Iraqi Turkmen – Racist Colonial Projects of Arabization and Kurdification Progress Denounced

In seven previous articles, entitled "William Guthrie’s Turcomania: the Correct Name for Inexistent Kurdistan", "Jews and Turkmen Can Prosper Again in Tuz Khurmatu – With Turkey Annexing North Iraq", "Iraq’s Turkmenia to Merge with Turkey: Primary Concern of All Turks and Muslims", "Tombstone on Fake Kurdistan: Turkmen Political and Religious Movements in Iraq", "Turkmen Culture and Literature in Northern Iraq – True Identity vs. Fake Kurdish Propaganda", "Protect Iraq’s Turkmen Cultural Heritage from Barbaric "Kurdish" Terrorists" and "Iraqi Turkmen History Reveals Evil Freemasonic Plan to Create a Bogus - Kurdish Nation", I published the first six chapters (and parts of the lengthy seventh chapter) of an insightful book published by Mofak Salman Kerkuklu, one of the Turkmen foremost intellectuals, on "The Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu".

As the book bears witness to the Turkmen identity of the Northern Iraqi city, it consists in an excellent refutation of disastrous plans that provide for the formation of a fake state ‘Kurdistan’ which will plunge into strife and disaster the subjugated non-Kurdish nations and ethno-religious groups, either those identified as unrelated (Turkmen, Aramaean, Jewish) or those labeled "Kurds" (Zaza, Sorani, Yazidi, Ahl-e Haq, Feyli, etc.).

In the present article, I publish further parts of the vast seventh chapter, which cover the various – all colonial – phases of Modern History of Iraq with focus on Tuz Khormatu. Through an overview of Mesopotamia’s Modern History, one understands that all the problems of the various local peoples and ethno-religious groups derived from the evil colonial plans of the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge that totally controls the political establishments of England and France, and through them manages to produce local level agents – traitors of their own nations, who become the best tools for the implementation of the evil Anglo-French Freemasonic agenda for Global Slavery (stage 1) and Mass Extermination (stage 2).

What the Pseudo-Kurdish Terrorists Talabani and Barzani, Puppets of the Anglo-French Freemasonry, Fail to Understand

The Anti-Ottoman, Anti-Turkish and Anti-Muslim, Anti-Christian and Anti-Aramaean, Anti-Persian and Anti-Oriental racism, hysteria and evilness of the tyrannical, murderous and inhuman regimes of Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau have triggered all the problems and all the disasters that have befallen on the historical peoples of the vast colonized periphery of the Ottoman Empire.

In their evil plans, the colonial gangsters involved the most backward and the most ignorant tribal rulers

- on whom they projected their fallacious version of History,

- whom they villainously and disproportionately flattered in order to turn them from unimportant mountain chieftains of non-value to significant and ludicrous clowns – pawns of their agenda (that the colonial gangsters do not however dare reveal to their puppets – slaves),

- with whom they planned to work, promoting disloyalty and immorality, at the detriment of the normal and rightful political authorities (the Ottoman and the Persian Empires), and at the prejudice of the outright majority of the local nations and ethno-religious groups,

- to whom they made favors and promises in order to shamefully utilize them and criminally instrumentalize them for their hidden agenda’s materialization,

and

- for whom they have already reserved an abominable end full of disgrace, treachery and blood, as all the English colonials’ puppets – rulers have been killed by the same way, namely rulers’ subordinates who were also employed by the colonials as agents against their local masters.

In fact, the paranoid US – EU decision to consider terrorist groups as possible interlocutors and to unwisely demonstrate predilection to unrepresentative political groups that have provenly terrorized other nations and ethno-religious groups risks

- triggering mass extermination of the Aramaeans, the Turkmen and others,

and

- fomenting an incredible strife among the different peoples whom the English colonial propaganda and the criminal but idiotic chieftains Talabani and Barzani label as "Kurds". On this issue, I will however dedicate further articles.

Here suffice it to state that the Turkmen historicity of many lands falsely claimed as ‘Kurdish’ will be one of the obstacles to the evil plans of the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge to set up a bogus-state called Kurdistan that will be the Hell-on-Earth.

The Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu
By Mofak Salman Kerkuklu

The social era of General Abdul Salam Arif (1963–1967)

The ensuing era of General Abdul Salam Arif (1963–1967) was one of the best periods for Turkmen in Iraq. The culprits of the 1959 Kirkuk massacre were hanged in the two big squares of Kirkuk by the government. Turkmen were allowed to run cultural associations and schools, publish magazines and newspapers in the Latin characters of Turkish and get some posts in government. This made them very happy and they demonstrated excellently that as citizens of Iraq they could work for their country and live in co‐operation with other Iraqis.

