Turkmens

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
Total population
7 million (est.)
Regions with significant populations
Turkmenistan 4,248,000[1] Afghanistan 895,000[2] Iran 624,000[3] Pakistan 60,000[4] Russia 36,885[5] Ukraine 3,709[citation needed]
Languages
Turkmen
Religion
Predominately Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Salar, other Turkic peoples

The Turkmen (Turkmen: Türkmen/Түркмен, plural Türkmenler/Түркменлер) are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Syria, Iraq and North Caucasus (Stavropol Krai). They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz and Salar.^[6]

Origins[link]

Originally, all Turkic tribes that were not part of the Turkic dynastic mythological system (for example, Uigurs, Karluks, Kalaches and a number of other tribes) were designated "Turkmens". Only later did this word come to refer to a specific ethnonym. The etymology of the term derives from Türk plus the Sogdian affix of similarity -myn ,-men, and means "resembling a Türk" or "co-Türk".^[7] A prominent Turkic scholar, Mahmud Kashgari, also mentions the etymology Türk manand (like Turks). The language and ethnicity of the Turkmen were much influenced by their migration to the west. Kashgari calls the Karluks Turkmen as well, but the first time the etymology Turkmen was used was by Makdisi in the second half of the 10th-century AD. Like Kashgari, he wrote that the Karluks and Oghuz Turks were called Turkmen. Some modern scholars have proposed that the element -man/-men acts as an intensifier, and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks".^[8] Among Muslim chroniclers such as Ibn Kathir the etymology was attributed to the mass conversion of two hundred thousand households in AH 349 (971 CE), causing them to be named Turk Iman, which is a combination of "Turk" and "Iman" إيمان (faith, belief), meaning "believing Turks", with the term later dropping the hard-to-pronounce hamza.^[9]

Historically, all of the Western or Oghuz Turks have been called Türkmen or Turkoman; ^[10] however, today the terms are usually restricted to two Turkic groups: the Turkmen people of Turkmenistan and adjacent parts of Central Asia, and the Turkomans of Iraq and Syria.

During the Ottoman period these nomads were known by the names of Türkmen and Yörük or Yürük (Türkic "Nomad", other phonetic variations include Iirk, Iyierk, Hiirk, Hirkan, Hircanae, Hyrkan, Hyrcanae, the last four known from the Greek annals).^[11] These names were generally used to describe their nomadic way of life, rather than their ethnic origin. However, these terms were often used interchangeably by foreigners. At the same time, various other exoethnonym words were used for these nomads, such as 'Konar-göçer', 'Göçebe', 'Göçer-yörük', 'Göçerler', and 'Göçer-evliler'. The most common one among these was 'Konar-göçer' - nomadic Turcoman Turks. All of these words are found in Ottoman archival documents and carry only the meaning of 'nomad'.

The modern Turkmen people descend, at least in part, from the Oghuz Turks of Transoxiana, the western portion of Turkestan, a region that largely corresponds to much of Central Asia as far east as Xinjiang. Oghuz tribes had moved westward from the Altay mountains in the 7th-century CE, through the Siberian steppes, and settled in this region. They also penetrated as far west as the Volga basin and the Balkans. These early Turkmens are believed to have mixed with native Sogdian peoples and lived as pastoral nomads until the Russian conquest of the 19th-century.^[12]

History[link]

Major Ethnic Groups of Iran
Mazandarani Persian Iranian Kurd Iranian Kurd Gilaki Lur Lur Iranian Balochi Iranian Azari Turkmen Qashqai Uninhabited Iranian Arab Iranian Arab Talysh

Signs of advanced settlements have been found throughout Turkmenistan including the Djeitun settlement where neolithic buildings have been excavated and dated to the 7th millennium BCE.^[13] By 2000 BCE, various Ancient Iranian peoples began to settle throughout the region as indicated by the finds at the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Notable early tribes included the nomadic Massagatae and Scythians. The Achaemenid Empire annexed the area by the 4th century BCE and then lost control of the region following the invasion of Alexander the Great, whose Hellenistic influence had an impact upon the area and some remnants have survived in the form of a planned city which was discovered following excavations at Antiocheia (Merv). The Parni invaded the region as the Parthian Empire was established until it too fractured as a result of tribal invasions stemming from the north. Ephthalites, Huns, and Göktürks came in a long parade of invasions. Finally, the Sassanid Empire based in Persia ruled the area prior to the coming of the Muslim Arabs during the Umayyad Caliphate by 716 CE. The majority of the inhabitants were converted to Islam as the region grew in prominence. Next came the Oghuz Turks, who imparted their language upon the local population. A tribe of the Oghuz, the Seljuks, established a Turko-Iranian culture that culminated in the Khwarezmid Empire by the 12th century. Mongol hordes led by Genghis Khan conquered the area between 1219 to 1221 and devastated many of the cities which led to a rapid decline of the remaining Iranian urban population.

