User talk:Mofaksalman

' The attack on the Iraqi Turkmen front in Kirkuk'

In the middle of July 2008. Iraq's parliament reached an agreement on the Provincial Council Election Law, particularly with regard to Paragraph 24 of the law, which deals with the election mechanism in the Kirkuk Governorate. The postponement of the elections and adaptation of the division of Kirkuk to the three constituencies that include the proportion of 32 % for Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians. Turkmen, Arab and Assyrians proposed equal distribution of provincial council seats in the Kirkuk region - which is outside the Kurdish territory. This was vetoed by President Jalal Talabani and his deputy, Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Before the voting, the Kurds rejected secret ballot whereas the opposition had requested a secret ballot and the members of the Iraqi parliament voted open and secret voting. The majority of members have decided for secret voting and the deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite, said the secret ballot was unconstitutional and accused the lawmakers of "arm-twisting."

On the 22nd of July 2008, decision was made by 127 Iraqi members of parliament they voted in favour of the Provincial Council Election Law, particularly with regard to Paragraph 24 of the law, which deals with the election mechanism in the Kirkuk Governorate. The distribution of power that include the proportion of 32 % for Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians.

The security of the town shall be controlled by the central government rather than the current military forces that are stationed in the town. The security forces that are linked to the political parties have to leave.

The bill was approved by 127 out of 140 deputies that attended the meeting and 10 of those members decided not to vote. Two of them decided to vote against and one MP submitted a blank ballot paper but the Iraq's parliament still passed the law. The Kurds, along with the two deputy parliamentary speakers, walked out of the chamber after lawmakers decided to hold a secret ballot on a power-sharing item in the law for the disputed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. This was vetoed by President Jalal Talabani and his deputy, Adel Abdul Mahdi.

On the 27th of July 2008 the secret police that are linked to both Kurdish parties distributed leaflets informing the people of Kirkuk, especially the Turkmen to participate in a protest that had been organised by the Kurds against the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period. Also the Kurdish police whom accompanied the Kurdish Asayish informed the Turkmen shop owners to close their shops and anyone who opened his shop would be subjected to punishment and his shop will be ransacked. The Kurdish Asayish separated roamers that all the governmental buildings would be close and the Kurdish directors in Kirkuk informed the Turkmen employees not to attend to work and anyone failing to do so he/she will be punished and his wages will be cut.

As the result of this, the Turkmen population in the Kirkuk was extremely worried and concerned as this event reminded the Turkmen of the Kurdish massacre of the Turkmen in 1959, when Turkmen were burned and killed. Some were attached to ropes and pulled behind cars in the mains street of Kirkuk by the Kurds and some communist party members. As a result, panic among the Turkmen population in Kirkuk caused them to approach the Turkmen member of the Kirkuk governing council Mr. Hassan Turan and Turkmen Chief of Police Burhan Tayip, asking for advice and help.

So on the 27th of July both Mr. Hassan Turan approached the Kirkuk governor Mr. Mustafa Abdullrahman who is a Kurd. After a lengthy meeting and discussion with him on this subject, Mr. Mustafa Abdullrahman acknowledged to Mr. Hassan Tuan that a Kurdish protest has been organised and he assured Mr. Hassan Turan that all the government offices shall be opened and participation in the demonstration is not compulsory.

But on the afternoon and evening of the 27th of July Mr. Hassan Turan and Turkmen Chief Police in Kirkuk Mr. Burhan Tayip and also Turhan Abdurrahman appeared on Turkmeneli TV advising the worried Turkmen population about the demonstration, what they have to do, measures that are needed to be taken and both advised the Turkmen citizens to carry out their normal business. Shop keepers are free to open their shops and all governmental offices would open and no one should be forced to participate in this demonstration. He also mentioned that the Kurds have the right to demonstrate in order to express their protest. Both advised the population to be calm and avoid any provocation that might be implemented by the other side (which he meant by the Kurds).

In the meantime, the Kirkuk governor Mr., Mustafa Abdullrahman who is a Kurd never appeared on the TV or on radio to assure the population in Kirkuk this is going to be a Kurdish demonstration and no one is forced to attend this protest. Whereas the Kurdish directors for many government offices have openly threatened Turkmens staff their salaries will be cut if they do not participate in the protest. The Kurdish police have threatened the shop keepers to close their shops and any shop that opens will be looted and destroyed.

In the meantime on the 27th of July, mini bus drivers owned by the Turkmen reported that their car disc and certificate of Insurance had been forcedly taken by the Kurdish police and they were informed this would be returned when these drivers transport the Kurdish demonstrators to the meeting point free of charge.

On the 28th of July, prior to the demonstration the local government in Kirkuk and Kurdish-led personnel of the two Kurdish parties blocked all road access that lead to government works places. They set up various checking point in order to prevent the people from going to their work. The shop keepers were forced to close their shops and Kurdish director in various governmental offices locked the main doors to prevent the people from attending their work place and forced the employees to participate in the demonstration.

At about 9.00am, approximately three thousand Kurdish protesters gathered near Turkmen Castel (Qelat Kirkuk) as a meeting point to commence their protest towards the Kirkuk governing in order to show their anger and to condemn the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies and causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period by the Iraqi government.

Since the security of the town is controlled by both the US forces and the police in Kirkuk, thus they were obliged to guarantee the safety and security for the people in Kirkuk, but it was negligence on behalf of the US forces for granting permission for the Kurdish protest to go ahead and especially allowing the Kurdish protestors to pass through a routes that are mainly Turkmen neighbourhood, This protest was designed by the Kurds to show their mussels and to provoke the Turkmen population in the town. Nevertheless, the demonstration commenced from Qelat Kirkuk toward the Kirkuk governing office to demand the holding of elections and the application of Article 140 for the normalization of the situation in the province.

According to the eyewitness, Kurdish demonstrators, Kurdish police wearing civil clothes were brought from outside of the Turkmen city of Kirkuk such as Erbil and Suleymaniyah by mini buses, private cars and police cars. This was to mislead the media and to show the world that the overwhelming population of Kirkuk was refusing the decision of the Iraqi central government towards the adoption of the law of elections for provincial assemblies causing a postponement of elections in the city for an indefinite period.

The Kurdish demonstrators prior the demonstration were seen carrying automatic weapons, pistols, iron bars, baseball bats and Kurdish flags. The protestors were escorted and protected by the local police forces that mainly consist of Kurds and also Kurdish secret service police who are known as Asayish.

The Kurdish protestors walked through the street of Kirkuk chanting patriotic songs and provocation slogans against the Arabs and the Turkmens. Almost at 11am on the 28/7/2008 at the [Nafura] fountain area opposite to the Kirkuk governate, an explosion occurred and according to the Kurdish police, the explosion was caused by a female suicide bomber. Killing at least 22 and injuring at least 120 while the Kurdish were demonstrating but no one claimed responsibility for the bombing, which bore the hallmarks of Sunni Arab extremists. Nonetheless, many in the crowd blamed Kurds extremists for the attack. After the explosion, the Kurdish guards started to open fire, shooting into the air as “Najat Hassam, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), quoted by AFP as saying."More people responded to the gunfire with heavy shooting. The rumours in the towns was that the Kurdish police carried out this attack in order to create chaos, instability and to show the world that they are the victims but the more realistic reason was that to create a civil war thus the Kurdish militia would have a good reason to enter the town with large numbers of Kurdish militia.

But within a few minutes, rumours and misleading information was started by the Kurdish police stating, the explosion was caused by the Turkmen. The Kurdish Asayish started directing the protestors to attack the Turkmen targets in the city of Kirkuk. Elsewhere, the media started broadcasting Kurdish news claiming that the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) guards opened fire on the Kurdish demonstrators and that the Kurdish demonstrators defended themselves by replying back.

The protesters attacked the headquarters of the ITF party headquarters, the head quarter of the political prisoners and families of martyrs, Sonuber hotel, Turkmen shops and Turkmen properties. But the most striking thing was that the Turkmeneli TV Station was attacked and its content was burnt prior to the blast. The ITF head office is approximately a distance of one kilometer away from the site of the blast and the ITF headquarters is located in a residential area and not on the main street as was stated by the Kurdish media.

A large number of Kurdish armed demonstrators escorted with Kurdish police opened heavy fire to the Turkmen guards whom were guarding the building which resulted in injury to one of the guards, including the head of the security personnel. They set ablaze to their vehicles; the demonstrators later attacked Turkmen properties and then set a light to the cars and properties of the Turkmen people. Then the Kurdish Asayish burst into the ITF office and burnt it contents and cause a tremendous damages to the building and its contents. Then the Kurdish secret police kidnapped five Turkmen guards including the injured person.

One of the ITF guards was wounded and after they ran out of ammunition no help arrived from the police. Then the ITF building was stormed by the Kurdish secret police and the armed demonstrators. The five Turkmen guards including the injured guard were taken to the undisclosed location by the Kurdish Asayish. Then the content of the Iraqi ITF building was ransacked and its content was set on the fire. Staff cars and ITF cars were set on fire and all this happened in the presence of the local Kirkuk police whom are mainly Kurds. All these atrocities occurred in the front of the eyes of the US forces and local police. The police forces in Kirkuk didn’t take any action against the protesters but kept watching them.