The Ba’ath Period 1968–2003

After the coup d'état of the 17th July 1968, which brought the Ba'ath party to power in Iraq, efforts were made to end the Kurdish rebellion in the north-east of the country. Generous incentives were presented to the Kurdish rebel leader, Mullah Mustafa Barzani, by the Ba'ath regime in 1970 to put an end to his rebellion by offering him an autonomous Kurdish region with Erbil city (another Turkmen city) as its capital. In doing this, the Iraqi government acted in total disregard of the Turkmen interests in Iraq and particularly of those of the 300 000 unfortunate Turkmen of Erbil, who were sacrificed by the Ba'ath regime and offered as a ‘present’ to Mullah Mustafa Barzani in return for his acceptance to end the Kurdish rebellion.

In the 1970s, as it became more and more clear that Mullah Mustafa Barzani's ambitions and plans were to take over Kirkuk, control its oil wealth and declare an independent Kurdish state, the Iraqi government (Ba'ath regime) acted to maintain Iraq's territorial unity and to counter Barzani's ambitions. However, the Iraqi government has refused to accede to the Kurdish rebels’ demands to include the Turkmen city of Kirkuk as part of the Kurdish autonomous region for economical and political reasons and because the overwhelming majority of the population in Kirkuk were Turkmen. Moreover, Saddam Hussein’s government did not carry out the agreement of 1970; thus, the Kurdish rebels renewed their fight against the central government in Baghdad.

Nevertheless, the Ba’ath party period commencing in 1968 had opened one of the darkest chapters in Turkmen history. The Turkmen Cultural Directorate that was set up by government to bring Turkmen under strict control was not working according to the government plans. Thus, Saddam Hussein’s regime started new a policy, which is commonly referred to as Arabisation (‘ta’rib’), was invoked by the Iraqi government programme. Arab families were resettled from southern Iraq to replace and dilute the Turkmen population but the Turkmen have opposed policies of the Ba'ath regime and have vigorously contested the regime's authoritarian Arabisation policy.

During the Ba’ath regime, the Turkmen of Iraq have suffered a great deal and paid a costly price for their opposition. They have lost hundreds of their political activists and intellectuals. Thousands of Turkmen have been forced into internal deportation and faced confiscation of their lands and properties. Numerous Turkmen villages have been destroyed and thousands of Arabs from the south of Iraq have been paid large sums of money to come and settle in the Turkmen regions to replace the deported original Turkmen inhabitants and take over their lands and properties. This was a brutal and horrible ethnic cleansing policy imposed by the Ba'ath regime on Iraq's third largest ethnic group, the unfortunate, unarmed and defenceless Turkmen.

Arabisation of Tuz Khormatu

As I have stated, to reduce the concentration of the Turkmen population in Turkmeneli regions in general, and Kirkuk in particular, the Iraqi government established an Arabisation (‘ta’rib’)policy, which can be defined as the systematic forcible transfer of the Turkmen and Kurdish populations, aimed at changing the demographic nature of northern Iraq. The Iraqi government programme of resettling Arab families, who were brought from southern Iraq to replace and dilute the Turkmen and Kurd populations accompanied this. The forced and arbitrary transfer of populations is not permissible under international law and is a crime against humanity. Nevertheless, Saddam Hussein’s government sought to alter the demographic make up of northern Iraq in order to reduce the political power and presence of Turkmen and Kurds and to consolidate control over this oil rich region; this covered areas reaching from the town of Mandeli, close to the Iranian border, to the Syrian and Turkish border areas around Telafer.[Doc.1]

Many Turkmen and Kurdish villages were bulldozed and new Arab settlements were built nearby. The main object of the Arabisation policy is to reduce the Turkmen population in Kirkuk and the surrounding regions. Therefore, the Iraqi government has annexed the district of Tuz Khormatu, which was linked to Kirkuk city until 1970. Because of the Arabisation policy, the Ba’ath regime have decided to link it to a newly established province, called Saladdin (Tikrit), which is 130 km from Kirkuk, whereas Tuz Khormatu is 75 km from Kirkuk. Nevertheless, the district of Tuz Khormatu city was annexed to the Saladdin province by an official government legislation number 434, which was issued on 11th September 1989.[1][Doc.2] In addition, the Ba’ath regime linked the Kifri district to the Diyala province. The Turkmen district of Altun Kopri, which was annexed from Erbil, governs the Kirkuk province thus the area that Kirkuk governs was reduced from 19 543 km2 to 9426 km2, hence Kirkuk became the fourth largest province in Iraq.[2]