The Turkmen largely survived the Mongol period due to their semi-nomadic life-style and became traders along the Caspian, which led to contacts with Eastern Europe. Following the decline of the Mongols, Tamerlane conquered the area and his Timurid Empire would rule, until it too fractured, as the Safavids, Uzbeks, and Khanate of Khiva all contested the area. The expanding Russian Empire took notice of Turkmenistan's extensive cotton industry, during the reign of Peter the Great, and invaded the area. Following the decisive Battle of Geok-Tepe in January 1881, Turkmenistan became a part of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, Soviet control was established by 1921 as Turkmenistan was transformed from a medieval Islamic region to a largely secularized republic within a totalitarian state. By 1991, with the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan achieved independence as well, but remained dominated by a one-party system of government led by the authoritarian regime of President Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in December 2006.

Language[link]

Turkmen (Latin: Türkmençe, Cyrillic: Түркменче) is the name of the language of the titular nation of Turkmenistan. It is spoken by over 5,200,000 people in Turkmenistan, and by roughly 3,000,000 people in other countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, and Russia.^[14] Up to 50% of native speakers in Turkmenistan also claim a good knowledge of Russian, a legacy of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.

Turkmen is not a literary language in Iran and Afghanistan, where many Turkmen tend towards bilingualism, usually conversant in the local dialects of Persian. Variations of the Persian alphabet are, however, used in Iran.

Genetic evidence[link]

A Turkmen man of Afghanistan or Iran in traditional clothes, around 1905–1915.

Genetic studies on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction polymorphism confirmed that Turkmen were characterized by the presence of local Iranian mtDNA lineages, similar to the Eastern Iranian populations, but high male Mongoloid genetic component observed in Turkmens and Eastern Iranian populations with the frequencies of about 20%.^[15] Phenotype diversity can be discerned amongst the Turkmen, who exhibit full continuum between northern Mongoloid and Mediterranean Caucasoid physical types. This most likely indicates an ancestral combination of Iranian groups and Mongol that the modern Turkmen have inherited and which appears to correspond to the historical record which indicates that various Iranian tribes existed in the region prior to the migration of Turkic tribes who are believed to have merged with the local population and imparted their language and created something of a hybrid Turko-Iranian culture.

Religion[link]

Culture and society[link]

Nomadic heritage[link]

The Turkmen were mainly a nomadic people for most of their history and most of them were not settled in cities and towns until the advent of the Soviet system of government, which severely restricted freedom of movement and collectivized nomadic herdsmen by the 1930s. Many pre-Soviet cultural traits have survived in Turkmen society however and have recently undergone a kind of revival.

Turkmen lifestyle was heavily invested in horsemanship and as a prominent horse culture, Turkmen horse-breeding was an ages old tradition. In spite of changes prompted by the Soviet period, a tribe in southern Turkmenistan has remained very well known for their horses, the Akhal-Teke desert horse - and the horse breeding tradition has returned to its previous prominence in recent years.^[16]

Many tribal customs still survive among modern Turkmen. Unique to Turkmen culture is kalim which is a groom's "dowry", that can be quite expensive and often results in the widely practiced tradition of bridal kidnapping.^[17] In something of a modern parallel, President Saparmurat Niyazov introduced a state enforced "kalim", wherein all foreigners are required to pay a sum of no less than $50,000 to marry a Turkmen woman.

Other customs include the consultation of tribal elders, whose advice is often eagerly sought and respected. Many Turkmen still live in extended families where various generations can be found under the same roof, especially in rural areas.^[17]

The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people reflects rich oral traditions, where epics such as Koroglu are usually sung by itinerant bards. These itinerant singers are called bakshy and sing either a cappella or with instruments such as the two-stringed lute called dutar.

Society today[link]

Since Turkmenistan's independence in 1991, a cultural revival has taken place with the return of a moderate form of Islam and celebration of Novruz (an Iranian^[18] tradition) or New Year's Day.