But the most interesting thing was that after the explosion Mr.Yahiya Albarzenchi, of Kurdish origin, a Cameraman working for Associated Press was taking images for the Kurdish protestors who are attacking the Turkmen, but unfortunately the protestors thought that Mr. Yahiya Albarzenchi was a Turkmen citizen working for the Turkmeneli TV station as a Cameraman. He was immediately attacked by the Kurdish crowds with fists, sticks, iron bars and was kicked variously while he was lying on the ground unconscious. The footage of the attack on the Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi the cameraman working for Associated Press was shown frequently on the Turkmeneli TV Satellite on the 30th of July 2008. The Turkmeneli TV showed how the Kurdish mobs had beaten Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi even when he was unconscious on the ground. But prior to this film footage the Kurdish police announced that the Mr.Yahya Albarzenchi was among the dead during the blast.

After the explosion, the Kurdish police had set up a check point on the road that leads into and out of Kirkuk. Cars were stopped and searched. Turkmen individuals were taken out of the car and attacked, beaten, abused and their car was smashed before leaving the check point. The attack on the Turkmens was widely condemned by Iraqi politicians, civil organizations and Turkmen organisations but the most striking thing was that Kirkuk governor and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani both of whom are Kurds did not condemn the attack on the Turkmen in Kirkuk.

The problem of Kirkuk is not a constitutional one but lies in the ambiguity of Article 140. According to article 140 of Iraqi constitution, the problem of the disputed areas, notably the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, addressed three stages of a normalization and then to conduct a census among the population, followed by a referendum on the fate of areas which will decide whether Kirkuk will join the Conservatives or the Kurdistan region. It was supposed to accomplish those stages during a maximum period up to the 31st of December 2007, a deadline which was extended by the united nation representative without the approval of the central government for six months ending on June 30th.

Nevertheless, the Kurdish Brotherhood List at the Kirkuk Governorate Council held an extraordinary meeting on the 31/7/2008. The 24 members of the 41-member of the Kirkuk Governorate Council presented a request to the Kurdistan Region Government and the Iraqi parliament to make the governorate part of Kurdistan Region as they believe that Article 140 of the Constitution has not been implemented and that Article 24 of the Provincial Council Election Draft Law does not meet their ambitions.

Whereas the Turkmen and Arabs regarded this extraordinary session as illegal. Also the Turkmen leadership has requested to replace the Kurdish police in Kirkuk with army forces from central and southern Iraq, the postponement of the elections and adaptation of the division of Kirkuk to the three constituencies include the proportion of 32 % for both Arabs and Kurds and Turkmen and 4% for Assyrians

In the meantime, on the 31/7/2008, a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was released regarding the issue of Kirkuk, which stated that the Turkish Foreign Ministry were concerned and were deeply alarmed about the demand by some members of the governorate of Kirkuk, regarding a Kurdish list to join the Northern Department. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign affairs said in a statement: ‘We in Turkey express our deep concern on what we see and what happened in the governorate of Kirkuk, where some members agreed to join the Council in Kirkuk to the north of Iraq and Turkey's position on Kirkuk would not have ever changed in the present and future and the Arab and Turkmen called this move by the Kurd as a provocation’.

Mofak Salman

Squatting in government properties

After the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, both Kurdish parties brought over 600,000 Kurds from outside the region of Kirkuk city (Iran, Turkey and Syria) to settle in Kirkuk. The new Kurdish arrivals squatted in the governmental and high-ranking Ba’ath party members’ houses that were deserted after the fall of the Ba’ath regime. The squatters also were given original Iraqi identity cards, passports and registered identities showing them as being residents of Kirkuk.

Establishing puppet parties

In order to suppress the Turkmen voice in northern Iraq, the Kurdish militia established several puppet Turkmen parties to serve their own purpose, headed by such people as Waleed Sherka, Abdul Kadir Bazergan, Urfan Kirkuki (Urfan Suleymaniyahi), and Seyfadin Demirci. All the Turkmen parties, which were established by the Kurdish militia, were of Kurdish origin and worked for the Kurdish party. All their bodyguards were from the Kurdish militia. The Turkmen parties established by the Kurds were designed to divide the Turkmen people and were used to smear the name of the Turkmen. The supporters of these parties among the Turkmen were almost negligible and they were not the real representatives of the Turkmen. Nevertheless, the Kurdish militia gave these puppet parties tremendous financial support and they were placed into various high-ranking governmental positions in the Kurdish control region. They were used as puppets in the hands of the Kurdish militia and as bargaining tools against the Turkmen.

Using false identities

After the toppling the Saddam Hussein regime, the Iranian Kurds, Syrian Kurds, Turkish Kurds and Kurds from North of Iraq returned to Kirkuk with the help of the Iraqi Kurdish Militia by using false identification. The armed paramilitary arranged fake IDs and passports in order to prove that they were residents of Kirkuk. Kurdish women were also brought from the Kurdish town of Suleymaniyah to give birth in Kirkuk hospital in order to have a Kirkuk birth certificate.

During the occupation of Kirkuk, there was an atmosphere of complete confusion and chaos after the Kurdish Paramilitary looted government offices, including the crucial Land Registry offices. In addition to this, on 31st of January 2007 Iraq’s ambassador to Sweden was called to the Foreign Ministry amid reports that the embassy in Stockholm had issued some 26,000 passports on false grounds. The ministry invited the Iraqi ambassador to explain the situation, with the Swedish ministry representative, Andre Mkandawire, stressing that the ambassador had not been "summoned."

The Swedish free daily newspaper, Metro, reported that the embassy had issued some 26,000 passports in the past two years without carrying out sufficiently rigorous identity checks. The Swedish Migration Board officials said that they had information that people from Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon were being told that they could apply for Iraqi passports at the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. Iraqi passports were issued to asylum seekers in Sweden and Norway through the Kurdish personnel who were working in the Iraqi embassy. [ ], a claim that was corroborated by the Swedish immigration minister.

The Norwegian newspaper, Aftenbustin, stated that the Iraqi Embassy, “issued passports revision R based on forged passport revision S because they do not have the resources for checking the authenticity and accuracy of the revision S to obtain a passport for travel.”

However, the Swedish Migration Board spokesperson, Bengt Hilster, stated, “We knew for a long time that the Iraqi embassy issued passports at revision T. Travellers come in with the forged passport S, but what can we do? This is a question we put to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They know about this. We have information in numerous reports. Sources added that the Swedish Migration Board had received several notifications through 2005 and 2006 confirmed that the people of Iran, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria were able to obtain passports (Revision M and Revision N) from the Iraqi embassy”. In addition, Mr. Gustave Lindh, Minister Plenipotentiary for Justice, said that “the apportionment was aware of the problem about a month ago and the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iraqi ambassador about the matter on Wednesday, February 2007.”

Nevertheless, the Iraqi Ambassador in Sweden sold passports for an equivalent of $500 each for Iraqi people without proof of identity or other revision S, and $600 each for non-Iraqis; also without the need to submit other documents. The ambassador’s objective was to make money by selling these passports and also to use the Kurds of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq to vote for the Kurdish parties during the election and to vote at the referendum on the 31st December, 2007.

The chaos, lack of security, corruption, lack of organisation and weak central government in Iraq led to an abuse of power in various Iraqi Embassies. Although summoned to the Swedish Foreign Office, the Iraqi Kurdish ambassador was not deported for embezzlement and discrimination. In addition, there were thousands of genuine Iraqis in various countries that attempted to get an Iraqi passport but without success. [ ] It is also alleged by Sheren Hashem Aqrawi, a Kurdish engineer living in Germany and a researcher in Human Rights in the European Union, that this organised cheating was repeated in the Viennese Iraqi Embassy.

Mofak Salman

Looting of deeds and the land registry office

After the fall of Kirkuk, almost all the government buildings and offices were attacked, robbed and burnt by the Kurdish paramilitary and all their contents looted. In addition, large numbers of the private sector were robbed and vandalised by the Kurdish militias. Hundreds of pickups, buses, taxis and dump trucks full of cheering Kurds sped down the road from the city of Erbil and Suleymaniyah that were under the control of the Kurds to Kirkuk. On the other side of the road, there was a similar procession away from Kirkuk, and these cars/vans were loaded with looted goods from Kirkuk.

The Kurdish paramilitaries were aided by advanced U.S. Special Forces in taking the city of Kirkuk and took control after Iraq’s military personnel withdrew; the Kurds took thousands of all types of government vehicles; luxury cars, buses and shuffles. A large number of private cars were stolen from private houses in the presence of their owners. The public were frightened to drive their cars with the car registration number attached to it. The car owners were more vulnerable and susceptible to being stopped, attacked and the cars taken away from them at gunpoint. Thousands of Iraqi heavy goods vehicles, trucks, ambulances and governmental cars were taken away, dismantled, and sold as spare parts.

