Turkey calls on Iraq to show more sensitivity on Turkmens

ANKARA

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) meets with Arshad al-Salehi, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, in Ankara on May 22, 2014. AFP Photo

Turkey has called on the Iraqi government to be more sensitive for providing the security of Turkmens, while condemning the latest attacks in the northeast of the country.

“Turkey strongly condemns all kinds of terrorism regardless of target or origin. The recently intensified terrorist acts targeting our Turkmen brethren living in Kirkuk, Mosul and Saladin provinces are aimed at driving Iraq into chaos and confusion by causing ethnic and sectarian divisions,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry said May 30.

“We call on the Iraqi government to be more sensitive for providing the security of Turkmens, who have always been loyal citizens of Iraq, along with all our Iraqi brothers and sisters, so as to prevent the aforementioned terrorist acts from achieving their aim,” it added.

Five Turkmen farmers and a number of Iraqi security officers were killed in explosions in the Iraqi province of Mosul on May 29. Another four Turkmens had lost their lives and six had been wounded on May 28 in a series of bomb attacks targeting the residences of local Turkmens in the town of Tuz Khormato in the province of Saladin.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Communication Minister Torhan al-Mufti said the issue of rights for the Turkmens will be addressed. The Turkmen’s status increased after 2003 when a new constitution was drafted, al-Mufti stressed, adding that they had gained more rights, were now guaranteed an education in their mother tongue, and had also received back land that had been taken away from them.