Turkmen can be divided into various social classes including the urban intelligentsia and workers whose role in society is different from that of the rural peasantry. Secularism and atheism remain prominent for many Turkmen intellectuals who favor moderate social changes and often view extreme religiousity and cultural revival with some measure of distrust.^[19]

Self-proclaimed President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov was largely responsible for many of the changes that have taken place in modern Turkmen society. Mimicking the Turkish reformist policies of Atatürk in Turkey, Niyazov made nationalism an important element in Turkmenistan, while contacts with Turkmen in neighboring Iran and Afghanistan have increased. Significant changes to the names of the cities as well as calendar reform were introduced by President Niyazov as well. The calendar reform resulted in renaming months and days of the week from Persian or European-derived words into purely Turkmen ones, some of them eponymously related to the president or his family. The policy was reversed in 2008.^[20]

The five traditional carpet designs that form motifs in the country's state emblem and flag represent the five major Turkmen tribes.

Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan[link]

Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan remain very conservative in comparison to their brethren in Turkmenistan. Islam plays a much more prominent role in Iran and Afghanistan where Turkmen follow many traditional Islamic practices that many Turkmen in Turkmenistan have abandoned as a result of decades of Soviet rule. In addition, many Turkmen in Iran and Afghanistan have remained at least semi-nomadic and traditionally work in agriculture/animal husbandry and the production of carpets.^[21][22]

Turkmen of Stavropol Region of Russia[link]

In the Stavropol Region of southern Russia, there is a long established colony of Turkmen. They are often referred to as Trukhmen by the local ethnic Russian population, and sometimes use the self-designation Turkpen. ^[23] According to 2010 Census of Russia, they numbered 15,048, and accounted for .5% of the total population of Stavropol.

The Trukhmens are said to have migrated into the Caucasus in the 17th century, in particular the Mangyshlak region. These migrants belonged mainly to the Chaudorov (Chavodur), Sonchadj and Ikdir tribes. The early settlers were nomadic, but over time a process of sedentarization took place. In their cultural mode of life, the Trukhmens of today differ very little from their neighbours, and are now settled farmers and stockbreeders. ^[24]

Although Trukhmen language belongs to the Oguz group of Turkic languages, in Stavropol, it has maintained its been strongly influenced by the Nogai language, which belongs to the Kipchak group. The phonetic system, grammatical structure and, to some extent also, the vocabulary, have been somewhat influenced.^[25]

Demographics and population distribution[link]

The Turkmen people of Central Asia live in:

• Turkmenistan, where some 85% of the population of 5,042,920 people (July 2006 est.), are ethnic Turkmen. In addition, an estimated 1,200 Turkmen refugees from northern Afghanistan currently reside in Turkmenistan due to the ravages of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and factional fighting in Afghanistan which saw the rise and fall of the Taliban.^[26]

Salar youths celebrating Sabantuy in Xi'an, China^[27]

Salar people in China celebrating Nowruz^[28]

• Afghanistan, where, as of 2006, over 900,000 are ethnic Turkmen and are largely concentrated primarily along the Turkmen-Afghan border in the provinces of Faryab, Jowzjan, and Baghlan. There are smaller communities in Balkh and Kunduz Provinces.

• Iran, where about 600,000 Turkmen are primarily concentrated in the provinces of Golestān and North Khorasan^[29].

• China, where around 100,000 Salar Turkmens live in Qinghai, Gansu, and Xinjiang, particularly concentrated in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County. PRC government considers them as distinct from their Turkmen kin and classifies among 56 officially recognised ethnic groups.

• Pakistan As of 2005, as per official Pakistani census and UN estimates, there remain approximately 60,000 Turkmen refugees in Pakistan, largely in the North-West Frontier Province, Balochistan and in the country's urban centres of Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. The actual numbers could be up to 250,000 as many have avoided being counted for fear of being deported and have intermixed into Pakistan's cosmopolitan social dynamic. A few hundred Turkmen and Kyrgyz refugee families living in Pakistan were given asylum in Turkey in the 1980s. Apart from these Turks, Karlugh Turks also resides in Pakistan who came with Taimur in 1472 AD and formed a Turki Shahi dynesty that ruled the state of Hazara (NWFP) for more than 200 years (1472-1703).

There are also scattered communities of Turkmens in Russian province of Stavropol and elsewhere in the Caucasus, descending from the tribes who emigrated from Turkmenistan in 18th century and call themselves "Trukhmens".