Furniture, and even the high voltage transformers and pillions, were removed, dismantled and sold as scrap. Water pipes of some buildings were removed too. Days after seizing control of Kirkuk, the Kurdish militia forced Arabs out of their homes in outlying villages into wheat fields that became hastily erected camps. The Kurdish militia used excessive force and threats, as happened at the al-Muntasir village near Kirkuk, and emptied the Arab villages. Houses were ransacked. In one of the villages, Sa’ad bin Abi Waqas in Daquq, the residents were notified by the Kurdish Party of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to leave their homes.

Mofak Salman

The assassination of the general director for education

On Tuesday 31st August 2004, the general director of education, Dr. Ibrahim Ismail, an ethnic Turkmen, was shot several times in the head by attackers who sprayed his vehicle with gunfire. Dr. Ibrahim Ismail was killed on the main road as he was heading towards the Technological Institute, south of Kirkuk. Three bodyguards and two teachers accompanying him were also wounded. The Chief General of Police, Turhan Yusuf, in Kirkuk, said that six attackers in a pick-up van sprayed Dr. Ismail’s vehicle with gunfire.

Figure 16. The Kurdish militia sprayed the car of Dr. Ibrahim Ismail with gunfire, Kirkuk, Turkmeneli.

Dr. Ibrahim Ismail was an active member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front. He was one of the organisers that staged organised protests condemning what the Iraqi Turkmen Front describes as attempts by the city’s Kurdish community to seize Turkmen and Arab land, and to distribute them to the Kurdish people. He was also at the centre of a heated debate in the ethnically divided city over which languages should be taught in schools. He felt strongly that the Turkmen language should be taught alongside the Arabic language.

He was strongly opposed to the Kurdish language being used as an official language in Kirkuk since the Kurds were not in the majority. In addition to this, all the Turkmen and Arabs living in the north of Iraq, in general, and, especially, in Kirkuk, opposed the Kurdish Paramilitary groups that have controlled three Northern provinces since the 1991 Gulf war. The Kurds, with the help of the British and U.S. forces, pressed for the inclusion of Kirkuk in an autonomous Kurdish region within a federal Iraq.

The Kurdish militia in Kirkuk sent threatening letters and phone calls to Turkmen intellectuals, directors and heads of institutes asking them to leave. Both Kurdish parties, the KDP and PUK, sent threatening letters to the Director of Education in Kirkuk, Mr. Shan Omer Mubarak, who is a Turkmen. In both letters, they requested him to leave the job otherwise his destiny would be like the previous Director of Education in Kirkuk, Dr. Ibrahim Ismail who was killed by Kurdish militia.

Mr. Shan Omer Mubarak totally refused to bow down to pressure from the Kurdish militia on the grounds that they were appointing unqualified Kurdish teachers without having a proper qualification. Mr. Shan Omer Mubarak clearly stated, however, that he welcomed the appointment of Kurdish teachers in the city of Kirkuk without prejudice but on condition that they should not hold fake certificates. Threatening phone calls also were sent to the Head of the Institute of Teaching for Girls in Kirkuk, Miss A. Mohammed.

Kurdish regional government issuing fake documents.

The Kurdish militia sent several counterfeit, official documents to transfer Kurdish teachers to Kirkuk and this official letter, approved and signed by the name of the vice president of Iraq without his knowledge, attests to this matter (see the attached documents).

Presidential Office Especial Office for the Prime Minister Issue 379 Date 25/8/2005 Kirkuk Governate

To/ the Ministry of Education,

Due to the instruction of the Prime Minister to carry out the following instructions:-

1- To transfer all educational committees, teachers, lecture supervisors and education inspectors whom have been appointed by the regional government of Kurdistan in the cities of Erbil and Suleymaniyah to Kirkuk. This legislation shall be distributed into the Government of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan and Kirkuk. Moreover, the new legislation shall be implemented immediately.

2. The appointment of an education inspector cannot be implemented without the candidate having a university degree, at least 7 years experience in education administration and a minimum 15 years service.

Dr. Adil Abdul Mahdi

Deputy Prime Minister

Ministry Office

The atrocities carried out by the Kurds; changing the demography of the Turkmeneli in general, and especially in Kirkuk City, by issuing a forgery document sent by the Kurdistan regional government to the Ministry of Education in order to change the demography of Kirkuk

Republic of Iraq Ministry of Education Ministry Office Issue: 5936 Date 26/10/2005

To /All general directorates for education Subject/ Implementation an official document

According to the Document number, 1837 that was issued from Presidency Office dated on 9/10/2005.

Please completely disregard the document number 379 dated on 25/8/2005 because it is a forged document and was not issued by the Prime Minister.

Office of Mr. Adil Abdul Mahdi With complements

The General Director Mr. Abdul Khalik Nasir Alamuri Ministry Office

26/10/2005

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) indicated that the Iraqi interim government, which took over sovereignty from the coalition forces on 28 June, 2004, had failed to solve the property rights issues related to ethnic groups in northern Iraq, thus making the region ripe for violence in the near future. A 78-page report, prepared by HRW, stressed the disappointment among Turkmen, Kurds and Assyrians living under grave conditions in the region.

The HRW report mentions that the overthrowing of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was followed a Kurdisation policy in an attempt to change the ethnic structure in northern Iraq. It should be remembered that Turkmen, Kurds, and other non-Arab ethnic groups were forced away from the region. Because of this, Kurds who wanted to have control over the oil-rich city, Kirkuk, continued to rush to the region. Nearly 100,000 Kurdish refugees set up camp around the city and more waited to enter. Both Kurdish leaders of the Talabani and Barzani invited Kurds to return to Kirkuk where they received a letter from the Iraq Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), inviting them to return with their families. This invitation was backed up with a letter that promised returning Kurds US$3000, land and construction supplies.

Vandalizing Turkmen Martyrs’ Names

On 1st March, 2005, the Turkmen martyrs’ names on the commemorating panel in Altun Kopru were vandalised by the Kurdish militia with spray paint. This action, carried out by the paramilitary militia, was designed to terrorize and provoke the Turkmen population. This clearly shows the hostility and hatred of the Kurdish paramilitary militia towards the Turkmen, a hatred that has previously involved Kurds in northern Iraq pretending they will grant Turkmen cultural rights, but never making good on their promises.

Power abuse by Kurdish Asayish

On 15th March 2005, the Kurdish militia arrested the leader of the Iraqi Millie Turkmen Party, Musalla Branch, Mr. Necmettin Kasaboglu, on his way to Turkey at the Zaho border gate. He was interrogated for several days and was released after the intervention of the Turkish government. What a bleak prospect for ordinary Turkmen who had been looking for better days under a new democratic Iraq if the Turkmen populations were forced to live under Kurdish control.

On 21st March, U.S. forces and the Kurdish secret service (called Asayish) raided Tuz Khormatu city, which is 55 miles from Kirkuk. The raiders ransacked offices and religious shrines, and tore down portraits of religious leaders and several prominent religious Turkmen Shi’aa leaders were arrested. The following people were also arrested by the Kurdish militia; Adnan Mohammed Amerli, Seyid Aziz Seyid Kadir, Ayoub Ibrahim Al-Najar, Seyid Hussein Seyid Kadir and Talal Hussein Kuwaiti.

This is a list of the Turkmen people in the district of Tuz Khormatu who were exposed to abductions for the period from 2003. [ ]

Killings and kidnappings by the various organisations against the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu District after the occupation of Iraq increased dramatically. Herewith is a list of the names of citizens, the Turkmen who have been abducted and murdered in the district of Tuz Khormatu from 2003 to the present day. The police force has not arrested, nor wants to arrest, the terrorists that perpetrated these crimes against humanity and, as a consequence, they still roam the region to this day.