The properties and most other assets seized from the Turkmen victims were distributed among the new Arab arrivals as part of a package of economic incentives. Simultaneously, the Iraqi government brought in landless Arabs from the nearby Al‐Jazeera desert in Northern Iraq and others from central and southern Iraq to settle in the Turkmen area. Furthermore, titles for the rich agricultural lands seized from the Kurds and Turkmen were invalidated upon their expulsion and the land was then leased under annual contracts to Arab farmers. Many of those expelled have since been living in camps for the internally displaced in the northern Kurdish‐controlled governorates outside Iraq for over a decade.

The forced mass displacement of populations based on their ethnic identity and attempts to Arabise Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu date back to the discovery of major oil reserves in Kirkuk city in the 1920s, while Iraq was still under British mandate. Oil from the Kirkuk fields was not successfully extracted until 1927, but oil rights were first conceded to the Iraqi Petroleum Company consortium on 14th March 1925.

The Arabisation policy first occurred on a massive scale in the second half of the 1970s. During the Arabisation period, Saddam Hussein’s government controlled the oil industry. In addition, the Ba’ath regime brought in large numbers of Arab workers instead of employing local Turkmen and Kurds in the Iraqi Petroleum Company. The Turkmen were also excluded, as the Iraqi government embarked on massive irrigation projects, which began in the 1930s on the Hawija, Qaraj and Qari‐Teppa plains around Kirkuk, which became a rich agricultural region. Later projects helped the Iraqi government to settle several large nomadic Arab tribes from southern Iraq on these newly fertile lands.

The provisional constitution announced by the President of Iraq, General Ahmed Hassan Bakr, on 24th January 1970, Article 5:

The people of Iraq consist of two groups: Arabs and Kurds. The national and the legal rights of all ethnic minorities are acknowledged within the unity of Iraq. The cultural rights seemed to be set to include the cultural rights of the minorities in Iraq. In this declaration, the section of the Turkmen rights consists of:[Doc.3]

The Turkmen shall receive primary education in Turkish in the area where they live and the Turkmen language will be the medium of instruction at the primary education stage.

A directorate of Turkmen education shall be established and attached to the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Turkmen publications shall be encouraged and assisted and this shall be attached to a union of Iraqi writers.

A weekly newspaper and a monthly magazine in the Turkish language shall be published.

The number of Turkmen programmes in the Turkmen language on Kirkuk TV shall be increased.

In 1972, at the height of the Cold War, Iraq signed a 15-year treaty with the Soviet Union. Saddam Hussein’s regime undertook wide-ranging social and economic reforms to try to increase its popularity. By March 1970, an agreement was reached between the government and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) over the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish area. The government also nationalised the Iraqi Petroleum Company, which had been set up under the British administration and was pumping cheap oil to the West.

Soaring oil revenues resulting from the 1973 oil crisis were invested in industry, education and healthcare, raising Iraq’s standard of living to one of the highest in the Arab world. But Saddam Hussein’s government did not carry out the agreement of 1970; thus, a conflict broke out between the Kurds and the government’s armed forces in the spring of 1974.

The Kurds in the north of Iraq, who were funded by the USA-backed Shah of Iran Mohammed Riza Pahlavi, have rebelled against the central government in Baghdad. The intensity of the conflict and the economical damage caused to the Iraqi economy pushed Baghdad to the negotiating table with Iran, in a famous agreement that was signed between the Shah and Saddam Hussein in Algeria, where Iraq agreed to share control of the disputed Sha’tt al-Arab waterway with Iran. The Shah of Iran, Mohammed Riza Pahlavi cut off the Kurds’ funds and the Iraqi regime put down their uprising. Also, Saddam Hussein extended his grip on power, stationing relatives and allies in key government and business roles. In 1978, the Ba’ath regime passed a new law, under which membership of opposition parties became punishable by death. The following year, Saddam Hussein forced General Ahmed Hassan Bakr’s resignation – officially, because of ill health – and assumed the presidency. He executed dozens of his rivals within days of taking power.