See also[link]

• Turkmen language
• Oghuz Turks
• Yörük
• Ak Koyunlu
• Turkmen Sahra
• Chepni
• Afshar
• Bayandur
• Kayı
• Pechenegs
• Salur
• Karlugh Turks

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bacon, Elizabeth E. Central Asians Under Russian Rule: A Study in Culture Change, Cornell University Press (1980). ISBN 0-8014-9211-4.
• Turkmenistan Pages by Ekahau
• Did the engsi hang inside or outside the yurt?

v t e Ethnic groups in Iran Major [3] Persians 61%  · Azerbaijanis 16%  · Kurds 10%  · Lors 6% Minor [4] Arabs 2%  · Balochs 2% · Turkmens 2%  · Others (Tats · Armenians · Georgians · Jews · Assyrians · Mandaeans · Kazakhs) 1%

Iraqi Turkmens

Flag used by Iraqi Turkmen
Total population
est. 500,000–3,000,000[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Turkmeneli Kirkuk  · Arbil  · Tal Afar  · Mosul[3]
Languages
South Azeri[4][5] or a dialect transitional to Ottoman Turkish;[6] also Arabic  · Kurdish
Religion
Predominantly Islam[3]
Related ethnic groups
Syrian Turkmens
Footnotes
a The Iraqi government in its 1957 national census claimed there were 136,800 Turks in Iraq. However, the revised figure of 567,000 was issued by the Iraqi government after the 1958 revolution. The Iraqi government admitted that the minorities population was actually more than 400% from the previous year's total.[7][8][9]

The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled Turcomans, Turkomens, and Iraqi Turkmans), Iraqi Turks, or Turks of Iraq (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri/Irak Türkleri) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq who are the ethnic kin of the Turks.^[10][11] They mainly reside in northern Iraq and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey.^[12]

The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia dating from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. The first wave of migration dates back to the 7th century when some 1,000 Turkmen soldiers were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad;^[13][14] however, most of today's descendants of these first migrants have been assimilated into the local Arab population.^[15] The second wave of migrants were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire;^[16] finally, the third wave, and largest number of Turkmen migrants into Iraq arose during the Ottoman Empire.^[16] With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region.^[14][17] Thus, most of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.^{[18][19][17][16]}

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Iraqi Turkmen wanted Turkey to annex the Mosul Vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded state.^[20][21] However, due to the end of the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmen found themselves increasingly discriminated against by policies of successive regimes, such as the Kirkuk Massacre of 1959 and in 1979 when the Ba’th Party increasingly discriminated against the community.^[20] Although they were recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq (alongside the Arabs and Kurds) in the constitution of 1925, the Iraqi Turkmen were later denied this status.^[20]

Claims of their population range between 500,000 to over 3 million, regardless of this uncertainty, it is generally accepted that the Iraqi Turks are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq.^{[3][22][23][24]} According to the 1957 census, which is recognized as the last reliable census, as later censuses were reflections of the Arabization policies of the Ba’ath regime,^[25] Arabs formed the largest ethnicity followed by Kurds (13%) and Iraqi Turkmen (9%).^[26]

The Iraqi Turkmen predominantly live in the north of Iraq, especially in Tal Afar, Mosul, Arbil, Altunkupri, Kirkuk, and Baghdad.^[27]

History[link]

The presence of Turkic peoples in Iraq first began in the seventh century when approximately 1,000 Oghuz Turks were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad.^[15] However, it was the wider migration of the Oghuz Turks towards Anatolia which took place at the end of the ninth century that established a substantial Iraqi Turkmen presence.^[13] Successive waves of immigration continued under the rule of the Seljuk Turks who assumed positions of military and administrative responsibilities in the Seljuk Empire. Furthermore, with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Murad IV’s capture of Baghdad in 1638, resulted in the largest number of Turkish immigration into northern Iraq.^[28][16]

Early settlement[link]

The first wave of Turkmen in Iraq occurred in the seventh century when some 1,000 Turkmen soldiers who were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad.^[13] During the subsequent Abbassid era, thousands more Turkmen warriors were brought into Iraq; however, the number of Turkmen who had settled in Iraq were not significant, as a result, the first wave of Turkmen became assimilated into the local Arab population.^[15]

Seljuk era (1055-1194)[link]

The second wave of Turkmen to descend on Iraq were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire.^[16] Large scale migration of the Turkmen in Iraq occurred in 1055 with the invasion of Sultan Tuğrul Bey, the second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, who intended to repair the holy road to Mecca. For the next 150 years, the Seljuk Turks placed large Turkmen communities along the most valuable routes of northern Iraq, especially Tel Afar, Arbil, Kirkuk, and Mandali, which is now identified by the modern community as Turkmeneli.^[29]

Ottoman era (1534-1918)[link]

The Mosul Vilayet.

