Country: Iraq
Group: Turkmen
Date Finalized: 9/28/21
Team: Natasha Chandra (lead), Li-Chen Hou, Zaida Arellano Reyes
The Turkmen in Iraq have suffered from forced displacement in Iraq. The data quality is a 2 because there are accounts of forced removal of the Turkmen but few from legitimate sources.
The Turkmen are the third largest ethnic group living in Iraq (Minority Rights Group 2015). More than half are Sunni while the remainder are Ithna’ashari or Shia. The Turkmen speak a Turkish dialect and have preserved their language. The Iraq government has attacked, killed, and kidnapped Turkmen resulting in forced migration of almost one tenth of its population (Strakes, 2009). In 2014, ISIS made gains in northern Iraq. Members of ISIS carried out “campaigns of terror” on Shia Turkmen communities, attacking villages, burning down Turkmen homes, setting fire to crops, stealing livestock, blowing up Shia mosques, abducting Turkmen and expelling families (Minority Rights Group, 2015). Due to these attacks an estimated 200,000 Turkmen fled the area (Minority Rights Group, 2015). Currently, displaced Shia Turkmen from Tal Afar and other districts have been unable to return to their homes (Minority Rights Group, 2015).
Sources
- Minority Rights Group. (2015, June 19). Turkmen. Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/turkmen/.
- Strakes, J. (2009). Current political complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen. Iran & the Caucasus, 13(2), 365-382. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25703815.
- The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. (2013, July 12). UNPO: Commemoration of the Anniversary of the Kirkuk Massacre. https://unpo.org/article/16177