The National Congress of the Ba'ath Party, 1971, and the impact on Turkmen

The National Congress of the Ba’ath Party, held in 1971, reached a decision to make Kirkuk city and the surrounding area an Arab city by the 1980s. In accordance with this decision, the following measures were taken:

For instance, all education in Iraq was entirely in the Arabic language. The schools providing education in the Turkmen language were closed down in phases. The names of the Turkmen schools were changed to Arabic names. Arabic education became compulsory in all Turkmen‐populated areas.[Doc.4][Doc.5][Doc.6]

The teachers of these schools were appointed to other areas against their wishes. All these steps were taken by the Ba’ath regime to assimilate the Turkmen in the area and to prevent their cultural development.

There were 137 schools in 1970, but by 1971 this figure had fallen to 68. The decomposition of Iraqi Turkmen was an Iraqi policy passed down from one government to the next. This involved moving the Turkmen from the north to the south of Iraq and spreading them all over the country to decompose their national identity. In short, the Turkmen received almost no attention from the Western media, but they are the third largest demographic component of Iraq.[Doc. 8] Since 1970, the Iraqi Government has resorted to various means to assimilate the Turkmen and to ‘Arabise’ the region. For example, tens of thousands of Turkmen families were deported against their wills into the south of Iraq and hundreds of Turkmen villages were destroyed by the Iraqi regime under a variety of pretexts.[Doc.9][Doc.10] Simultaneously, the Iraqi government brought in landless Arabs from southern Iraq and other parts of Iraq to be settled in their place, enticing them with free housing and other economic incentives. This Arabisation policy is aimed at bringing about demographic changes designed to reduce the political power and presence of Turkmen, thereby consolidating the government’s control over this region.

Teachers were transferred to the south of Iraq and a variety of legislation was introduced by the Revolutionary Command Council to prevent the Turkmen from seeking any employment in Turkmen‐populated areas, especially, Kirkuk City. Turkmen leaders and elders were often falsely accused of spying for Turkey or Iran, or accused of being members of illegal organisations. [Doc.11][Doc.13][Doc.14][Doc.15][Doc.17][Doc.19]

All these steps were carried out intentionally, in order to change the demography of the Turkmen‐populated area. The Arabisation of Turkmen became a state policy in 1971, when the General Assembly of the Ba’ath Party decided to Arabise Kirkuk. This continued until 1980.[Doc.12][Doc.16][Doc.18]

Administrative boundaries were changed in 1974 to divide Turkmen concentrations. Since the mid 1970s, Arabs have enjoyed special incentives and rights, encouraging them to move to historically Turkmen areas, including particularly the oil‐rich cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.[Doc.16][Doc.18]

Turkmen societies, institutions and properties were officially ‘Arabised’. This meant that the Iraqi administration not only prohibited the people from speaking Turkish in public but also punished even those who spoke privately in that language.[Doc.4][Doc.5] Many Turkmen‐settlement names were changed to Arabic by the Iraqi regime. Kirkuk City was officially changed to Al‐Tamim (literally: ‘nationalisation’, marking the nationalisation of the Western‐owned Iraq Petroleum Company in 1972) by resolution number 41 of the Council of the Revolutionary Command, dated 29th January 1976. The largest township therein, Tuz Khormatu , was administratively attached to Tikrit, which is the place of birth of Saddam Hussein.[Doc.2]

The province of Kirkuk has continually shrunk in size with successive administrative decrees and thus the size of Kirkuk province, which was 20 000 square kilometres in 1975, came down to half that figure. Consequently, Kirkuk, with 4.2% of the land area and formerly the fourth largest province of Iraq, is presently the 14th largest province, with only 2% of land area. The Turkmen names of all the streets, shops, supermarkets, mosques, graveyards, parks, sports centres and entertainment centres were changed to Arabic names. [Doc.4][Doc.5][Doc.6][Doc.7]

The towns of Tuz Khormatu, Kifri and Chamchamal were affiliated to neighbouring provinces. Elsewhere, in the oil‐rich regions, the government had already resorted to re‐drawing Iraq’s administrative map in an effort to alter the demographic make‐up of disputed areas once and for all. The boundaries of Kirkuk province were redrawn such that an Arab majority was ensured in key areas. Several major towns with a clear Kurdish majority were reallocated to existing neighbouring provinces or to the newly created Salahuddin province.[Doc.2]

Kirkuk province was renamed Al‐Tamim. The authorities then embarked on a massive campaign of forced relocation: tens of thousands of residents were evicted from their homes in areas with significant oil deposits, as well as in disputed areas. These included Kirkuk, Khaniqin, Mandeli and Shaikhan, where the majority of deportees were removed to locations in southern Iraq; many were abandoned without any shelter. Others were housed in rudimentary camps along major routes under military control. In their place came Arab families from various southern tribes, encouraged by the government with financial remuneration and other benefits.