The third wave, and largest number, of Turkmen migrants into Iraq arose during the Ottoman Empire.^[16] By the first half of the sixteenth century the Ottomans had begun their expansion into Iraq.^[30] In 1534, under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Mosul was sufficiently secure within the Ottoman Empire and became the chief province (eyalet) responsible for all other administrative districts in the region.^[31] The Ottomans encouraged migration from Anatolia and the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along northern Iraq, religious scholars were also brought in to preach Hanafi (Sunni) Islam.^[31] With loyal Turkmen inhabiting the area, the Ottomans were able to maintain a safe route through to the southern provinces of Mesopotamia.^[16] Following the conquest, Kirkuk came firmly under Turkish control and was referred to as "Gökyurt",^[32] it is this period in history whereby modern Iraqi Turkmen claim association with Anatolia and the Turkish state.^[32]

After defeating the Safavid dynasty on December 31, 1534, Suleiman entered Baghdad and set about reconstructing the physical infrastructure in the province and ordered the construction of a dam in Karbala and major water projects in and around the city’s countryside.^[33] Once the new governor was appointed, the town was to be composed of 1,000 foot soldiers and another 1,000 cavalry.^[34] However, war broke out after 89 years of peace and the city was besieged and finally conquered by Abbas I of Persia in 1624. The Persians ruled the city until 1638 when a massive Ottoman force, led by Sultan Murad IV, recaptured the city.^[31] In 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab was signed that gave the Ottomans control over Iraq and ended the military conflict between the two empires.^[35] Thus, more Turks arrived with the army of Sultan Murad IV in 1638 following the capture of Baghdad whilst others came even later with other notable Ottoman figures.^[32][36]

Modern era (1918-Present)[link]

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Iraqi Turkmen wanted Turkey to annex the Mosul Vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded state;^[20] this is because, under the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmen enjoyed a relatively trouble-free existence as the administrative and business classes.^[20] However, due to the demise of the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmen participated in elections for the Constituent Assembly; the purpose of these elections was to formalise the 1922 treaty with Britain and obtain support for the drafting of a constitution and the passing of the 1923 Electoral law.^[37] The Iraqi Turkmen made their participation in the electoral process conditional that the preservation of the Turkish character in Kirkuk's administration and the recognition of Turkish as the liwa’s official language.^[37] Although they were recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq, alongside the Arabs and Kurds, in the constitution of 1925, the Iraqi Turkmen were later denied this status.^[20]

Demography[link]

Population[link]

Official statistics[link]

The Iraqi Turkmen are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq.^[38][39] According to the 1957 Iraqi census there was 567,000 Turks out of a total population of 6.3 million, forming 9% of the total Iraqi population.^[40] However, due to the undemocratic environment, their number has always been underestimated and has long been a point of controversy. For example, in the 1957 census, the Iraqi government first claimed that there was 136,800 Turks in Iraq. However, the revised figure of 567,000 was issued after the 1958 revolution when the Iraqi government admitted that the Iraqi Turkmens population was actually more than 400% from the previous year's total.^[7] Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly unreliable, due to suspicions of regime manipulation.^[18] The 1997 census states that there was 600,000 Iraqi Turkmen^[23] out of a total population of 22,017,983,^[41] forming 2.72% of the total Iraqi population; however, this census only allowed its citizens to indicate belonging to one of two ethnicities, Arab or Kurd, this meant that many Iraqi Turkmens identified themselves as Arabs (the Kurds not being a desirable ethnic group in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq), thereby skewing the true number of Iraqi Turkmen.^[18]

Estimated population[link]

The majority of Iraqi Turkmen live in the geo-cultural region of "Turkmeneli".