1. Ali Kazim Berber abducted in 2005 and then escaped from the hands of terrorists. 2. Mahdi Zeynalabidin Taqi abducted in 2006 on the road to Tikrit–Tuz and released after payment of ransom. 3. Semad Shaker murdered in 2006. 4. Brother of Minister of Construction of (Jassim Mohammed Tuzlu) abducted and released in 2006. 5. Hassan Ali Kaboor; abducted and released in 2006. 6. Ali Hashim Mokhtaroglu abducted and released in 2006 after payment of ransom. 7. Imad Reza Hassan murdered in 2006. 8. Muhammad Haidar Semeen abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 9. Amer Mohamed Semeen murdered in 2006. 10. Aziz Khidr Mali murdered in 2006. 11. Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim murdered in 2006. 12. Sulyman Majeed abducted in 2006. 13. Mohamed Sahib abducted in 2006. 14. Ali Akbar Zeynalabidin Jair was abducted in 2006. 15. Mohamed Sadoun Saleh abducted in 2006 and released after payment of ransom. 16. Hussein Adnan Qarah Nazli abducted in 2006 and released without the payment. 17. Adnan Gomaa Mokhtar abducted from Yengejeh and released after payment of ransom in 2005. 18. Fadil Tewfik Al-Byati abducted in 2006 and released after payment of ransom. 19.Ali Shahin Nuri Asker abducted and fled from the hands of the kidnappers in 2006. 20. Shahin Nuri Asker abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 21. Muthir Qassim Kena abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 22. Hussein Mahdi Najjar abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 23. Ertan Mahdi Ziynalabdin Najar abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 24. Habib Mohamed Ali Karim abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 25. Muhammad Hashim on the Shahbaz abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2006. 26. Talal Mustafa Fadil abducted and released after payment of ransom in 2005. 27. Mo’ayed Fuad Sadik abducted and killed by terrorists in 2003. 28. Shihab Ahmed Agha killed by terrorists in 2005. 29. Ihsan Mahdi Agha; killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 30. Mohammed Yahiya Maruf killed in front of his home by the However terrorists in 2006. 31. Mohiuddin Rashid Biyatli killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 32. Fahraddin Mohsen killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 33. Hashim Abbas killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 34. Dilshad Qasim Ziynalabdin killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 35. Mo’ayed Shawkat Kawther abducted and killed by terrorists in 2006. 36. Safaa Younis Mohamed killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 37. Hussein, Younis Mohammed killed in front of his home by the terrorists in 2006. 38. Ibrahim Ismail Tewfik was assassinated in Kirkuk in 2005. 39. Ali Jamil Bshirli; killed in front of his home by However terrorists in 2006. 40. Emir of Mohamed Semeen; abducted and released after payment of ransom in, 2006. 41. Nooraddin Birame abducted in 2006. 42. Qassim Mohamed Birame abducted in 2006. 43. Amjad Al-Hashim Nuri abducted and released after the payment of ransom in 2005. 44. Ashraf Muthher Qasim killed in Tuz Khormatu uprising in 2003. 45. Ahmed Hussein Ali killed in Tuz Khormatu uprising in 2003. 46. Muhammad Hashim Asker killed in Tuz Khormatu uprising in 2003. 47. Cetin Ziynalabdin killed in Tuz Khormatu uprising in, 2003. 48. Ahmed Ramzi and Abdel Rahman killed in the Tuz Khormatu uprising in 2003. 49. Burhan Mohamed Ezzat killed in the bombing in 2005. 50. Ihsan Mohamed Ezzat; killed in the bombing in 2005. 51. Almdar Ihsan Mohamed Ezzat killed in the bombing in 2005. 52. Abbas Said Shno killed in the bombing in 2005. 53. Mohammad Latif killed in the bombing in 2005. 54. Mohamed Mahdi Abbas killed in the bombing in 2005. 55 Murtadha Abbas killed in the bombing in 2005. 56. Mohamed Sayed Ibrahim killed in the bombing in 2005. 57. Mohamed Ziynalabdin Bhagwans also said killed in 2005. 58. Mohamed Moussa Namiq Qasab killed in the bombing in 2005. 59. Nihad Abdel-Rahman Jair killed in the bombing in 2005. 60. Talaat Hussein Shno killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 61. Mohamed Saleh Hassan killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 62. Rajih Hédi Abbas killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 63. Fadil Almdar Yusuf killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 64. Awni Ali Samad; killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 65. Zeynalabdin Hussein Hassan killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing, 2006. 66. Yasar Safer Younis; killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 67. Imad Taqi Berber; killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 68. Mohamed Ahmed Rashid killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing 2006. 69. Muhammad Haidar Jaafar killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 70. Abbas Said Ahmed killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 71. Abd Al-Amir Mahdi Sadik killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 72. Ali Mohammad Reza killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 73. Qassim Asker Emeen killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 74. Salah Kazim Shakkour killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 75. Farouk Tewfik killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 76. Reza Karim Jair killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 77. Ardal Ismail Ali killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 78. Ahmed Abbas Biyatli killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 79. Fakhradin Kadir Feizollah; killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 80. Mustafa Rashid Mohamed killed in the Casino Ak Su bombing in 2006. 81. Asi Khaz'al Musab killed during the payment of the ransom for abductees, Qasim Mohamed, 2006. 82. Umid Asi Khaz’al killed during the payment of the ransom for abductees, Qasim Mohamed, 2006. 83. Akbar Mohamed; killed during the payment of the ransom for abductees, Qasim Mohamed, 2006. 84. Mohamed Talal Jihad killed during the payment of the ransom for abductees, Qasim Mohamed in 2006. 85 Ali Asker Effendi abducted in 2006. 86. Mujahid Ismail abducted in 2006. 87. Hani Taqqqi abducted and not released so far in 2006. 88. Ihsan Walli Mustafa killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 89. Murad Tahsin Walli killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 90. Ali Moussa Ismail killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 91. Tahsin Walli Mustafa killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 92. Kadir Mohamed Aryan killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 93. Sulyman Akbar killed during the performance of duty in 2005. 94. Nabil Ahmed Ghaydan kidnapped and killed in 2006. 95. Hussein Asker Ahmed kidnapped and killed in 2006. 96. Adel Radwan Shakkour kidnapped and killed in 2006. 97. Diya Nuri Ahmed kidnapped and killed in 2006. 98. Zulfugar Abdulhussien Asker kidnapped and killed in 2006. 99. Mohamed Zeynalabidin Asker abducted in 2006 and a ransom paid for his release. 100. Abbas Shaker abducted in 2006. 101. Adel Hussein Khalil abducted in 2006. 102. Muhammad Qasim abducted in 2006. 103. Mohamed Abbas Salah in 2006. 104. Shahin Hassan Mardan killed him in front of his home in 2006.

The attack on al_Tasahul supermarket

In order to force the Turkmen to leave the city of Kirkuk and to control the oil of the town, Kurdish militias sent text massages, letters, threatening phone calls and intimidating letters to Turkmen citizens in Kirkuk. The violent threats and kidnapping of members of families in order to force them to flee and leave the city became a common method utilized by the Kurdish militia to fulfill the Kurdish aspiration.

Turkmen business people in Northern Iraq have been harassed by the Kurdish police and militia and forced to pay extortionate amounts of money. It was made clear to these business owners that failure to pay would result in then being killed and their property blown up, which happened to Turkmen supermarket owner, al-Tasahul. The owner had refused to pay $200,000 on the basis that he would not bend to extortion. The day after his refusal, he was told by the perpetrators that his supermarket would be blown up, and they carried out their threat in January 2007 at 7am. Furthermore, no one was allowed to carry weapons in Kirkuk, only the Kurdish militia. The police, security and check entry points to Kirkuk were completely controlled by Kurdish police.

Another act violence took place in January 2007 when a car bomb exploded in front of the building of Mr. Ismail Aldaqooqi, as well as Adil Car dealership. The power of the explosion led to the demolition of the entire building. The same thing has also happened at two other markets — Amara Atlas and Amara Alshfae — which were owned by Mr. Abbas Amara Qalendar Aldaqooqi. This sort of intimidation and humiliation of the Turkmen families was designed to push the Turkmen into migrating from their home area. The reasoning behind this was that a shrinking of the Turkmen population’s density would prevent them from voting and participating in the referendum that was to be held before the end of 2007.

Police Headquarters (Quriya), Central Kirkuk

The Turkmen have been continuously targeted after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime and they were deliberately subjected to threat and intimidation in order to be forced out of the region. They have been pushed aside, disregarded and intimidated in order to halt their economical, cultural, political demands and rights within new Iraq.

For instance, on 17th January 2007, a suicide bomber attacked the Turkmen police headquarters (Quriya) in central Kirkuk. The attack resulted in the death of 10 Turkmen, wounding 42 others including four from an associate police force. Further, on Saturday, 13th January 2007, a bomb exploded near the third bridge in the city of Kirkuk, which is mainly populated by Turkmen, and the blast led to the serious injury of many Turkmen citizens. A car bomb also exploded in front of the Turkmen Culture and Arts Association, “Sari Kahya”, which is located opposite a Quriya Police Station. Numbers of Turkmen were killed.

The attack on a Turkmen governing council member

The Iraqi government established a Supreme Committee of Normalisation, which was headed by the former Minister of Justice, Hashim Al-Shebli. The main objective of the Supreme Committee is to deal with the status of Kirkuk city. The normalisation committee consists of two ministers and some other members who represent other ethnic groups.

As an aside, the Turkmen were not adequately represented according to their size and population within the Supreme Committee of Normalisation. During the Supreme Committee’s visit to Kirkuk in 2006, Mr. Ali Mahdi, who was one of the members of Kirkuk Governing Council, had expressed his protest by carrying a placard against the normalisation policies and for unfair representation of the Turkmen within the Committee.

However, one of the bodyguards working for the Kirkuk Governor, Mr. Mustafa Abdurrahman, attacked Mr. Ali Mahdi when he peacefully protested; his placard was pulled away from his hand and was torn up by the Kurdish police. This unfortunate incident happened in front of journalists, TV station crews, Kirkuk Governors and in front of the visiting former Minister of Justice, Hashim Al-Shebli (head of the Supreme Committee of normalisation) and other committee members.

After this despicable act, the British consulate in Kirkuk visited Mr. Ali Mahdi in his office in order to discuss the above incident and the British consulate advised him to work with the Kurdish groups and not to request assistance and support from neighboring countries (by which, in my opinion, he meant the Republic of Turkey).

