Iraqi Turkmen Front accuses Peshmerga of bombing villages in Tuz Khormato

Peshmerga forces have bombed villages on the outskirts of Tuz Khormato, in the Saladin province, the Iraqi Turkmen Front has said yesterday.

Speaking at a session held by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee regarding the situation of minorities in Iraq and Syria, the Front’s UK representative Sundus Abbas said the majority of the population of this area was Turkmen.

In addition to the Peshmerga’s bombings, Abbas also mentioned that Turkmen forces were subject to attacks by PKK forces. She said the attacks took place between November 2015 and April 2016 and that civilians were killed during these attacks.

“Nearly 600,000 Turkmen were displaced from their areas and are lacking medical services, food and shelter.”

“Turkmen in Iraq are besieged by the central government, the Kurdish regional government, the PKK and Daesh, while the international community has been overlooking the oppression exercised by Daesh against the Turkmens,” she added.

She explained that the Turkmens make up 13 per cent of the population in Iraq, amounting to nearly three million people. They are deprived of their basic rights and are systematically subject to forced integration under Arab or Kurdish identities, she said.