An Iraqi Turkmen protest in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Today, the figure mostly referred to by Kurdish groups and Western scholars is that Iraqi Turkmen make up 2-3% of the Iraqi population, or approximately 500,000-800,000;^[42] however, not all Western scholars accept this view, for example, in 2004 Scott Taylor suggested that the Iraqi Turkmen accounted for 2,080,000 of Iraq's 25 million inhabitants^[7] whilst Patrick Clawson has stated that the Iraqi Turkmen make up about 9% of the total population.^[39] Furthermore, international organizations such as the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization has stated that the Iraqi Turkmen community is 3 million or 13% of the Iraqi population.^[43][44] Iraqi Turkmen claim that their total population is over 3 million.^[45][2] They mainly live in an area called Turkmeneli, which stretches from the northwest to the east at the middle of Iraq. They consider their capital city to be Kirkuk.^[38]

Areas of settlement[link]

The Iraqi Turkmen community stretches from Talafar in the Northwest to Badra and al-Aziziyya in the al-Kut province in mid-eastern Iraq.^[44] Their strongest presence is in Northern Iraq, near Kirkuk, Mosul and Arbil.^[3] The 1957 census determined that those who declared their mother tongue as "Turkish" made up close to 40% of the population in the City of Kirkuk,^[45][46] which made up the majority of the population. Hence, Kirkuk is regarded as the heart of the Iraqi Turkmen community.^[45] The second-largest Iraqi Turkmen city is Tel Afar were they make up 95% of the inhabitants.^[47] According to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, at least 180,000 Iraqi Turkmen currently live in the city of Kirkuk; there is also at least 250,000 living in Arbil, 300,000 in Baghdad, 500,000 living in Mosul, and 227,000 in the Talafar district. The community also constitute a considerable part of the population of Badra in al-Kut province.^[44] However, the once mainly Turkoman cities of the Diyala Province and Kifri have been heavily Kurdified and Arabified.^[44]

Diaspora[link]

Most Iraqi Turkmen migrate to Turkey followed by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden.^[48] Smaller communities have been formed in Canada, the United States, Australia,^[48] Greece,^[49] and the United Kingdom.^[50]

Culture[link]

Language[link]

The dialect spoken by most Iraqi Turkmens is considered either South Azeri^[51][52] or intermediate between that and Anatolian Turkish,^[6] and is close to the dialects of Diyarbakır and Urfa in south-eastern Turkey.^[53] Many Iraqi Turkmens are bilingual or trilingual, Arabic is acquired through the mass media and through education at school whilst Kurdish is acquired in their neighbourhoods and through marriage.^[6]

Anatolian Turkish has long been the prestige dialect among Iraqi Turkmen and has exerted a profound historical influence on their dialect, to the extent that Iraqi Turkmen grammar differs sharply from that of other varieties of Azeri.^[53] Under the 1925 constitution, the use of Anatolian Turkish in schools, government offices and the media was allowed. Modern Turkish influence remained strong until the Arabic language became the new official language in the 1930s, and a degree of Turkmen–Turkish diglossia is still observable.^[54] Restrictions on the Turkish language began in 1972 and intensified under Saddam Hussein's regime.^[3][55] Currently, Anatolian Turkish is used as the formal written language. In 1997, the Iraqi Turkoman Congress adopted a Declaration of Principles, Article Three of which states the following:

The official written language of the Turkmans is Istanbul Turkish, and its alphabet is the new Latin alphabet.^[56][57]

The Iraqi Turkmen dialect is often called "Turkoman",^[58] "Turkmenelian"^[38] or "Turkmen",^[6] but should not be confused with the Turkmen language spoken in Turkmenistan.^[59]

Religion[link]

The majority of the Iraqi Turkmen community adhere to Islam and are divided into two sectors: Sunni (about 60%) and Shiite (about 40%).^[17][42]

Discrimination[link]

The position of the Iraqi Turkmens has changed from being administrative and business classes of the Ottoman Empire to an increasingly discriminated minority.^[20] Since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the Iraqi Turkmen have been victims of several massacres, such as the Kirkuk Massacre of 1959. Furthermore, under the Ba’th party, discrimination against the Iraqi Turkmens increased, with several leaders being executed in 1979^[20] as well as the Iraqi Turkmen community being victims of Arabization policies by the state, and Kurdification by Kurds seeking to push them forcibly out of their homeland.^[60] Thus, they have suffered from various degrees of suppression and assimilation that ranged from political persecution and exile to terror and ethnic cleansing. Despite being recognized in the 1925 constitution as a constitutive entity, the Iraqi Turkmens were later denied this status; hence, cultural rights were gradually taken away and activists were sent to exile.^[20]

Massacres[link]