The attack on Mr. Ali Mahdi put a big question mark in front of the Turkmen. What type of democracy was that? What would happen to the Turkmen if they have lived under the Kurdish administration? Nevertheless, the offender who carried out this despicable act is still at large and no single person was arrested or interrogated. Furthermore, the police carried out no investigation and the matter is closed.

The Turkmen school books confiscated

During 1991, the allied forces in the north of Iraq established a no-fly zone area, the purpose of which was to provide a safe haven area for Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrians from being persecuted and oppressed by the Saddam Hussein regime.

During that period, Turkmen (the original people of Erbil City) established over 19 Turkmen schools. After the toppling of the Ba’ath regime, the Turkmen teachers were harassed, oppressed, persecuted and arrested under various pretexts by the Kurdish militia. Moreover, teachers and pupils’ families were threatened by Kurdish militia to force them to abandon the Turkmen schools, and were told that Turkmen officials had sanctioned the closure of these schools.

In addition, the Kurdish militia insisted that Turkmen schools teach Kurdish history, especially the history of the rebel leader, Mustafa Barzani. However, the most striking thing was when the Kurdish militia, headed by Barzani, seized the entire curriculum; they also took schoolbooks that were originally sent to the Turkmen schools from Turkey. A complete report can be seen in the attached link. [ ]

In order to disregard the Turkmen population in Erbil city and assimilate them into Kurdish society, the Kurdish Regional Government carried out a local census by distributing a census form to the public. In the form, the Kurdish authority deliberately ignored the Turkmens’ existence in Erbil city. In the field of ‘Nationality’, the form mentioned only Arabs and Kurds, Christians, Sunnis and Shi’aas, in spite of the fact that since the mid-sixties the overwhelming majority in Erbil were Turkmen. [ ]

The Kurdish Regional Government had appointed two puppet Turkmen ministers in the Kurdish Regional Government. Turkmen wondered where these two Turkmen ministers were going to insert their names in the ‘Nationality’ section. If they selected Arabic or Kurdish there would be no point in mentioning that there were Turkmen ministers participating in the Kurdish Regional Government.

Demolishing of a Turkmen house by Kurdish militia

The house of Mr. Fouad Qasim, a Turkmen citizen, was located in the Tesseen neighborhood in Kirkuk. His house was demolished by the Saddam Hussein regime and his land confiscated during the implementation of the Arabisation policy.

After the toppling of the Ba’ath regime in 2003, Mr. Fouad Qasim went back to Kirkuk and rebuilt his house.

On 4th April 2007, the police in Kirkuk (who are predominately Kurds) demolished the house again. In addition, he was arrested and was taken into custody; the police preventing his family from seeing him.

It was sad to see the hypocrisy of the police in Kirkuk. Hundreds of Kurds who had no land, houses or property in Kirkuk had been brought in by the Kurdish militia and had built houses of their own freewill on government and Turkmen land with the help and support of the Kurdish militia. The police demolished not one of the Kurdish houses that had been built in Kirkuk. Following his arrest, on 4th of April Mr. Fouad Qasim’s family wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, which was published on the Turkmentimes website, asking the central government for help to secure his release.[ ]

The attack on the Turkmen village of Yengejeh

With the advent of dawn on 2nd March 2007, the second battalion from the Second Brigade of the Iraqi army, backed by American forces, raided homes and safe houses in the village of Yengejeh under the pretext of searching for outlaws and unlicensed weapons. The forces left the village after they accomplished their mission. However, the Kurdish militia attached yellow tape on the doors of some houses after they had been searched thoroughly, instructing the villagers not to remove this yellow tape from their doors. Nevertheless, the raid on the Turkmen village of Yengejeh took place and, naturally, without any legal violations.

However, in the same day before the sunset, several police cars had arrived in the village of Yengejeh. Some were wearing military uniform and others were in civil clothes. Within a few minutes of arrival, the police started to storm and search homes, scattering their contents, destroying their furniture, and without taking into account the minimum of legal or moral scruples.

They had showered terror, carnage and horror in the hearts of the innocent people of the village by beating young people without discrimination. However, the despicable acts did not stop there; they arrested twenty Turkmen who were taken into custody. They seized a number of weapons that had been licensed by the Ministry of Interior belonging to some police officers in the village. As a Turkmen, such catastrophic images and atrocities were carried out by the National Guards, who are mainly Kurds. In addition, all the perpetrators who carried out these cowardly and despicable acts are still at large and enjoying impunity.

Barzani bribes a former Minister of Justice, Hashim al- Shebli

On April 11th 2007, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet quoted that Mr. Massuad Barzani, the leader of the KDP, had bribed Iraqi officials. In the meantime, the representative for Turkey on the Special Committee on Iraq, Mr. Gilk, provided the United States Government with documents proving that Mr. Massuad Barzani had offered bribes to the former Minister of Justice, Hashim Al-Shebli (head of the Supreme Committee of Normalisation). The motive for this was to coerce Al-Shebli into passing the law on the return of Arabs from Kirkuk to their places of origin and to provide them with a financial reward in order to encourage them to return.

According to information received from reliable sources, the Turkish Intelligence agency was able to obtain a copy of these documents and the private banking account numbers involved in the bribery. The Hurriyet newspaper and other Iraqi newspapers claimed that Mr. Massuad Barzani had paid Justice Hashim Al-Shebli a bribe of $500,000 for his endorsement of the Act that applies to the Arabs who came to Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein’s Arabisation policy. Moreover, it was further claimed that Massuad Barzani had bribed another three ministers for the same reasons.

In the meantime, American officials confirmed the validity of the claim that was submitted by Mr. Gilk. In my personal opinion, the Kurdish politicians all acted fraudulently and contrary to the law and the policy of fait accompli on the issue of Kirkuk.

The supreme irony was that Al-Shebli resigned abruptly after passing the law in return for the lucrative financial bribery of Massuad Barzani. He then fled to England, taking the amount that he received from Mr. Massuad Barzani. In my personal opinion, the former Minister of Justice, Hashim Al-Shebli (Head of the Supreme Committee of Normalisation) should be arrested and taken for trial for bribery, theft and embezzlement.

My questions to the Iraqi Government and the Supreme Committee of Normalisation are therefore: How can you carry out a referendum in Kirkuk when both Kurdish parties want to implement Article 140 and the Head of the Committee of Normalisation policies is corrupt? What type of trust and confidence will the public have in the committee?

Property Claims Commission controlled by the Kurds

In April 2004, the Americans created the Iraqi Property Claims Commission to rule on restitution. By the end of 2004, the commission had received 10,044 claims from the Kirkuk province but the Commission’s statistics showed that judges had come to a decision on only 25 cases. Only two judges were working on the cases in Kirkuk and both were Kurds. The commission was not able to assign more judges because of the Kurdish political parties insisting that only Kurds review the claims, which limited the number of qualified people considerably.

Both Kurdish parties confiscated Turkmen lands, and these lands distributed to the Kurds were bought by both Kurdish parties despite the fact that the Turkmen owned the deeds and registry certificates of these lands. The new Kurdish arrivals to Kirkuk built on and confiscated the land of the Turkmen and decisions were made by the Kurdish judges in regards to illegal building on the Turkmen land. The Kurdish concluded that the Kurds squatting on Turkmen land could not be removed and the judge recommended that the Turkmen landowners should be compensated.

The court compensation was very small and this law was only applied to the Turkmen. In other words, the Kurdish judge appointed by the Kurdish militia offered some compensation that the Turkmen landowner with only with one choice; take or leave it.

This land originally belonged to the Turkmen and should not have been confiscated and occupied by the Kurds and Arabs in the first place. The financial settlements that were given to the Turkmen did not represent an adequate and true value for their land.

In addition, the Iraqi Property Claims Commission, established by the American Administration, spent millions of dollars on the salaries and expenses of its members. The Turkmen asked the Property Claims Commission the following questions. How many cases were resolved? How many Turkmen citizens were successfully financially compensated? How many Turkmen got his/her confiscated land back?

Turkmen land was occupied by the Kurds and the court did nothing to eject them from Turkmen land.

Municipality of Kirkuk Properties Department To Kirkuk Governorate: Office of his Excellency the Governor Subject: Illegal Seizures

As you are aware, many of Kirkuk municipality’s lands have been seized which has caused big financial losses to our directorate. This resulted in the delay of many projects because of the lack of income, as we are one of the self-financed authorities. These seizures were not limited to the domestic residential lands but also to commerce, agriculture, services, parks and the general affairs building among others. These actions are a huge burden, which act as an obstacle in the development of our beloved city. The municipality has made all efforts to prevent these seizures from taking place and has acted alone from the initial days. Unfortunately, the authorities did not support the municipality seriously. Many individuals rushed to place their hands on state properties ignoring the law, which was indubitable in the absence of proper security. Some of these individuals started to sell these lands on the account of the state with support from various political parties. Many people started this commerce under the name of deportees with papers and slips stamped by these parties. These citizens and the parties have become more powerful than the authority and have started to threaten our employees, and in some cases this has reached to threats by weapons whenever they dared to confront the perpetrators. Despite our many attempts to get the support of the police, they did not show any support to us. On the contrary, they have been supporters of the individuals who are responsible for these illegal seizures. Moreover, some of the police members and those responsible act illegally themselves, which leaves the ordinary citizens alone in their struggle for a just society. As you are aware, your Excellency is directly responsible over the city, to protect it from these illegal seizures. The lack of urgent steps against this subject shall harm the reputation of your executive authority. These seizures are increasing daily and after performing all of these seizures inside the city, these individuals have started, like hungry locusts, to swarm over intercity roads like the highways of Erbil to Arafa and Suleymaniyah. These actions are to be stopped immediately. Therefore, we request your Excellency to act immediately and justly about this matter because you are, according to the municipality’s law and Act 154 of the year 2001 that is still valid and has been enforced by the ministry, responsible to protect the city from these actions.

