Turkmen rights are being violated in Iraq

ANKARA (AA) – Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) chairman Farkut Abdullah Abdurrahman criticized the coalition forces for inadequate representation of Turkmens in Iraqi Governing Council under the US control.

Speaking to daily Ez zaman published in Baghdad, Abdurrahman claimed that Turkmen rights have been violated in northern Iraq and Turkmens, for years, have been living in peace and accord with Arabs and Kurds.

Abdurrahman stated that they didn’t have any problems with Kurds and added, “Because we lived with them for a long time. We have very close ties with them such as friendship, marriage and neighborhood. But there are some groups who trie to create unstability and conflict here. They captured our villages.”

He emphasized that the number of Turkmen in Iraq composed the 10 percent of the population and there were seven Turkmen parties so Turkmen had to be represented in Interim Iraqi Governing Council more broadly.