Many Turkmen quarters’ towns and villages were changed and replaced with Arabic names[Doc.4] in accordance with a decision taken by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior on the 20th of May, 1976, to rename Turkish villages with Arabic names. In accordance with the directives given by the Revolutionary Command Council in 1985, the party authorities called the eldest people of the Turkmen tribe and informed them about the new Arabic surnames that they were to use. The authorities prepared false lineage registers and replaced the Turkmen names with Arabic ones. These pressures have also been implemented in educational and cultural fields. The names of some of the Turkmen schools were changed and Arabic names were assigned in accordance with the plan of assimilating the Turkmen amongst the Arabs.

As in the other Arabised areas, the Iraqi government replaced the expelled Kurdish and Turkmen populations of Kirkuk with Arabs, most of them Shi`aa families brought from the south. Arabs took over the homes of expelled Kurdish and Turkmen families. The Iraqi government also constructed entire new Arab neighbourhoods, such as al‐Nasr, al‐Hurriya and al‐Qadisiyya, to alter drastically the ethnic demographics of Kirkuk — the very aim of Arabisation. The Arabs who came to Kirkuk tended to be more urbanised, middle‐class professionals than the Arab farmers who settled in rural villages. In addition, the Iraqi government offered the newly arrived Arabs a free plot of land and 10 000 Dinars as incentive.

To reduce the potential power and the influence of Turkmen in Kirkuk and the surrounding region, only the Arabs were selected for employment in a new workshop set up in Kirkuk. None of the Turkmen who had applied for employment were accepted.[Doc.17] it is most unfair that there is not a single Turkmen employed in Kirkuk City among the 750 officials who have been appointed to the municipality of Kirkuk. Previously, 80% of the employees were Turkmen. This shows the discrimination of the Iraqi government against the Turkmen.[Doc.12] Also, Saddam Hussein’s regime has produced various legislations, to change the demography of the area.

They wanted to dilute the concentration of Turkmen within the Arab society. One law that was passed decreed that Turkmen graduates in general, but particularly those who had graduated from Turkish universities, were not to be employed in Kirkuk and the surrounding areas.[Doc.20] The Iraqi government discouraged the Iraqi Turkmen from taking higher education in Turkey by endorsing stamps on the Turkmen ethnic passport stating that the holder of the passport could travel to all countries except Israel and Turkey. Moreover, the Iraqi government utilised a variety of methods to prevent Turkmen families from forwarding any financial support to their children who were studying in Turkish universities.

Turkmen in Kirkuk were forbidden from possessing and operating a petrol station in Kirkuk and the surrounding areas. Moreover, Turkmen were forbidden from making export or import bids. Arabised policy was included by placing restrictions on employment and transfer of government employees to posts outside the Turkmen region.[Doc.21]

The Ba’ath regime issued legislation that stipulated that Turkmen were prohibited from working in important governmental jobs and positions (e.g., in the secret service and police, as pilots in the air force, officers in the army, or as ministers and councilors).[Doc.20][Doc.19] Turkmen civil servants were assigned to the south and banned from living in Turkmeneli.

The Turkmen employees and their families were forcibly transferred from the government offices in Kirkuk to the other government organisations and especially to the South of Iraq.[Doc.22] Also, to change the demography of Kirkuk City and to reduce the political influence of the Turkmen in Northern Iraq in general and particularly in Kirkuk, the Iraqi government has adopted various laws to transfer the Turkmen without their consent into various purpose‐built settlements in the south of Iraq. These settlements were built by the Iraqi government and under the direct instruction of Saddam Hussein.

The Ba’ath Party administration had formed the most tragic days for the Turkmen nation. The tyrannical regime of Saddam had committed inhuman acts of violence in order to silence the Turkmen. The Turkmen nation was oppressed and persecuted and their leaders were fabricated with false accusations and executed, although they were not guilty.

Tens of thousands of the Turkmen’s political opponents and ordinary citizens were subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, torture by beating and burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation and rape.[Doc15] The wives of Turkmen prisoners were tortured in front of their husbands and children were tortured in the presence of their parents and all of these horrors and torture have been concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state.