Signature, Chief Engineer Mohammed Sukur Kirkuk Municipality Directory 2005 CC: Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works – The Ministers Office The Council of Kirkuk Governorate Directorate of Kirkuk Municipalities General Investigation Authority, the office of the mayor Legal Department, Illegal Actions Committee, the Properties

MRG report on the 26 Feb.2007

According to the report from Minority Rights Group International. In a major survey of the plight of Iraq’s minorities, the report finds that religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq are facing unprecedented levels of violence, and in some cases, risk being eradicated completely from their ancient homeland.

Sunni, Shi’aa and Kurdish groups as they battle for power are targeting these groups - some of whom have lived in Iraq for over two millennia - and territory in Iraq intensifies.

The report titled, ‘Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq’s Minority Communities since 2003’ outlines the precarious position of the country’s minorities – Turkmens, Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Bahá´ís, Faili Kurds, Jews, Mandaeans, Palestinians, Shabaks, and Yazidis - who make up ten per cent of Iraq’s population.

The Director of MRG, Mr. Mark Lattimer, had stated in his report that, ´Every day we hear news about the carnage in Iraq, yet the desperate situation of minority communities is barely reported. Subject to a barrage of attacks, kidnappings and threats from all sides, some communities, which have lived in Iraq for two thousand years, now face extinction.

Religious communities are being targeted because of their faith. Christians are attacked often because they are believed to be associated with the West, while the Mandaean and Yazidi religions have been dubbed "impure" by Islamic extremists.

The flight of minority groups is immense - it is estimated that they make up a third of the 1.8m Iraqi refugees now seeking sanctuary across the globe. Lattimer also had stated that, ´Despite the fact that many Iraqi Christians fled because they were accused of association with the American or British forces, hardly any Iraqis have been offered refuge in the US or the UK.’ MRG is calling on the international community, especially the UK and US, to share the refugee burden and not leave it to fall disproportionately on neighbouring states.

In oil-rich Kirkuk, Turkmen and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians also found themselves under pressure, prior to the referendum that was to be carried out before 2007, whether Kirkuk should become part of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Turkmen and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians representatives reported that they were pressured to support Kurdish political parties or to state their identity as Kurdish, which will strengthen Kurdish claims to land.

Preti Taneja, author of the report, stated, ´MRG is calling on the international community and the Iraqi government to recognise the special vulnerability of the country’s minorities. This should be the basic starting point, if Iraq’s minority groups are to survive the current onslaught. [ ]

Kurdish terrorisation

The U.S. authorities have been giving their full support to the Kurds who are seeking to control Iraq's oil wealth at any cost in order to establish their so-called 'Great Kurdistan'. To realise their goal, the Kurdish militias continuously terrorise the other Iraqi communities in the north of Iraq. The Turkmens have been facing increasing threats in their region, Turkmeneli. Because they have refused the Kurdish control in their region, the Turkmen continue to be the victims of intimidations, detentions, kidnappings and assassinations and their cities.

In order to terrify the Turkmen inhabitants in the Turkmen populated area, the Kurdish militias carried out a series of attacks on the Turkmen villages. On 4th March 2007, at 4:30 am about twenty masked Kurdish militants belonging to the KDP party, (called Asayish) raided the sub-district of Daquq, 45 Km south of Kirkuk City. These masked Kurds were heavily armed and were firing in the air to scare the people as they broke randomly into several Turkmen houses.

The same thing was been repeated at midnight on February 25th 2007 when the Kurdish Asayish militants supported by American troops entered the Turkmen city of Taze Khurmato, located 15 Km south of Kirkuk.

Several houses house were raided and their doors were broken, the furniture scattered and the houses ransacked. The children were extremely frightened and mobile phones were confiscated. The oil tanker belonging to one individual was destroyed.

Fathers and sons were tied up and brutally beaten and kicked in front of their families. The fathers were threatened and weapons were pointed against their heads in front of their terrified children. Several young, peaceful Turkmen intellectuals from the al-Al_Asriya quarter in Daquq and three other youths from Taze Khurmato were arrested and taken to an unknown location.

The local police in Daquq were never informed about the raid by the authorities. It is worth noting that. No violent incidents had taken place in the neighbourhoods that were raided by the Kurds and, with the exception of a few licensed weapons, no weapons were found in the raided houses. The next day, the arrested men from Taze Khurmato were shown on Kirkuk Television, which is entirely controlled by the Kurds, and they were presented as 'terrorists.' [ ] [ ]

Kidnapping of the Arabs and Turkmens by the Kurdish Militia

Parts of confidential State Department documents circulated to the White House, the Pentagon and the U.S Embassy in Baghdad about the abduction of the minority Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk and their transfer to the Kurdish north

Provocation of Turkmen Citizens

During my last two visits to Kirkuk after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, I noticed a very peculiar situation at the governmental offices: at the main entrance of all government offices, Kurdish paramilitaries were being used as personal security.

The majority of the members of the Kurdish paramilitary are uneducated teenagers without proper uniforms. They are stationed at the entrance of every government building, carrying an automatic weapon; an AK47. It should be noted that the Iraqi Secret Service, the Iraqi Intelligence forces and the Iraqi army have been dissolved and that all their apparatus has been dismantled.

The Iraqi citizens in the north, and especially in Kirkuk, are wondering who these people are. It is obvious that the Kurdish militia is being used with the permission of the U.S. forces to deprive the Iraqi citizens of their rights. I wondered why only the Kurdish militias are allowed to carry weapons while the others are forbidden from doing so.

Transfer of the Kurds to Kirkuk

In order to change the demography of Kirkuk, the Kurdish parties are using a new policy to control all the positions in Governmental offices. After the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime, both Kurdish parties transferred a large number of Kurdish employees and police officers from the north of Iraq to appointments in Kirkuk.

These employees were paid by the Kurdish parties and also provided with false service profiles before transferring them to Kirkuk where they were appointed as heads of departments based on their “long and outstanding services,” as mentioned in their fabricated curricula vitae.

This problem was clearly stated in 2005 when the Internal Defense Minister in Baghdad requested the two Kurdish parties to pull out three thousand Kurdish police and return them to their original places of residence in Erbil and Suleymaniyah. Unfortunately, this request from the Iraqi central government was completely ignored.

The Attack on Shifa Hospital

The newly established Shifa hospital, located adjacent to the Kirkuk mosque and the Governor’s office, was attacked on the night of 24th March 2004. The Shifa hospital was established with the help of a Turkmen charity called the Turkmeneli Foundation. The main objective of this hospital is to provide free medical services for all Iraqi communities. Armed militia attacked the hospital with machine guns, and in response to the attackers the hospital guards immediately returned fire. The attackers fled the scene in a pick-up truck. Later, the police found the truck used by the attackers in the neighborhood of Rahimawa, which is a Kurdish suburb located in the north of Kirkuk city. The abandoned truck had bullet holes, was stained with blood and contained the empty AK-47 cartridges. The only militia allowed by the U.S. forces to carry and utilize such weapons are the Kurds; however, no one was arrested. The attack on the civil hospital had no significant military impact, but the fact remains that such attacks are designed to terrorize the Turkmen.

The Assassination of Brigadier Sabah Bahlul Kara Altun

The Kurdish Paramilitary utilized various methods to marginalize the Turkmen and made several desperate attempts to stop the Turkmens’ struggle for their rights in the new Iraq. Amongst these methods were threatening letters, kidnapping and assassinations. To illustrate this point, on 3rd June, 2005 a prominent Turkmen military brigadier, Mr. Sabah Bahlul Kara Altun, was gunned down while he was leaving the Husamadin Mosque in Jamahiriya Street, Kirkuk after Friday prayers. The perpetrators who carried out this despicable act escaped using a getaway car. Brigadier Sabah Bahlul Kara Altun was a member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the Kirkuk City Council, and a deputy for internal affairs for the Kirkuk Governorate.

Kurds Harassed Turkish Peacekeeping Force

The Turkish army kept a contingent of a few hundred soldiers in a region of northern Iraq, close to the Turkish border, to monitor the activities of Turkish Kurdish terrorist rebels holed up in bases in the mountainous regions. These Turkish troops also were used as a peacekeeping force between the Kurdish militia, KDP and PUK who fought each other fiercely in the nineties.

