Turkmeneli

{{Short description|Political term for the region with an Iraqi Turkmen presence}}

File:Turkmeneli map on a monument in Altun Kopru.jpg ({{langx|tr|Altınköprü}}).]]

File:Iraqi Turkmen youth holding a Turkmeneli scarf.jpg

Turkmeneli, also known as Turkmenland,{{citation|last=Rich|first=Paul J.|year=2008|title=Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan|publisher=Lexington Books|page=x|isbn=978-1461633679}} and historically as Turcomania,{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=56}} ({{langx|tr|Türkmeneli|lit=Land of the Turkmens}}), and East Turkmeneli (Doğu Türkmeneli){{Cite web |title=DOĞU TÜRKMENELİ’DE BATI TÜRKMENELİ’YE ZİYARET |url=https://irakturkleri.org/haberler/dogu-turkmenelide-bati-turkmeneliye-ziyaret/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209120529/https://irakturkleri.org/haberler/dogu-turkmenelide-bati-turkmeneliye-ziyaret/ |archive-date=9 December 2023}} is a political term{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=56}} used to define the vast swath of territory in which the Iraqi Turkmens historically have had a dominant population.{{citation|last=Strakes|first=Jason E.|year=2009|title=Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen|journal=Iran & the Caucasus|volume=13|issue=2|publisher=Brill Publishers|page=369|doi=10.1163/157338410X12625876281505 }} The term incorporates the Iraqi Turkmen homelands running from Iraq's border with Turkey and Syria and diagonally down the country to the border with Iran.{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=56}} It is sometimes referred to as East Turkmeneli to distinguish from the Syrian Turkmen homeland, known as West Turkmeneli. Apart from the designation of the region as Turcomania in a 1785 map by William Guthrie, there's no certain mention of the region in published works until the establishment of the Iraqi Turkmen Front.{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=56}}

In particular, the Turkmen/Turkoman consider the capital of Turkmeneli to be disputed city of Kirkuk and its boundaries also include Tal Afar, Mosul (second largest city in Iraq), Erbil, Mandali, and Tuz Khurmatu.{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=57}}{{citation|last=Osman|first=Khalil|year=2015 |title=Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317674870|page=243}} According to Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, the Turkmen/Turkoman note that the term "Turcomania" – an Anglicized version of "Turkmeneli" – appears on a maps of the region published by William Guthrie and Adolf Stieler, however, there is no clear reference to Turkmeneli until the end of the twentieth century.{{sfn|Anderson|Stansfield|2009|p=56}}

The Turkmen homeland

The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkomans generally consider several major cities, and small districts associated with these cities, as part of their homeland.{{citation|last=Oğuzlu |first=Tarik H.|year=2004|title=Endangered community:The Turkoman identity in Iraq|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=24|issue=2 |publisher=Routledge|page=313|doi=10.1080/1360200042000296681 |hdl=11693/49129 |s2cid=56385519 |hdl-access=free}} The major cities claimed to be a part of Turkmeneli, in a north-to-south order, include: Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu (maybe sometimes even Tikrit) and Tal Afar, Sancar Altun Kupri, Kifri, Khanaqin, Kizil Ribat, Bakuba and Mendeli. Consequently, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north.

Prospects of an autonomous region

File:Iraqi Turkmen man in Kirkuk.jpg for a photo with a flag of Turkmeneli]]

According to Khalil Osman there has been "a raft of federalist schemes" proposed by various Turkmen/Turkoman political parties. For example, one controversial proposal to set up Turkmeneli as a Turkmen/Turkoman autonomous region included the areas northwest of Iraq, from Tal Afar in Nineveh Governorate, through Kirkuk Governorate and Tuz Khurmatu District in Saladin Governorate in north-central Iraq, to Mandali in the Diyala Governorate in the northeast of Baghdad.