Because of a strike that was carried out by Turkmen students in conjunction with the Turkmen teaching union on the 2nd January, 1971, Saddam Hussein’s government reduced the number of Turkmen schools that were to be open in Turkmen‐populated areas and also caused the Ba’ath regime to arrest Turkmen union members. These were interrogated by the Directorate of Security of Kirkuk, which at that time was run by Mr Taha Al‐Jazrawi. In addition, the Ba’ath regime found a good opportunity in the Turkmen student strike to arrest a prominent and intellectual member.

By 1972, the Iraqi government had issued new legislation prohibiting the study of Turkmen languages in Turkmen schools. They also banned Turkmen publicity and media.

The Ba’ath regime, under a variety of pretexts, demolished the houses of Turkmen‐ populated areas in Kirkuk City, in addition to a large number of Turkmen villages demolished by the Iraqi government. For example, Turkmen houses in Tuz Khormatu, Beshir, Kombetler and Yaychi were destroyed and the residents of those villages were left homeless. Moreover, a large number of Turkmen houses were confiscated, in order to split up the Turkmen localities. Arab families were brought to Kirkuk from the south of Iraq and resettled by force, with the financial support of the government, in order to change the demography of the area. Turkmen who wanted to purchase or sell properties in Kirkuk, were held under obligation to obtain official permission from governmental authorities. Under resolution number 1081, dated 27th September, 1984, the Turkmen lands were expropriated and allotted to the Arabs who were brought from the south. There was a very strict ban on all sales of real estate in Turkmen regions. Turkmen could only sell their land or buildings to Arabs. Turkmen could neither obtain building permission on their own lands nor purchase real estate. During Saddam Hussein’s regime, the administration of Tuz Khormatu became under the control of the Ba’ath Party.

The Anfal policy (reallocation of the Kurds from the north of Iraq to other places in Iraq) and the deteriorating situation between the Iraqi armed forces and the Kurdish rebels led to the settlement of thousands of Kurds in Tuz Khormatu. The arrived Kurds had been given shelter by the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu and their population had increased gradually with the steady Kurdish migration. However, the intensified fighting in the north of Iraq between the Kurdish rebels and Iraqi army forces led to the bringing of thousands of Kurdish fighters, known as Fursan, by the Iraqi government to Tuz Khormatu, these Kurdish Fursan were financed and equipped by the Iraqi government and they were used to fight against the Kurdish rebels. They were also utilised as informers and to quell any uprising that might occur in the district. Moreover, during the Ba’ath period, huge areas of Turkmen land in Tuz Khormatu were seized by the government, and several garrisons were built around the city to monitor the movement of the rebels. Ba’ath Party Headquarters were also built in the district and these were used for propaganda, promoting a Ba’ath agenda and maintaining security and peace in the district. The population in Tuz Khormatu suffered more tragedies, when the Turkmen families showed their refusal to accept he principles of the Ba’ath party. The Ba’ath party became a party of autocratic rulers and the security forces became like a sword to control the necks of the citizens. Turkmen youth were arrested, imprisonment and executed. Religious festivals, such as Al_ Hussieniya processions, were cancelled and the mosques were closed after completion of prayers, in order to prevent gathering.

The status of the district of Tuz Khormatu during the Ba’ath period became different. The real face of the city disappeared; the Turkmen directorate of the governmental offices were removed and replaced with members of Ba’ath party brought from Tikrit (province of Salahuddin). In addition, Turkmen managers and government civil services were replaced. The native people of the city of Tuz Khormatu found themselves to be foreigners in their own city. Turkmen customs that had been used by their ancestors were banned and the visit to the Shrine of Imam Zaynal Abdin, which is today the third‐most important of all feasts, was revoked by Saddam Hussein’s regime. The Imam Ali shrine was converted into a watch post by the government, to monitor the movement of Kurdish rebels.

Notes

1. Aziz Kadir Samanci, Political History for the Iraqi Turkmen, Page 34, first edition, year 1999 Published by Dar Al-Alsaqi, London, United Kingdom.

2. Ibid, page 34.

Note
Picture: The puppet of the English colonials, the pseudo- King Gazi of Iraq, in a visit to Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu in 1940, accompanied by his uncle, Abdullah bin Ali (who was his regent while he was underage), another execrable puppet of the colonials who intended to implement their racist Anti-Turkish, Anti-Turkmen, and Anti-Islamic agenda, by robbing all these lands from their rightful proprietary, the Ottoman Empire.