However, on 6th April, 2007 Turkish soldiers travelling in civilian clothes in northern Iraq were stopped at a checkpoint in Suleymaniyah at noon where local Kurdish forces verbally abused, harassed and pointed their guns at them.

The incident ended when Turkish soldiers introduced themselves as a peacekeeping force. The episode was described by the Kurds as a “misunderstanding,” after which the Turkish soldiers returned to their bases safely.

The incident caused outrage with the Turks and the General Staff of the Turkish army issued a warning statement on 6th April, 2007, as follows: “Everybody should know and understand that our elements on duty in this area are sons of the Turkish nation and the heroic Turkish army, and the slightest unethical act or behaviour towards them will be taken as one against the entire Turkish Republic and the Turkish armed forces, and will face a response at the highest necessary level," [ ]

This despicable act that was carried out by the Kurdish militia toward the unarmed Turkish civilians in northern Iraq, and showed the degree of abuse and unfair treatment of the peacekeeping forces.

There are still thousands of terrorists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stationed in the north of Iraq who have found safe refuge in the mountainous regions.

The Iraqi Kurds who control the security of the north of Iraq are tolerating the PKK terrorist movement and even assist PKK terrorists by providing them with free movement, weapons and explosives to carry attacks across the Turkish border. The PKK terrorist organization has been listed in the USA, EU and other countries as a recognized terrorist group. The presence of the PKK in the north of Iraq is a threat to the stability of the region and to the Iraqi people; however, central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government still tolerate it.

Kirkuk and Kurdish Election Fraud

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number of Kurds who were deported from Kirkuk under the Arabisation policy by the previous regime was 11,685. However, after the occupation of Kirkuk by the Kurdish militia, the number of Kurds brought by both Kurdish parties from outside of Kirkuk city and surrounding areas exceeded 300,000. [Doc.10]

During the election in January 2005, the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq received an objection from Mr. Yahiya Alasi regarding the participation of the 72,000 illegitimate Kurds who were illegally added to the list of the eligible voters by both Kurdish parties. Instead of the fulfilment of his request for the removal of the 72,000 illegitimate Kurds, the commission removed Mr.Yahya Alasi from his position, forcibly on the insistence of both Kurdish parties.

Iraqi Turkmen were further outraged when, during the visit of the Deputy US Foreign Minister, A. Richard, the green light was to both Kurdish parties to add the names of 108,000 illegitimate Kurdish voters’ names to the voting list.

In the meantime, the Independent Electoral Commission for monitoring the election for the Iraqi parliament members from 13th to 15th December, 2005 discovered a wide range of irregularities carried out by both Kurdish parties who added 81,000 illegitimate Kurdish names to the voting list in Kirkuk and surrounding areas by providing them with forged documents in order to qualify them for the election.

The Turkmen called upon the U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the UN Representative for Iraq, Mr. Ishraf Kazi, to enforce this removal of these illegal voters through the Independent Electoral Commission.

Document numbers 614/617, dated 9/12/2005 and 10/12/2005 respectively, stipulated that these illegal Kurds should not be allowed to vote because their involvement in the election would be a blow against democracy, and a breach of election rules.

It was therefore shocking to see that the Independent Electoral Commission for monitoring the election for the Iraqi parliament members deviated from its decision and allowed the illegitimate Kurdish voters to vote. It is utterly unacceptable to see that the Commission bowed to Kurdish pressure and indicates that the Independent Commission was incapable of fulfilling its duty. In addition, the Turkmen of Iraq completely lost trust in the above Commission and called a UN representative in Iraq to urgently address the situation. The UN representative took no action.

Statically data that were taken from the Ministry of Commence, showing the number of people who have been transferred to/out of Kirkuk according to ration cards.

1- The number of people registered in Kirkuk according to the ration cards up to 19/3/2003 was 834,973 persons. 2- The last ration card number that was transferred to outside of Kirkuk is 136512 and was issued under the name of Delir Hassan Ibrahim. 3- The last ration card number that was transferred to Kirkuk before 20/3/2007 is 179898 and was issued to Azad Kadir Jaber. 4- The number of ration cards transferred to Kirkuk up to 30/9/2004 was 43,386. 5- The number of people transferred to Kirkuk according to the ration cards is 347,818 persons, all of whom originate from Suleymaniyah, Erbil and Duhok towns. 6- The actual numbers of the deportees from all ethnic groups in Kirkuk according to the ration cards until 30/3/2003 was 11,568 people. Doc. English (10)

The Abduction of Turkmen Journalist Qasim Sari Kahya

At approximately 3pm on Saturday 27th October, 2007 Qasim Sari Kahya, the Turkmen writer, journalist and Secretary Editor for the Fraternity Club of Kardeslik in Baghdad, was abducted along with another three Turkmen citizens near the Kirkuk General Hospital by a Kurdish security force known as Asayish. Although, several hours later, three of the detainees were released, Mr. Qasim was kept for further interrogation. According to the information from the released captives, they were tortured physically, but they had no news about the fate of Mr. Sari Kahya. However, on 28th October, 2007 Mr. Qasim Sari Kahya was transferred from the city of Kirkuk to a prison in the city of Erbil for further investigation. Because of the public, political, and journalistic outrage and due to the public appeal on TV and radio, he was released on 29th October, 2007.

The Asayish is an unrecognized and illegitimate force that is utilized by both Kurdish parties to terrorize innocent civilian people. They are used to kidnap and kill people who defy the Kurdish aspiration for establishing a Kurdish state.

Kurdish Threatening Letter

Following Turkey’s threat in 2008 to enter the north of Iraq to chase and attack the military camps of the Kurdish-backed terrorist organization PKK, the Turkmen people received numerous numbers of abusive threats from both Kurdish militias.

To: All the patriots of the occupied Kirkuk City

1. Cell (Team) of the martyr Hama Suleiman/Rahim Awa Neighborhood Group. 2. Cell (Team) of the martyr Izzeddin Kara Mohammed/Imam Kasim Neighborhood. 3. Cell (Team) of the martyrs Kamil Molla Weyis and Narpa Garip /al-Shorja neighborhood Group. 4. Cell (Team) of the martyr Molla Aras. 5. Cell (Team) of the martyr Mustafa Azadi /Azadi Neighborhood Group.

Announcement to all Kurdish patriots, warriors and lovers of our city, Kirkuk.

We ask you to contact the above-mentioned groups for any urgent need, because the generations of the al-Muatasim [ ] are using the presence of the fighters of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) at Kurdistan as an excuse to attack Kurdistan territory. The animosity against the Kurds aims to protect the remnants of the Ottoman Empire.

From now on, we should prepare ourselves to attack all the organisations of Turanians, [ ] by all types of weapons, and burn these centers with the eternal fire of Baba Gurgur [ ] and burn their dirty corpses to return our usurped rights.

We say to the Jash [ ] of the Turkmen Front, you should know that for any attack by the Turks to the Kurdistan region we will take revenge upon you.

This is a warning, and you have no more excuses.

Commandership- Groups of the occupied Kirkuk Division

Doc. English (11)

The Arrest of the Kirkuk Governing Council Member

On the 25th November, 2007 Mr. Hassan Turan, a member of the governing council of Kirkuk, was arrested by the Kurdish Asayish at Erbil airport in northern Iraq following his return from participation in the international conference that was held in Istanbul in Turkey under the name of Kudus and International Conjunction.

He was arrested under the pretext that there were irregularities with his passport and interrogated at the airport by security forces and then badly treated during his ordeal by the Asayish terrorist group.

Mr. Hassan Turin’s arrest was a clear message of intimidation to the Turkmen politicians and intellectuals whom were struggling to have the same rights as the Kurds in northern Iraq. It was also one of the methods that have been used by the Asayish to scare and intimidate the Turkmen from demanding their political, cultural and economical right in the north of Iraq.

Mr. Hassan Turan was released after approximately twenty-four hours in the Kurdish jail and his release came from the efforts of the Iraqi Government, politicians and Turkmen members of the governing council of Kirkuk.

Jalal Talabani’s visit to Kirkuk

On 2nd January, 2008, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, visited the city of Kirkuk and was accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan region, Mr. Khusrat Rasul, and the President of the territory of the Kurdish parliament, Mr. Adnan Mufti.

During his visit to the city, Jalal Talabani held a meeting with members of his political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in the Arafa neighbourhood in Kirkuk. He then met the Kirkuk governor, Mustafa Abdurrahman, and in addition to that met with only the Kurdish members of the Kirkuk governing council.

Jalal Talabani totally ignored and disregarded the Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrians. His decision to not see the Turkmen, Assyrian and Arab members of the governing council in Kirkuk clearly indicate and show his bad intentions and, furthermore, reveal that he lacks experience and is incompetent in his running of the country.

When Jalal Talabani was appointed as President of Iraq, he automatically swore that he would not be biased toward, or discriminates against, any Iraqi on the basis of their ethnic origin or colour. Unfortunately, Jalal Talabani openly exploited his position when he approached and met only the Kurdish groups, totally disregarding and ignoring the indigenous people of the city of Kirkuk; the Turkmen of Iraq. His action was deliberate, biased and designed to eliminate, assimilate and give more power to the Kurdish militia in the city of Kirkuk. He acted more as a PUK party leader than the President of Iraq.