Massacre of 4 May 1924[link]

In 1924, the Iraqi Turkmen were seen as a disloyal remnant of the Ottoman Empire, with a neutral tie to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's new Turkish nationalist ideology emerging in the Republic of Turkey.^[61] Therefore, the Iraqi Turkmens living in the region of Kirkuk posed a threat to the stability of Iraq, particularly as they did not support the ascendancy of King Faisal I to the throne.^[61] The Iraqi Turkmens were targeted by the British in collaboration with other Iraqi elements, of these, the most willing to subjugate the Iraqi Turkmens were the Iraq Levies- troops recruited from the Assyrian community that had sought refuge in Iraq from the Hakkari region of Turkey.^[61] The spark for the conflict had been a dispute between a Levi soldier and an Iraqi Turkmen shopkeeper, which was enough for the British to allow the Levies to attack the Iraqi Turkmens, resulting in the massacre of some 200 people.^[61]

Kirkuk massacre of 1959[link]

The Kirkuk massacre of 1959 came about due to the Iraqi government allowing the Iraqi Communist Party, which in Kirkuk was largely Kurdish, to target the Iraqi Turkmens.^[20][62] With the appointment of Maarouf Barzinji, a Kurd, as the mayor of Kirkuk in July 1959, tensions rose following the 14 July revolution celebrations, with animosity in the city polarizing rapidly between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmens. On 14 July 1959, fights broke out between the Iraqi Turkmen and Kurds, leaving some 20 Iraqi Turkmens dead.^[63] Furthermore, on 15 July 1959, Kurdish soldiers of the Fourth Brigade of the Iraqi army mortared Iraqi Turkmen residential areas, destroying 120 houses.^[63][64] Order was restored on 17 July by military units from Baghdad. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre"^[65] and stated that between 31 and 79 Iraqi Turkmen were killed and some 130 injured.^[63]

Assimilation Campaigns[link]

Arabization[link]

Turks protesting in Amsterdam, the banner reads: 'Kirkuk is an Iraqi city with Turkmen characteristics'.

In 1980, Saddam Hussein’s government adopted a policy of assimilation of its minorities. Due to government relocation programs, thousands of Iraqi Turkmen were relocated from their traditional homelands in northern Iraq and replaced by Arabs, in an effort to Arabify the region.^[66] Furthermore, Iraqi Turkmen villages and towns were destroyed to make way for Arab migrants, who were promised free land and financial incentives. For example, the Ba’th regime recognised that the city of Kirkuk was historically an Iraqi Turkmen city and remained firmly in its cultural orientation.^[62] Thus, the first wave of Arabization saw Arab families move from the centre and south of Iraq into Kirkuk to work in the expanding oil industry. Although the Iraqi Turkmens were not actively forced out, new Arab quarters were established in the city and the overall demographic balance of the city changed as the Arab migrations continued.^[62]

Several presidential decrees and directives from state security and intelligence organizations indicate that the Iraqi Turkmens were a particular focus of attention during the assimilation process during the Ba’th regime. For example, the Iraqi Military Intelligence issued directive 1559 on 6 May 1980 ordering the deportation of Iraqi Turkmen officials from Kirkuk, issuing the following instructions: "identify the places where Turkmen officials are working in governmental offices [in order] to deport them to other governorates in order to disperse them and prevent them from concentrating in this governorate [Kirkuk]".^[67] In addition, on 30 October 1981, the Revolution’s Command Council issued decree 1391, which authorized the deportation of Iraqi Turkmens from Kiruk with paragraph 13 noting that "this directive is specially aimed at Turkmen and Kurdish officials and workers who are living in Kirkuk".^[67]

As primary victims of these Arabization policies, the Iraqi Turkmen suffered from land expropriation and job discrimination, and therefore would register themselves as "Arabs" in order to avoid discrimination.^[68] Thus, ethnic cleansing was an element of the Ba’thist policy aimed at reducing the influence of the Iraqi Turkmens in northern Iraq's Kirkuk.^[69] Those Iraqi Turkmens who remained in cities such as Kirkuk were subject to continued assimilation policies;^[69] school names, neighbourhoods, villages, streets, markets and even mosques with names of Turkic origin were changed to names that emanated from the Ba’th Party or from Arab heroes.^[69] Moreover, many Iraqi Turkmen villages and neighbourhoods in Kirkuk were simply demolished, particularly in the 1990s.^[69]

