Kirkuk Turkmen Seek Peshmerga Protection
Peshmerga
2014-06-29
"“We Turkmen have the same fate as Kurds,” said Hussein. “Now is not the time to talk about the future of Kirkuk, this should be delayed for after this situation.”"
full text :
"Peshmerga-Agencies
Kirkuk’s Turkmen population are counting on the Kurdish Peshmerga forces for protection, said Najat Hussein of the Turkmen bloc and former member of Kirkuk Provincial Council on Friday, a day after the Kurdish president visited the multiethnic city.
“We (Turkmens) are 95 percent dependent on the Peshmerga forces,” Hussein told Rudaw. “We thank Peshmerga forces for their coming to Kirkuk ad we are ready to fight alongside them.”
Hussein said that the deployment of Kurdish forces in and around Kirkuk was essential for the safety of the Turkmen minority who are mostly Shiites and fear attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“While the Peshmerga are all Kurds, their duty is to protect everyone,” he said. “The Peshmerga have proven in the last two weeks that they don’t only work for the Kurds, but for all the ethnics and sects of Kirkuk.”
Hussein’s comments resonated with a statement by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani who said during his visit to Kirkuk on Thursday, “My visit here is to meet with military, security and political parties and about how to protect Kirkuk and how to make it an example of ethnic and religious coexistence.”
Kirkuk’s Turkmen population occupy important posts in the local government and despite past political disputes with the Kurds, they have now found a common adversary in the Sunni militants who make Shiites and their places of worship a primary target.
“We Turkmen have the same fate as Kurds,” said Hussein. “Now is not the time to talk about the future of Kirkuk, this should be delayed for after this situation.”
In the past several years Turkmen religious ceremonies have been targeted by suicide bombers in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu, claiming many lives.
In a latest attack last week, the head of Kirkuk provincial council, Munir al-Kafili, a Turkmen, was gunned down in the city center by unknown armed men.
Also in the past two weeks, ISIS fighters have launched several attacks against Turkmen villages south of Kirkuk, mainly Bashir village, leading to fierce clashes with Kurdish Peshmerga forces."
Link from Peshmerga Ministries: KRG --- http://mope.krg.org/detail_articals-e.php?id=12902&z=2&l=3
http://mope.krg.org/detail_articals-e.php?id=12902&z=2&l=3