Iraqi Demonstration against the Kurdish Ambassador in Sweden

At the major central square in Stockholm, and in front of the Kurdish Ambassador, Ahmad Bamarni, the Kurdish militia known as ‘Peshmerga’ assaulted the Iraqi poet, painter and political analyst Miss Hana Jawad, because she raised the Iraqi flag next to the Kurdish flag during the celebration of Cultural Day.

Thus, on 21st December, 2007 a protest was held against the Iraqi Embassy in Sweden. Following this, a delegation from the Iraqi community in Sweden visited the Swedish Foreign Ministry in Stockholm and complained about the Iraqi Embassy staff failing in the implementation their duties towards Iraqi citizens. Their complaint centered on the Iraqi Embassy becoming an office for Kurdish political party, run by Kurdish militants.

The bad attitudes and the unacceptable behavior of the Kurdish staff within the Iraqi Embassy toward the Iraqi citizens, was engendered by delaying the issuing and renewing of passports and other governmental paperwork for Iraqi citizens.

The representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Mr. Anders Nyström, and the Director of Protocols for the Middle East Ministry received an Iraqi delegation. The Iraqi delegation informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the Iraqi Embassy was harshly treating Iraqi citizens and that it was totally controlled by the Kurdish militia.

The delegation also sent a copy of their press protest statement to Mr. Kala Arashwn, a member of the Swedish Parliament, and to the European Union and the Turkish, Syrian, Iranian, Lebanese and Afghan Embassies.

The Iraqi delegation that visited the Swedish Foreign Ministry consisted of Dr. Hussein Musawi, D. Azad, journalist Fikret Yildiz, writer George Dnkha, Dr. Omar Alanni, and the poet Nur Abdulzahrh Ku'bi.

Kurds Squatting on Turkmen Land in Tuz Khormatu

On the early morning of 10th February, 2008 the Turkmen citizens of Tuz Khormatu were woken by the sound of bulldozers and the activities of dozens of Kurds supported by the Kurdish militia who were putting down the foundations for the preparation of new Kurdish settlements on Turkmen land.

The Kurdish citizens’ construction on the Turkmen land was a clear violation of the Land Registration Law. However, when the Turkmen citizens complained to the police, who were mainly Kurds, no action was taken to stop the squatters. Furthermore, on the second day of construction the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu complained to the councillor and the deputy councillor for district of Tuz Khormatu, Mr. Ali Hashim Alhusseini, about the Kurdish confiscation of Turkmen land. Once again, no action was taken to stop the Kurdish squatters. [ ]

Expelling the Turkmen from the North Gas Company’s Compound

On 23rd February, 2008 the security authorities for the North Gas Company in Kirkuk threatened to expel Turkmen retirees who lived in North Gas Company houses. The Turkmen had worked for the North Gas Company for over 35 years and had lived in these houses over 25 years.

Some of the 600,000 Kurds that had been brought into the area following the toppling of Saddam Hussein had already been housed by the North Gas Company but this was just the beginning.

To this end, on 23rd February, 2008 the security authorities for the North Gas Company in Kirkuk sent a warning letter to all Turkmen retirees who lived in these houses, instructing them to leave within fifteen days, otherwise a proper legal action and proper force would be used to evict them without the need for a court order [Doc.12]. These letters were only sent to Turkmen residents. [ ]

Kurdish squatters who settled in these houses came from outside Kirkuk and inhabited part of the same compound by expelling some of its original inhabitants at gunpoint. They subsequently built the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, as is evident in the picture, and Kurdish squatters were welcomed by the Director of the North Gas Company, Haner Najib Hassan, a Kurdish member of the National Kurdistan Democratic Party. The most striking thing was that no letters were sent to the Kurdish squatters from the security authorities in the North Gas Company and they were protected by the Kurdish militia. The Kurdish militia warned the security authorities in the North Gas Company not to approach these Kurdish squatters who came from outside of Kirkuk and never worked for the North Gas Company.

North Gas Company Issue: Date: 17/2/2008 To Mr. XXXXX SUBJECT/ Warning

Herewith to comply with the request of the Minister of the Oil that is dated on the 27/12/2007. Since you have violated, you have been warned to evacuate the XXXXX number XXX and return it back to the North Gas Company, and you have been given a warning of 15 days to comply with the decision from the above date. Otherwise, legal action will be taken against of you and force used to eject you from the above property without having a court order.

Deputy of the Director of Oil Meshal Hammed Aljuburri Director of legislation Doc. English (12) 2.37 The Kurdish Parties Harbouring PKK Terrorist Organisations The PKK terrorist group, which has Marxist-Leninist roots, was formed in the late 1970s and launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey. Since then, more than 37,000 people have died. During the conflict, which reached a peak in the mid-1990s, hundreds of villages were attacked and destroyed by the PKK terrorist organisation in the largely Kurdish south-east and east of Turkey, and hundreds of thousands of innocent people fled to cities in other parts of the country. After the fall of the Ba’ath regime in 2003, with the help of the KDP and PUK, the PKK terrorist organisation utilised northern of Iraq as a safe haven area and it was here that they built their training camps, hospital, and party offices. The Kurdish militias that are led by both Barzani and Talabani supported the PKK terrorist organisation with arms, logistical support, and transportation. The injured PKK terrorists who fought the Turkish army were transported and treated in Erbil hospitals, which were under control the KDP militia. They were provided with passports, identity cards and given the right to vote during the Iraqi election, and have since opened several party offices in Kirkuk, Erbil and Duhok. Instead of the PKK terrorist members being arrested by the US forces in conjunction with Kurdish police in north of Iraq but unfortunately they were provided with radio station by the Kurdish parties in North of Iraq. Although the PKK have been recognised as a terrorist organisation by the European, USA and other countries. They have been armed and supported by the both Kurdish parties in north of Iraq and the PKK terrorist members have been allowed to base in the Candil mountains of northern Iraq; and the Iraqi Kurdish parties have been unwilling, to take action against PKK terrorist bases in north of Iraqi and both Kurdish parties and Us forces have been allowing the PKK terrorist members to carry out attack on Turkey territory.

The Kurdish terror in north of Iraq

Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed was born in 1st July 1968 in the district of Telkeef that is linked to the city of city of Mosul. He was arrested on the 8th of July 2007 on the Iraqi/Turkish border Ibrahim Alkhalil by the Kurdish secret police that are known as Asayish while he was travelling from the city of Mosul to Turkey with a group of a Turkmen from the city of Erbil. Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed was working as a deputy of the ITF (Iraqi Turkmen Front) in the city of Mosul and according to the witnesses who were with him at the time. They have confirmed that Mr. Lokman Nejam was forced out of his car by the Kurdish police at the Iraqi Turkish border Ibrahim Alkhalil by the Asayish. However, after months following his arrest his family with the help of Kurdish friends have managed to find out that he has been imprisoned in the city of Duhok by the Kurdish authorities. Only his immediate family has been allowed to visit him in prison. His family is allowed visit him once every two months. Mr. Lokman Nejam has been accused of various unfounded accusations and nevertheless the Kurdish police have totally failed to produce any evidence or proof of his illegal involvement against the Kurdish authorities.

Thus Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed’s family has approached the deputy governor of the city of Mosul for help and support but unfortunately no support was provided and he was released on the 4th of February 2009. In my personal opinion the Turkmen people in Turkmeneli and especially the ITF members have been continuously arrested, imprisoned, tortured and treated inhumanely by the Kurdish police only for being Turkmen as this happened recently to a teacher called Ganim Mahmud who is 60 years old, he was tortured and insulted by the Kurdish authority in north of Iraq but later on Mr. Ganim Mahmud was released after a month of continuous torturing and was asked why his nephew is helping the Turkmen teachers in promoting Turkmen teaching. Mr. Lokman Nejam Ahmed has been kept in the Kurdish prison without formal charges and his case has not been submitted to the court.

Abduction Turkmen News Reader by Kurdish police

Mr. Timor Beyatli is a Turkmen citizen who is employed by the Turkmeneli TV as a news reader at the Arabic section that broadcast from Kerkuk in Iraq.

On 5th of November 2008, Mr.Timor Beyatli left the city of Kerkuk and drove to Erbil airport to catch his flight to Istanbul (Turkey) where he had been invited to participate in a conference about Media and Journalism. Before boarding the airplane he made a call to his family in Turkey informing them that he was on his way to Istanbul and that he would contact them upon his arrival at Istanbul airport. Unfortunately, when the plane landed in Istanbul Mr. Timor Beyatli was not among the passengers because he had been abducted just before he got on the plane (on the 8.15pm flight) at Erbil airport by the Kurdish security forces (known as the Asayish which belong to the Kurdish leader of the KDP party Massoud Barzani. Mr. Timor Beyatli was transferred from Erbil airport to a prison in the city of Erbil for further investigation.

Because of the public, political and journalistic outrage and due to the media appeal. Mr. Tamur Beyatli was released on 7th November 2008 and he was released without charges.

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