Turkmeneli

A map of Turkmeneli on a monument in Altun Kupri (Turkish: Altınköprü).
An Iraqi Turkmen youth holding a Turkmeneli scarf.

Turkmeneli, also known as Turkmenland,[1] and historically as Turcomania,[2] (Turkish: Türkmeneli, lit. 'Land of the Turkmens') is a political term used by the Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman minority in Iraq to define the vast swath of territory in which they have historically had a dominant population.[3] The term incorporates the Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman homelands running from Iraq's border with Turkey and Syria and diagonally down the country to the border with Iran.[2]

In particular, the Turkmen/Turkoman consider the capital of Turkmeneli to be Kirkuk and its boundaries also include Tel Afar, Mosul, Erbil (a part of Iraqi Kurdistan) , Mandali, and Tuz Khurmato.[4][5] According to Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, the Turkmen/Turkoman note that the term "Turcomania" – an Anglicized version of "Turkmeneli" – appears on a map of the region published by William Guthrie in 1785, however, there is no clear reference to Turkmeneli until the end of the twentieth century.[2]

The Turkmen/Turkoman homeland

The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkomans generally consider several major cities, and small districts associated with these cities, as part of their homeland.[6] The major cities claimed to be a part of Turkmeneli, in a north-to-south order, include: Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Salahaldeen and Diala, Tal Afar, Sancar, Altun Kupri, Kifri, Khanaqin, Kizilribat, Bakuba and Mendeli.[6] Consequently, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north.[6]

Prospects of an autonomous region

An Iraqi Turkmen man climbs a pole in Kirkuk for a photo with the hanging flag.
Iraqi Turkmen woman holding a placard written in Turkish: "Kerkük'ü hiçbir güç Kürtleştiremez" (No power can Kurdify Kirkuk).

According to Khalil Osman there has been "a raft of federalist schemes" proposed by various Turkmen/Turkoman political parties.[5] For example, one controversial proposal to set up Turkmeneli as a Turkmen/Turkoman automonous region included the areas nortwest of Iraq, from Tel Afar in Ninewah Province, through Kirkuk/Ta'amim Province and Tuz Khurmatu District in Salah al-Din Province in north-Central Iraq, to Mandali in the Diyala Province in the northeast of Baghdad.[5]

Vahram Petrosian suggests that the Iraqi Turkmen Front's (ITF) forwarding of the idea of the recognition of Turkmeneli may pave the way for a future Kurdish-Turkmen conflict.[7]

In 2016 Wassim Bassem reported that the Turkmen/Turkoman have been calling for their own independent province in the Tal Afar district.[8] Their demands had coincided with calls for the establishment of other new provinces for the Christian and the Yazidi minorities.[8]

On 17 July 2017, Turkmens proposed that Tel Afar and Tuz Khurmatu to become an autonomous Turkmen region and asked for a "special status" for Kirkuk in a summit in Baghdad under the name "Future of Turkmens in United Iraq".[9]Also asked to "training and equipping the Turkmen Hashd al-Shaabi forces."[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rich, Paul J. (2008), Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Lexington Books, p. x, ISBN 1461633672
  2. 1 2 3 Anderson, Liam; Stansfield, Gareth (2009), Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 56, ISBN 0812206045
  3. ↑ Strakes, Jason E. (2009), "Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen", Iran & the Caucasus, Brill Publishers, 13 (2): 369
  4. ↑ Anderson & Stansfield 2009, 57
  5. 1 2 3 Osman, Khalil (2015), Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920, Routledge, p. 243, ISBN 1317674871
  6. 1 2 3 Oğuzlu, Tarik H. (2004), "Endangered community:The Turkoman identity in Iraq", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Routledge, 24 (2): 313
  7. ↑ Petrosian, Vahram (2003), "The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey", Iran & the Caucasus, Brill Publishers, 7 (1/2): 305
  8. 1 2 Bassem, Wassim (2016). "Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province". Al-Monitor.
  9. ↑ Iraqi Turkmen to propose ‘special status’ for Kirkuk
  10. ↑ Iraq meeting tackles Turkmens' future in post-Daesh era

Bibliography

  • Anderson, Liam; Stansfield, Gareth (2009), Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0812206045
  • Oğuzlu, Tarik H. (2004), "Endangered community: the Turkoman identity in Iraq", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Routledge, 24 (2)
  • Osman, Khalil (2015). "Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920". Routledge. ISBN 1317674871. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  • Petrosian, Vahram (2003), "The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey", Iran & the Caucasus, Brill Publishers, 7 (1/2)
  • Rich, Paul J. (2008), Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Lexington Books, ISBN 1461633672
  • Strakes, Jason E. (2009), "Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen", Iran & the Caucasus, Brill Publishers, 13 (2)

Further reading

  • Ketene, Orhan (2007). "Turkmen and Turkmeneli" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-26. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
  • Ezzat, Yawooz (2012). The Treatment of Iraqi Turks Since the Aftermath of WWI: A Human Rights. Trafford Publishing (Book on Demand). ISBN 978-1-4669-4605-7.
  • Kerkuklu, Mofak Salman (2004). Brief History of Iraqi Turkmen. Istanbul: Yildiz Press. ISBN 9789756855126.

Coordinates: 35°12′04″N 43°57′54″E / 35.201°N 43.965°E / 35.201; 43.965


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