kurdish followers allied to the Iraqi separists/communists. Kirkuk was put under curfew and its population slaughtered by Communists and Kurds. The streets of Kirkuk were filled with blood and witnessed one of its more brutal moments in history. The Turkmens in Kirkuk were attacked under the false pretext that they helped the Mosul resistance against the central government. The Kirkuk massacre was totally disregarded and ignored by the world.

The origin of the Iraqi Turkmens dates back to the Al-Ma'mun and Al-Mu'tasim rules of Abbasid in 9th century. Most of the Turkmens living in the region settled in northern Iraq during the early Seljuk Empire period, when Turks migrated from Central Asia (Turkestan) to Anatolia, Iran and Iraq. A recent addition to this population was made by the Ottoman Empire who brought Turks from Anatolia to the region to secure and transport mail from Baghdad to Istanbul and vice versa in the 18th century. Others were sent to the region by the Ottomans to repel tribal raids.[35] These groups settled at the entrances of the valleys that gave them access to Kurdish-dominated areas. This historic role of pacification has led to the development of strained relations between the Turkmens and the Kurds.[13] With the rise of Saddam Hussein and Ba'ath domination over Iraq, a policy of Arabization was imposed on the Turkmens and the rest of Iraq's non-Arab minorities. It was declared in the constitution that schools were prohibited from using the Turkish language and banned Turkish-language media in Iraq. In the 1980s, Saddam prohibited the public use of the Turkish language completely.

The Turkmens of Iraq live mainly in the north and middle of the country; according to them, their number is severely underestimated, and approximates at least 2.5 million. The Turkmens of Iraq constitute generations of different Turkish clans who entered the area that is now modern day Iraq over thousands of years, for example, Oghus, Kipchak, Azerbaijanian and Mongols.

[edit] Assimilation Campaigns

Iraqi Turkmens suffered from various degrees of suppression and assimilation that ranged from political persecution and exile to terror, massacres and ethnic cleansing. During the British and monarchy era, despite 1925 constitution and 1932 League of Nations declaration, cultural rights were gradually taken away, activists were sent to exile.

Arab tribes were settled west of Kerkuk. During the early republican era, Communist and separatist groups committed the Kerkuk Massacre of July 14.th, 1959 which aimed at terrorizing and ethnically cleansing the Turkmens from the city.

During the Baathist era, the Iraqi administration granted some cultural rights to the Turkmens on January 24.th, 1970, including education in the Turkish language in primary schools, daily radio broadcasting for two hours and TV broadcasting for half an hour in the Turkish language, these rights were gradually taken away by the authorities and by 1972, all Turkish schools were closed.

The assimilation of the Turkmens already became a state policy in 1971 when the General Assembly of the Baath Party decided to complete the Arabization of Kirkuk by 1980. Administrative boundaries were changed in 1974 to divide Turkmen concentrations. Since the mid 70s, Arabs enjoyed special incentives and rights encouraging them to move to historically Turkmen areas including the oil-rich city of Kerkuk. In the latter half of the 1970s, the names of several villages and places. [17]

[edit] Present status

Although some have been able to preserve their language, the Iraqi Turkmens today are being rapidly assimilated into the general population and are no longer tribally organized.[13] With the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, tensions between the Kurds and the Turkmens grew substantially. As a result, Kirkuk soon became the only violent non-Arab city in Iraq during the Iraq War.

Iraqi Turkmens have also emerged as a key political force in the controversy over the future status of northern Iraq and the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The government of Turkey has helped fund such political organizations as the Iraqi Turkmen Front, which opposes Iraqi federalism and in particular the proposed annexation of Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Regional Government.[36]

Tensions between the two groups over Kirkuk, however, have slowly died out and on January 30, 2006, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, said that the "Kurds are working on a plan to give Iraqi Turkmen autonomy in areas where they are a majority in the new constitution they're drafting for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq."[37] However, it never happened and the policies of Kurdification by KDP and PUK after 2003 (with non-Kurds being pressures to move) have prompted serious inter-ethnic problems.[38]

Between ten and twelve Turkmen individuals were elected to the transitional National Assembly of Iraq in January 2005, including five on the United Iraqi Alliance list, three from the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), and either two or four from the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan.[39] [40]

In the December 2005 elections, between five and seven Turkmen candidates were elected to the Council of Representatives. This included one candidate from the ITF (its leader Sadettin Ergec), two or four from the United Iraqi Alliance, one from the Iraqi Accord Front and one from the Kurdistani Alliance. [40][41]