Kurdification[link]

The formation of the Kurdistan Region in 1991 created high animosity between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen, resulting in Iraqi Turkmens being victims of Kurdification. The Kurds claimed de facto sovereignty over land still believed by Iraqi Turkmens to be rightfully theirs. For the Iraqi Turkmen, their identity is deeply inculcated as the rightful inheritors of the region as a legacy as the Ottoman Empire.^[70] Thus, the Kurdistan Region has constituted a threat to the survival of the Iraqi Turkmen through strategies aimed at eradicating or assimilating them.^[70] The largest concentration of Iraqi Turkmens tended to be in the de facto capital of Erbil, a city which they had assumed prominent administrative and economic positions. Thus, they increasingly came into dispute and often conflict with the ruling powers of the city, which after 1996 was the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani.^[71]

In the 1990s, tension between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmens inflamed as the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were institutionalized as the political hegemons of the region and, from the perspective of the Iraqi Turkmens, sought to marginalize them from the positions of authority and to subsume their culture with an all-pervading Kurdistani identity. With the support of Ankara, a new political front of Turkmen parties- the Iraqi Turkmen Front- was formed on 24 April 1995.^[71] The relationship between the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the Kurdistan Democratic Party was tense and deteriorated as the decade went on. Iraqi Turkmens associated with the Iraqi Turkmen Front complained about harassment by Kurdish security forces.^[71] In March 2000, the Human Rights Watch reported that the Kurdistan Democratic Party's security attacked the offices of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Erbil, killing two guards, following a lengthy period of disputes between the two parties.^[71] In 2002, the Kurdistan Democratic Party created an Iraqi Turkmen political organization, the Turkmen National Association, that supported the further institutionalization of the Kurdistan Region. This was viewed by pro-ITF Iraqi Turkmens as a deliberate attempt to "buy off" Iraqi Turkmen opposition and break their bonds with Ankara.^[72] Promoted by the KDP as the "true voice" of the Iraqi Turkmens, the Turkmen National Association has a pro-Kurdistani stance and has effectively wakened the ITF as the sole representative voice of the Iraqi Turkmens.^[72]

Present status[link]

Although some have been able to preserve their language, the Iraqi Turkmen today are being rapidly assimilated into the general population and are no longer tribally organized^[73]

Iraqi Turkmen have also emerged as a key political force in the controversy over the future status of northern Iraq and the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The government of Turkey has helped fund such political organizations as the Iraqi Turkmen Front, which opposes Iraqi federalism and in particular the proposed annexation of Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Regional Government.^[74]

Tensions between the two groups over Kirkuk, however, have slowly died out and on January 30, 2006, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, said that the "Kurds are working on a plan to give Iraqi Turkmen autonomy in areas where they are a majority in the new constitution they're drafting for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq."^[75] However, it never happened and the policies of Kurdification by KDP and PUK after 2003 (with non-Kurds being pressures to move) have prompted serious inter-ethnic problems.^[76]

Between ten and twelve Turkmen individuals were elected to the transitional National Assembly of Iraq in January 2005, including five on the United Iraqi Alliance list, three from the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), and either two or four from the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan.^[77][78]

In the December 2005 elections, between five and seven Turkmen candidates were elected to the Council of Representatives. This included one candidate from the ITF (its leader Sadettin Ergec), two or four from the United Iraqi Alliance, one from the Iraqi Accord Front and one from the Kurdistani Alliance.^[78][79]

Notable Iraqi Turkmen[link]

• İhsan Doğramacı, Pediatric physician, academic and honarary member of notable organisations such as WHO and UNICEF.
• Abdurrahman Kızılay, Famous composer and interpreter of popular Kirkuk songs.
• Abdülvahab Barğaş, popularly known as "Haba" very famous interpreter of Northern Iraqi songs.
• Mehmet Ali Erbil, Turkish comedian, actor and talk show host
• Reha Muhtar, Turkish television personality
• Hijri Dede poet
• Sinan Erbil singer
• Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid, Turkish painter
• Mehmet Türkmehmet, midfielder for Diyarbakirspor
• Younis Mahmoud, is an Iraqi Turkmen football striker. He currently plays for Al-Gharafa in Qatar and is the captain of the Iraq national football team

See also[link]

• Minority politics in Iraq
• Demographics of Iraq
• Iraqi Turkmen Front
• Turkmeneli
• Iraqi-Turkish relations

References[link]

Bibliography[link]