| Since 1980, the Iraqi Government has resorted to various means in order to assimilate the Turkman and to "Arabicize" the region. It did not only ban use of Turkish in public places but it went so far as to penalise those speaking in Turkish with their relatives over the phone. Hundreds of Turkman villages and towns have been destroyed for various baseless reasons. The Turkman have been forced to immigrate to other places. The Arab nationals in the south have been encouraged through non-refundable financial incentives and free land allocations to settle in the Turkman regions. 1. Turkish names of many settlements have been changed to Arabic names. 2. The name of Kirkuk was changed to Al-Tamim with the resolution no 41 of the Council of the Revolutionary Command dated 29 January 1976 and the largest township therein, Tuzhurmatu was administratively attached to Tikrit, which is the place of birth of Saddam. 3. The Council also banned the Turkman to acquire real estate in Kirkuk with its resolution no. 434, dated 11 September 1989 and resolution no. 418, dated 8 April 1984. 4. With the resolution no. 1081, dated 27.09.1984, the Turkman's land was expropriated and allotted to the Arabs that were brought from the South. 5. With the resolution no. 1391, dated 20 October 1981, it was agreed that the Turkman be forced to immigrate to the Southern provinces. This has recently been invoked to be effective in Kirkuk. The Turkman have been exposed by the Iraqi governments to various pressures and assimilation actions aiming at eradicating their national identity and putting an end to their existence in this country. Thousands of Turkman have fallen victims to such inhumane actions. So many of them are missing, taking their place in the list of involuntarily missing persons. An obvious example of the racist and wildest practices of the present regime was experienced during the attack of the Saddam's forces to Arbil on 31.08.1996. Iraqi forces and security units raided the offices of the Turkman Front and Turkman Political parties as well as Turkman schools, and cultural and science centres. During the attacks, many Turkman were killed or arrested. Neither the families of those who were arrested nor the Turkman Front has received any satisfactory information about them up to date. On 24.07.1997 the following people, detainees, were executed in Abu Ghraib detention centre: 1- Ali Hassan Hussain (Ajamoglu) 2- Ali Yaychili 3- Ahmad Nuridden Kayachi This has been confirmed in the Human Rights Report of the United Nations /A/51/496/add. 18 November 1996). In addition to the oppressive actions by the Iraqi Government out of which both Iraqi people in general and the Turkman in particular have received their share, which include no freedom of expression, widespread killings without any interrogation or legal proceedings, torture and executions, the Turkman minority has also been exposed to pressures particularly directed at them. This is all in defiance of the international declarations and agreements, especially of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Council of the Revolutionary Command, which is the highest legislative and executive body in the country, takes the decisions related with the Turkman. The "Arabicization" policies intensively applied in order to assimilate the Turkman have recently been escalated to the level of an ethnic cleansing. The number of families deported from Kirkuk in the last one year exceeded one thousand. Arab families have replaced them. This policy of deportation and replacement with Arabs is a very old one and has been pursued by the Iraqi Government for some twenty years. However, since the previous year, the Baath Party now in power has escalated this to the level of ethnic cleansing. The major oppressive actions against the Turkman may be cited as follows 1. The Turkman are banned from receiving education in their own language. 2. They are not allowed to use their own language at talks among themselves even at government offices 3. The Turkman are banned from acquiring and disposing of real estate. 4. They are banned from dealing with trade. 5. Turkish names of quarters, towns and villages have been changed. 6. The Turkman's fertile arable land especially in Kirkuk and in other regions have been occupied by the government and given to those who have closer ties with the government. 7. Preaching sermons in the Turkman language in mosques in Turkman regions is prohibited. Meetings to commemorate the Prophet's family are prohibited not only in the Turkman regions but also in Iraq in general. 8. Deportation and replacement policy has been fiercely implemented. Deported Turkman have not been compensated for their properties nor have they been provided with proper accommodation facilities in the places where they have been sent. The Arabs substituting them have enjoyed any and all financial supports and allotted house and land. The Turkman who have been forced to immigrate to the safe haven in the North cannot find any place to live in nor do they feel safe and secure. They have been involved in illegal attempts in order to take refuge in countries that welcome refugees with the hope of finding security and accommodation. Many Turkman lost their lives in such attempts. This year, in three individual incidents, tens of Turkman were drowned while trying to cross the Aegean Sea by boat. 9. In October 1997, a census was held. The Baath Party in power spread the rumour that any Turkman who was registered as a Turkman national would be deprived of all his rights and deported. The people were frightened. Because of such rumour, many Turkman had themselves registered as Arabs to ensure security of their life and belongings. We would like to draw your attention to this dangerous development. In the future, the Government would just as well regard it as a personal declaration and claim that there are no or just a few Turkman living in the country. Most of the above-mentioned oppressions are included in the human rights report of the United Nations (see A/15/1496/add.1 8 November 1996) and (A/52/476/ 15 October 1997) and (E/CN/4/ 10 March 1998) and other reports and resolutions). |