[edit] Notable Iraqi Turks

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bill Park (2005). Turkey's Policy Towards Northern Iraq. Taylor & Francis. pp. 36. ISBN 9780415382977. http://books.google.com/books?id=SRXKqF34FBoC&pg=PA36&dq=iraqi+turkmen+population&ei=ZFq1SdmALJvukQTev7jZAQ. 
  2. ^ J. Atticus Ryan, Mullen, Mullen, Christopher A. Mullen (1998). Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 92. ISBN 978-0275976088. http://books.google.com/books?id=yiesQNB3SAMC&pg=PA92&dq=#PPA92,M1. 
  3. ^ Kirkut. "Definition of the Turkmen". http://www.kirkuk.us/index.php?action=Definition%20of%20the%20Turkmen. Retrieved on 2009-02-13. 
  4. ^ KerkukNet. "Turkish Settlement Areas In Iraq". http://www.kerkuk.net/kurumsal/?dil=2057&metin=20. Retrieved on 2009-02-13. 
  5. ^ The JamesTown Foundation. "Iraqi Turkmen Announce Formation of New Jihadi Group". http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4795. Retrieved on 2009-02-13. 
  6. ^ Mofak Salman Kerkuklu. "BRIEF HISTORY OF IRAQ TURKMEN". http://www.ulum.nl/a146.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. 
  7. ^ News World Communications, Inc.. "Turkmen Should Be Given Human-Rights Protections". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_37_16/ai_65913589. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. 
  8. ^ Ibrahim Sirkeci PHD. "Turkmen in Iraq and International Migration of Turkmen" (PDF). http://www.migrationletters.com/turkmen/turkmeneng.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-03-08. 
  9. ^ http://www.unpo.org/content/view/2610/117/
  10. ^ http://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/iraqi-turkmens-correct-spelling-of-turkmen-cities-in-iraq/
  11. ^ http://www.mideasti.org/summary/rethinking-iraq-sectarian-identities-turkmen
  12. ^ a b [1]
  13. ^ a b c Helen Chapin Metz and the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Iraq: A Country Study, p. 86.
  14. ^ Turkey: Facing a New Millennium : Coping with Intertwined Conflicts, By Amikam Nachmani, page 11, Published 2003, Manchester University Press, 264 pages, ISBN 0719063701
  15. ^ http://www.mideasti.org/summary/rethinking-iraq-sectarian-identities-turkmen
  16. ^ http://arabicpress.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/iraqi-turkmen-seek-protection-from-possible-collective-genocide/
  17. ^ a b http://www.unpo.org/content/view/7878/117/
  18. ^ Roraback, Amanda (2004) (in English). Iraq in a Nutshell. Enisen Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 978-0970290861. http://books.google.com/books?id=WDwp86U425YC&lr=&hl=en. Retrieved on 2008-05-05. "Most of the nearly 2000000 Turkomans in Iraq live in the Kirkuk and Mosul... web link" 
  19. ^ Adherents.com - Iraq
  20. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90026
  21. ^ a b The Iraqi Turkomans: Who They Are And What They Want, Radio Free Europe
  22. ^ http://turktarih.net/tarih/1020/irak-turkleri
  23. ^ [1,2% of the population are Turkmen. http://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA218&dq=Turkmen+population+Iraq+cyril&lr=]
  24. ^ [Iraq: People, History, Politics, By Gareth Stansfield, Edition: illustrated, revised, Published by Polity, 2007 ISBN 0745632262, 9780745632261 (see page 71)]
  25. ^ [2]
  26. ^ http://www.fairvote.org/?page=513
  27. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=IQ Ethnologue report for Iraq]
  28. ^ http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=94167
  29. ^ http://www.buzzle.com/articles/jews-and-turkmen-can-prosper-again-in-tuz-khurmatu-with-turkey-annexing-north-iraq.html
  30. ^ http://iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50067
  31. ^ http://iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50067
  32. ^ Kerkük, 'Kerbela'mız / Güncel / Milliyet Gazete
  33. ^ Juan Cole, "Iraq must be Kept together as a single state," from Informed Comment, 9/20/2003
  34. ^ http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81343
  35. ^ Helen Chapin Metz and the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Iraq: A Country Study, p. 85.
  36. ^ Kurds Accused Of Rigging Kirkuk Vote, Al Jazeera
  37. ^ Cevik, Ilnur (2006-01-30). "Talabani: Autonomy for Turkmen in Kurdistan". Kurdistan Weekly. http://www.kurdistanweekly.dk/news.php?readmore=103. Retrieved on 2006-05-20. 
  38. ^ Stansfield, Gareth. (2007). Iraq: People, History, Politics. p71
  39. ^ Interesting Outcomes in Iraqi Election, Zaman Daily Newspaper
  40. ^ a b The New Iraq, The Middle East and Turkey: A Turkish View, Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, 2006-04-01, accessed on 2007-09-06
  41. ^ Turkmens Win Only One Seat in Kerkuk, Iraqi Turkmen Front
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