UNITED NATIONS

Economic and Social Council

Distr. General
E/CN.4/2005/NGO/261 10
March 2005
English only

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-first session

Item 6 (a) of the provisional agenda

RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION: COMPREHENSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF AND FOLLOW-UP TO THE DURBAN DECLARATION AND PROGRAMME OF ACTION

Written statement submitted by Transnational Radical Party, a non-governmental organization in general consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.

[11 February 2005]

* This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-governmental organization(s).

Excerpt from Written Statement:

The Transnational Radical Party wishes to address the human rights situation in Iraq, in particular concerning the Iraqi Turkmens. The very existence of the Turkmens in Iraq is at a critical juncture today with the rapid developments following the fall of Saddam’s regime on April 9, 2003. The Turkmens, in their long history in Iraq have been downgraded from being masters and rulers of entire regions to an unrepresented and forgotten minority that is under constant assimilation pressure in these days.

The Iraqi Turkmens, often confused with the Turkmens of Central Asia, live in an area that they call “Turkmenia” in Latin or “Turkmeneli” which means “Land of the Turkmens”. It was referred to as “Turcomania” by the British geographer William Guthrie in 1785. The Turkmens are a Turkic group that has 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 like the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. Their real population has always being suppressed by the authorities in Iraq for political reasons and estimated at 2%, whereas in reality their number should be put between 2.5 to 3 million, i.e. 12% of the Iraqi population.

The main cities where Turkmens live are: Telafer, Musul, Erbil, Altun Kopru, Kerkuk, Taze Khurmatu, Tawuq, Tuz Khurmatu, Kifri, Qara Teppe, Qizlarbat, Qaraghan, Khanaqin, Shahraban, Mansuriyya, Baquba, Mendeli, and Bedre. A Substantial number of Turkmens also live in northeast district of Baghdad of Adhamiyya also in Aziziyya, Kut as well as Najaf and Karbala. All those areas are oil rich, which has made Turkmens the target of assimilation campaigns by neighboring Arabs and Kurds.
The exact date of their arrival into Iraq is unknown but the ancestors of the Turkmens established the principalities of Banuqlu and Batuqlu in Central Euphrates before the Islamic invasion of Iraq in the 7th century. (3) Constant migration from Central Asia increased their numbers and enabled them to establish 6 states in Iraq; 1. The Seljuks, 2. The Atabegs, 3. The Ilkhanids, 4. The Jalairids, 5. The Qara Qoyunlus and 6. The Aq Qoyunlus which were the last Turkmen state in the sixteenth century. After that they were ruled by the Safawids and the Ottomans. Over the centuries, Turkmens played a constructive role in Iraq, either by defending the country against foreign invaders or bringing civilization. Their monuments and architectural remains exist all over Iraq. They lived in harmony with all ethnic groups around them. They administered the people with justice and tolerance. There is no record in history of any mistreatment by the Turkmens against any of their subjects. On the contrary they became relatives with other ethnicities through inter-marriage.

However, after the British invasion of Iraq in 1918, the Turkmens began to experience a different situation. Branded unjustly as loyal to 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 in 1933-1937. In 1959 they were racially discriminated and their fundamental political human rights were violated by excluding them from constitutional rights given to the Kurds. On July 14, 1959 they faced mass executions by the Communists and Kurds. In the Seventies and Eighties, they were subjected to ethnic cleansing by the Baath Party.

Arab racism reached such heights that spoken Turkmen was banned in public, Turkmen names of persons and locations were changed while the historical monuments of Turkmens and Turkmen towns and villages faced destruction. Many Turkmens were relocated to southern Iraq. Thousands of Turkmens houses, lands and properties were confiscated. (4) They were even forced to change their nationality and banned from purchasing property or repairing their homes. With the American invasion of Iraq, the Turkmens had high expectations from the interim administration established after April 9, 2003. They expected to see democracy, fairness, and an end to discrimination, the right to self- determination and an end to violence. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened.

The Turkmens, led by their political parties, The Turkmen Nationalist Movement (TNM) and the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), have expressed their opposition and have demonstrated peacefully against the new discrimination policies, on several occasions, in Kerkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and Baghdad, only to be shot at by Kurdish militias and American troops, turning those peaceful demonstrations into a blood bath. Moreover, to break the Turkmen resistance completely, Telafer which is 99% Turkmen with a population of 400.000 was attacked in September, 2003 by Kurdish militias and bombarded heavily by American forces under the pretext of foreign jihadists/terrorists, a threat that turned out to be wrong.

By not allowing the enjoyment of their fundamental right of self determination, the Turkmens may be forced to live under the mercy of other groups, who have not demonstrated a sincere desire to include Turkmens in the development of a democratic Iraq.

In the recent elections of January 30, 2005, carried out in the absence of sufficient international observers, there are fears that several irregularities may have taken place in northern Iraq. For instance, according to the website Turkmenfront.org, despite the closure of registrations after January 23, 2005, 100,000 Kurds who were not residents of Kerkuk, were registered three days later with the encouragement of foreign diplomats. Apparently 400,000 people were denied their voting rights in the Turkmen region of Telafer and the Christian region of Bakhdeda (Hamdaniyya), the same website alleges that more than 100,000 Kurds were transported into Kerkuk, despite a ban on transportation, from Erbil and Sulaimania on the occasion of the elections. It seems that Representatives of Turkmens have protested to the “Independent Election Committee”, but to no avail.
There is the risk that Turkmens may face assimilation pressures and Kurdification campaigns, which might deteriorate the relationship between the groups triggering armed resistance. Therefore, it is vital and of utmost importance that the United Nations, starting from the Commission on Human Rights, get involved in the situation in Iraq, including future elections in the country.

Source: UNCHR