Turkmen Front delegation in New York, wants special status for Kirkuk
29 June 2007, Friday
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Chairman Sadettin Ergec, also a Kirkuk deputy at the Iraqi Parliament, said on Friday that their struggle aimed to save Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Turkmens or at least earn it a special status.
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Chairman Sadettin Ergec, also a Kirkuk deputy at the Iraqi Parliament, said on Friday that their struggle aimed to save Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Turkmens or at least earn it a special status.
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Chairman Sadettin Ergec, also a Kirkuk deputy at the Iraqi Parliament, said on Friday that their struggle aimed to save Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Turkmens or at least earn it a special status.
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Chairman Sadettin Ergec, also a Kirkuk deputy at the Iraqi Parliament, said on Friday that their struggle aimed to save Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Turkmens or at least earn it a special status.
Ergec and the accompanying Turkmen delegation travelled to New York on Thursday after concluding talks in Washington D.C and got together with the Turkish-American community in New York at a meeting organised by the Assembly of Turkish-American Association and the New York Turkmen Institute.
Ergec delivered a speech at the meeting and briefed the audience about the situation of Turkmens in Kirkuk and the problems they faced, prior to the referendum scheduled to be held towards the end of the year.
Ergec underlined that the adoption of the Iraqi constitution was a mistake and said Iraqi Turkmens were not granted the rights they deserved. Ergec said the reason why they attached so much importance to the Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was because it posed significant threats to Iraqi Turkmens.
"Kirkuk, a Turkmen city by all means, is under intense pressure and the efforts exerted to alter the demographic structure of the city aiming to effect the outcome of the referendum in favour of the Iraqi Kurds were successful", Ergec said.
Ergec said they would reject a census or a referendum to be held should the normalisation process be mishandled bearing injustice for Turkmens.
"We will use all the rights at our disposition and continue our struggle. Our primary goal is to save our capital Kirkuk. An unwanted outcome in Kirkuk will cause the Turkmen land to be divided and Turkmen community to collapse. Therefore our aim is to at least earn Kirkuk a special status," said Ergec.
Ergec said their talks with the U.S and UN officials in Washington D.C and New York took place in a positive atmosphere. Ergec indicated that they reiterated during talks that Kirkuk was a Turkmen city and received positive responses for the most part. The New Anatolian
