This article was written on 22.02.2008 for internalcirculation. It is rewritten for public circulation on 27.02.2009

There are several important factors that have negatively influenced the development of the Turkmen political structure, such as the long history of isolation, exposure to the fierce assimilation policies and remaining in between two stronger nationalist communities: the Arabs and Kurds.

The disregard for Turkmen communal interests and the absence of co-operation and solidarity between Turkmen political groups can be considered one of the most destructive factors to the Turkmen political system since the establishment of the Safe Haven in 1991, particularly since the occupation of Iraq in 2003.

Today, the political authority of the Iraqi Turkmen is feeble and has no power of influence.

As the most powerful Turkmen organization and receiver of sizeable external support, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) holds the primary responsibility for the retardation of the Turkmen political system. [1] Its shortcoming can be summarized as follows:

ü       It is one of the most important obstacles for reform of the Turkmen political system. It refuses calls for any type of reform and the Turkmen Council which is administered by ITF is a puppet organization representing only one political view.

ü       The ITF suffers from destructive internal disagreements.

ü       The ITF could not gain and/or lost the support of most of the Iraqi Turkmen population, including Iraqi Turkmen intellectuals and politicians.

ü       Both inside and outside Iraq the ITF is marginalized.

ü       The ITF has unwisely introduced the fundamentalist – secular discrimination into the Turkmen politics

ü       The ITF employment policy in the Iraqi administration has:

§         Openly diverted the power of the ITF and frequently to act against Turkmen national interests

§         Made the Turkmen of Iraq fail to get political and logistic support from several important national, regional and international powers

The continuation of this state of affairs will further deteriorate the Turkmen political structure and expose the Turkmen population to further disappointments while several serious challenges are approaching in the upcoming periods.

The important characteristics of the ITF system that render it ineffectual and inhibit its development are:

ü       Several organs elect themselves, for example, the Turkmen council elects the delegation of the Turkmen Congress which in turn elects the Turkmen council. As a result, the Turkmen council elects itself.

ü       The Turkmen council elects the nine members of the ITF’s executive board which elects the president of the ITF. The president has absolute executive control and dominates the decision making mechanism. [2]

ü       The Turkmen council which was instituted as the highest Turkmen authority has remained ineffective.

ü       Some important offices are headed by members of the same family and in other offices there are several members from one family.

ü       Dramatic variations between the budgets of offices of the ITF.

ü       The expenses are greatly inflated which raises the possibility of corruption.

ü       Disloyalty to the ITF results in the marginalization or dismissal of the person concerned and his relatives who work for the ITF

The source of finance for the ITF is the Turkmeneli Foundation whose headquarters are in Ankara. When the present president of ITF was elected (in fact was appointed) in 2005, one of his relatives was appointed as the head of the Turkmeneli Foundation.

Certifying authorities of finance expenditures from the Turkmeneli Foundation are as follows: First, the owner of the ITF should agree to any type of spending. [1] Secondly, the president of the ITF is authorized and thirdly president of the Turkmeneli Foundation.

Accusation against the Turkmeneli Foundation and the Iraqi Turkmen Front for corruption and maladministration can be based on the followings:

ü       The inflated spending during the unplanned and ill-programmed annual summer meetings organized by the ITF for Diaspora Turkmen organizations in Ankara

ü       The huge spending during the protest meeting in Ankara in spring 2007

ü       The spending during the Iraqi elections of 2005.

ü       The great differences between the budgets of the offices of the ITF.

There can be no doubt that the freedom of expression, speech and press are considered blessings in a democracy. This is built on the hypothesis that projects can be improved and developed, issues can be addressed and problems can be solved if discussed.

But for several reasons, the Turkmen community almost completely, does not publish self-criticism and those who do meet great resistance. This can be considered as one of the major factors that have deteriorated the Turkmen political structure and inhabited the development of the Turkmen political system. Today, the Turkmen political structure is powerless and vulnerable.

Now, with the provincial elections approaching, Turkmen intellectuals, writers and politicians are all silent about the widely expected defeat in the elections.

The failure of the ITF had already been proved in the Iraqi general elections of 2005. The ninety thousand votes which the ITF won in the election of January 2005 decreased to seventy thousands votes in the election of December 2005. It is worth noting that the ITF:

ü       Claims to be the only legal representative of the Iraqi Turkmen

ü       Was the only Turkmen list in the aforementioned elections

ü       Estimates the number of the Iraqi Turkmen at approximately 3 millions

The Turkmen population, which already suffers from several threatening challenges and weaknesses within its national power centers, has been obliged to accept the electoral defeat. But with disregard to the huge threats facing Turkmen national rights, the ITF political system remained unchanged.

Today, the Turkmen of Iraq prepare to participate in the upcoming provincial elections through the same defeated ITF faces:

ü       Absence of Turkmen public support to the ITF, which can be clearly detected from just a simple poll in the streets of Kerkuk

ü       In the other Turkmen regions, the ITF suffer from even bigger problems

In this state of affairs, the expected number of Turkmen representatives in the Iraqi parliament and in the city councils will be:

ü       Severely decreased

ü       Disproportional to the size of the Turkmen in Iraq

ü       Insufficient to defend the Iraqi Turkmen and unable to deal with violations of Turkmen rights

Therefore, the ITF authorities and particularly its owner [1] will hold the historical responsibilities of these defeats from which the Turkmen of Iraq have suffered since the early 1990s.

A rich cultural heritage, high percentage of educated people, large population size and the geopolitical importance of their region have all been factors that made the Turkmen of Iraq resist several decades of suppression and preserve their language and culture. Consequently, the presence of a powerful Turkmen political structure will help to balance the national conflicts inside Iraq and support national and regional stability.

To revive the Turkmen Council and free it from subordination is one of the options to rescue the Turkmen political system. The Turkmen intellectuals, particularly those who played important roles in defending the Turkmen rights during the most dangerous Baath period, should be allowed to participate in the Turkmen political processes and compete for the membership of the Turkmen council. [3] The sectarian and regional discriminations in Turkmen policy should be abandoned. The Turkmen council should be opened to all Turkmen political and civil society organizations. The Turkmen Shi’a parties, which have important numbers of parliamentarians, should be included in the Turkmen council. The Turkmen television should be handed to the professionals and sufficiently staffed. The political parties should enlarge their basic substructures and number of members. The support of the national and regional powers should be ensured.

To remove the impression of political loyalty and to increase the number and efficacy of the Turkmen civil society organizations, the funds should be established to enable them to realize their projects. Turkmen institutions should be established and/or improved in the fields of media, culture, sport, music and literature.

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Reference

1.       The Iraqi Turkmen Front was founded by the Turkish army in 1995.

2.       In April 2008 and due to the despotic administration of the president of ITF, seven of the nine members of the executive board published a press release and ousted the president. Ankara refused to accept the ousting operation and demanded the change to be done through the 5^th Turkmen Congress. Two Turkmen sent from Ankara and with continuous remote control, the fifth Turkmen Congress was organized, like a staged theater play. During the Congress, four of the seven members of the executive board, who expelled the ITF president and were presidents of four political parties under the ITF umbrella, were expelled out of the ITF. The other three, who were the heads of ITF offices in different regions, were silenced. The president remained unchanged.  

3. The largest numbers of well known Turkmen politicians, writers, high-ranking officials, academics, high-ranking retired officers, legislators could not have opportunity to participate in the Turkmen political processes.

ارشيف مجلة تركمان العراق SOITM Stichting Onderzoekscentrum Iraaks Turkmeense Mensenrechten Nijmegen - The Netherlands soitm@turkmen.nl