Vahram Petrosian suggests that the Iraqi Turkmen Front's (ITF) forwarding of the idea of the recognition of Turkmeneli may pave the way for a future Kurdish-Turkmen conflict.{{citation|last=Petrosian|first=Vahram|year=2003|title=The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey|journal=Iran & the Caucasus|volume=7|issue=1/2|publisher=Brill Publishers|page=305|doi=10.1163/157338403X00150 }}

In 2016 Wassim Bassem reported that the Turkmen/Turkoman have been calling for their own independent province in the Tal Afar district.{{cite web|last=Bassem|first=Wassim|year=2016|title=Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/turkmens-iraq-mosul-tal-afar.html|publisher=Al-Monitor}} Their demands had coincided with calls for the establishment of other new provinces for the Christian and the Yazidi minorities.

On 17 July 2017, Turkmen representatives proposed that Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmatu become an autonomous Turkmen region and asked for a "special status" for Kirkuk at a summit in Baghdad under the name "Future of Turkmens in United Iraq".[http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraqi-turkmen-to-propose-special-status-for-kirkuk/819747 Iraqi Turkmen to propose "special status" for Kirkuk], Anadolou Agency They also called for "training and equipping the Turkmen Hashd al-Shaabi forces."[http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraq-meeting-tackles-turkmens-future-in-post-daesh-era/820477 Iraq meeting tackles Turkmens' future in post-Daesh era], Anadolou Agency

Independence movement

Pan-Turkists advocated for Iraqi Turkmen to separate from Iraq and form East Turkmeneli, and for Syrian Turkmen to separate from Syria and form West Turkmeneli, which would both unite and form the State of Turkmeneli, which would be a prerequisite for Pan-Turkism.MİLLÎ EDEBİYAT, PROF. DR. NURULLAH ÇETİN, PROF. DR. FATİH SAKALLI, DR. CENGİZ KARATAŞ, 2021, pp. 142, {{ISBN|9786057415745}}

Iraqi Turkmen nationalists were divided between those who wanted to join Turkey and those who wanted an independent Turkmeneli.Nationalism Today: Extreme Political Movements Around the World [2 Volumes], 2020, pp. 392-393, {{ISBN|9781440850004}} Iraqi Turkmen nationalists advocated for a Turkmeneli stretching from Tal Afar to Mandali, with its capital in Kirkuk.Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Paul J. Rich, 2008, pp. x, {{ISBN|9781461633679}} After the expiration of the Treaty of Lausanne in 2023, many Iraqi Turkmen expressed hope that Turkmeneli, especially Mosul and Kirkuk, would become part of Turkey.Iraqi Turkmen: The Controversy of Identity and Affiliation, 2021, pp. 16, Dr. Ali Taher Al-Hamoud

Gallery

File:Village of Yahyava sign.jpg|Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish

File:Welcome sign to the village of Çardağlı.jpg|Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish

File:The Martyr Necdet Koçak Park-Square.jpg|Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish

References

Bibliography

{{citation|last1=Anderson|first1=Liam|last2=Stansfield|first2=Gareth|year=2009|title=Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0812206043}}
{{citation|last=Oğuzlu|first=Tarik H.|year=2004|title=Endangered community: the Turkoman identity in Iraq |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=24|issue=2|pages=309–325 |publisher=Routledge|doi=10.1080/1360200042000296681 |hdl=11693/49129 |s2cid=56385519 |hdl-access=free}}
{{citation|last=Osman|first=Khalil|year=2015|title=Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1317674870}}
{{citation|last=Petrosian|first=Vahram|year=2003|title=The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey|journal=Iran & the Caucasus|volume=7|issue=1/2|pages=279–308 |publisher=Brill Publishers|doi=10.1163/157338403X00150 }}
{{citation|last=Rich|first=Paul J.|year=2008|title=Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan |publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-1461633679}}
{{citation|last=Strakes|first=Jason E.|year=2009|title=Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen |journal=Iran & the Caucasus|volume=13|issue=2|pages=365–382 |publisher=Brill Publishers|doi=10.1163/157338410X12625876281505 }}