| Turkomans living in Iraq have not only been deprived of their minority rights, but have also been subjected to various oppressions. In order to wipe out Turkomans large-scale massacres have been carried out in addition to executions, banishments and displacement . One of these massacres, rarely mentioned in history books, was carried out by Armenians on May 4, 1924. After murders committed by Teyyaris, who are of Armenian origin, on August 15 1923, the government has transferred them to Kirkuk. However, these people continued with their assaults in Kirkuk which was the scene for new events. They carried out a major massacre in this city on May 4, 1924. In the meantime, the British High Commissioner had sacked Kirkuk governor Fettah Beg and issued orders to police to arrest Hüsseyin Neftçi, Suleyman Dervish Beg and Hayrullah Hassan Efendi. Almost 200 were killed or injured during these events. Two years after the events British High Commissioner H. Dobs, who was then assigned to Iraq, put pressure on the Iraqi government to release prisoners who had been sentenced to various prison terms because of their roles in the events. Subsequently, the Council of Ministers pardons these convicts in a meeting held on June 29, 1926, but sends them to "May" village, north of Emadiya district, as residentiary exiles. In 1946 a second massacre took place in Gavurbaghe borough of Kirkuk. Workers employed by the petroleum company serenly started a strike to force their employers to determine working hours and increase their wages which were their universal rights. However, security forces, receiving orders from Englishmen who were disturbed by the strike, randomly shot unarmed people which left hundreds of Turks dead. On July 14, 1959, the event known as the "Kirkuk Massacre" took place as Turkomans were preparing for the anniversary of the Republic and hundreds of Turkomans lost their lives during this massacre which continued for three days. The oppression suffered by Iraqi Turkomans were not limited to massacres. Some individuals were killed on electric chairs or by other torture methods while they were being interrogated. Selahattin Mustafa TERZI and Ibrahim Hamza KASAPOĞLU, who were killed in their tailor shop on February 11, 192; Mehmet Fatih Saatçi, a young Turkman, who was shot down in Kirkuk on July 7, 1970; Hüseyin Ali DAMERCHI, a renowned actor who was killed on an electric chair in the Kirkuk Police Department and whose body was thrown out in a solitary neighborhood of Kirkuk and Necdet Asker Mahmut, a young soldier who was taken from his home late at night and subsequently executed are only some of the examples of these murders. These are in addition to hundreds of innocent people killed as a result of hostile attitude of the Saddam regime against Turks including Colonel Nejat SHOKRI, a Turkoman officer who was killed on February 22, 1986; and Agronomist Nizamettin ARIF who was executed in January 1970 because of his alleged involvement in a plot; General Omer Ali who was killed as a result of a planned traffic accident; Air Lieutenant Colonel Aydin Mustafa and Air First Lieutenant Ahmet Süleyman KASAPOGLU, who were arrested at the airport while they were on duty and executed in 1987; Jelil DAMERCHI who was executed in 1981; Abdullah BESIRLI who returned back from Turkey, where he received a M.S. degree in industrial engineering, to Iraq and then executed there together with his father and uncle; Mahir OKTAY, a naturalized Turkish citizen, who was arrested in Kirkuk after traveling there to visit his family and executed on February 17, 1985 and hundreds more. After 1979 the oppression on Iraqi Turkomans reached its peak point and Ass. Prof. Nejdet KOCHAK, one of the leaders of Iraqi Turkomans; Ret. Col. Abdullah ABDURRAHMAN, Chairman of Turkman Brotherhood Centre, businessman Adil SERIF were executed on January 16, 1980 and Riza DEMIRCI, one of their comrades, was executed later. Furthermore, Mehmet KORKMAZ, one of our nationalist teachers, and his comrades including Selahattin Necim Mecit, Selahattin Abdullah MUHAMMED, Izzetin Jelil TERZI, Rushdi RASHAD FETHULLAH, Hamit Rahman SULEYMAN, Mustafa Abbas MUHAMMED and Muhsin Ali HASSAN were executed on July 9, 1980 after they have been arrested. They were followed by Halit AKKOYUNLU on July 11, 1980 and Halit Shangol and Yashar TOZLU in February 1981 who also fell victim to inhumane polices of the Saddam regime. In Iraq even a smallest police unit can make a decision to carry out a massacre or execution. Sometimes a telephone call or a telegraph suffices to execute such decisions. The cruelty of the Saddam regime was not confined to Iraq. On April 5, 1991 fire was opened from the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul by Kalashnikov guns and Necdet Bakkaloğlu and Yilmaz Sıddık Hacioğlu, who were among a group of protesters in front of the consulate staging a silent protest, were killed and another youngman was injured.The number of Turkomans who were exccuted between the years 1980-1997 is expressed in thousouds. Oppression and inhumane policies suffered by Turkomans were not limited to deaths, but also individual and collective banishments, forced displaced and unjustified expropriation of land were also widespread. Examples include the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council's forced migration decree no. 1391 of 20.10.1981 and decree no. 418 of 8.4.1984 relating to selling and purchasing of real property and the Kirkuk Mayor's official communique no. 4/6410 of 4.8.1991 relating to distribution of land to Arabs who were brought from south and settled in Kirkuk pursuant to the decree issued by the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Councel (For more details see the Assimilation section). the students from receiving education in Turkey and encouraged them to go to Socialist countries for education. The Turkman Brotherhood Association, which was established in 1960, satisfied both social, cultural and political needs of the Turkman society although it was conducting its activities as a club. As a result of the aggressive attitudes of the Baas Party that began in 1977, the managers of the association were first dismissed from their offices and then arrested in 1979. This end up with their execution in 1980. The executions continued. As a reaction to the mass executions in November 1980, the Iraqi National Democratic Turkman Organization was established in 1981. The Organisation became a member of the Iraqi National Democratic Front. The Organization set up Military Headquarters in Sinat, Northern Iraq in 1981 and in Navzang region in 1982. The Organization is the first declared political organization of Iraqi Turks. All political organizations in Iraq which came together in a meeting held in 1983 adopted for the first time the Turkman's rights and included the same in the final communique, thanks to the firm stand of the Organisation. The Organisation suspended its activities in 1985 as a result of the change in the political conjuncture. In 1988, the Iraqi National Turkman Party (INTP) was established. However, due to oppressive, merciless and aggressive policies of the Baghdad regime, it was not until after the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1991 when the party declared its existence. Thanks to the invaluable endeavours of the experienced and idealist directors of the Iraqi National Turkman Party, the world has become aware of the existence of the Turkman. INTP directors participated in the meetings that were held in Riyadh, Beirut, and London and in USA. They held discussions in the capitals of those countries that are closely concerned with the Iraqi problem, like Great Britain, USA. They succeeded at being represented equally with he Kurds at important forums like European Parliament. INTP introduced in Northern Iraq a Radio-TV station, Printing Press, Press and Publications Facilities and most importantly schools where medium of instruction is Turkish. Additionally, INTP set up a military unit of 350 persons that would form the nucleus of the armed forces. All of them were achieved with limited budgetary means. The above-mentioned developments which led to a stable region and environment that makes Turkman activities possible encouraged many others to establish new political parties and organizations in order not to leave INTP alone at the political arena. In October 1994, studies were initiated to establish the Turkman Front in an attempt to bring together all Turkman parties and organizations under a single roof. On 24 April 1995, it was officially made public that the Turkman Front was established. |