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Brussels, 8th May 2007 - European Parliament

Mr. Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdish Regional Government 'exchanged views' with Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the European Parliament.

As only MEPs can take the floor in Committee Meetings the Turkmen Representative in Europe sent some questions for Mr. Barzani to the Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee:

Mr Jacek SARYUSZ-WOLSKI, MEP
Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs
At the European Parliament

Brussels, 8th May 2007

Dear Mr. Chairman,
Dear Honourable Members of the European Parliament,

As the Representative of the Iraqi Turkmens in Europe, I would very much appreciate if you would present the Turkmen people’s concerns in the form of the following questions to Mr. Massoud Barzani during the “Exchange of Views” at the EU Parliament’s Foreign affairs Committee to-day, 8th of May 2007 at 15:00 h:-

1. Northern Iraq is a MULTICULTURAL-MULTI ETHNIC area inhabited by Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs and Assyrians. Rather than establishing an equal partnership with all ethnicities why do you insist on Kurdish domination and treating others as minorities? Isn't that a recipe for inter-ethnic violence?

2. What are your criteria for the Turkmens of Iraq who live side by side with the Kurds and the Arabs in Iraq and who undeniably are the second main ethnic group in the north of Iraq and the third most important ethnic group composing the Iraqi people to be considered constitutionally as :

a) The Third “Main Community of Iraq” (and not a Minority !) with constitutional rights equal to those recognised to the Arabs and the Kurds in the Iraqi Constitution.

b) The “Second Main Community in the north of Iraq” (and not a Minority !) with rights equal to those recognised only to the Kurds in your “New Kurdish Constitution”

c) In your vision of ‘democracy’, what is the minimum number for a particular group of people in Iraq to be considered as representing a “Main Group” (and not a Minority Group)?

3. Your party is called Kurdistan Democratic Party “KDP” and you claim that it is a democratic party. Why is the opposition suppressed and why don't we see anybody else elected to its head except a Barzani since its creation decades ago?

4. You have established your “Kurdistan Area” under American protection. How long do you think you will last when the Americans withdraw?

5. The Kurds represents only around 17% of the Iraqi people yet the Iraqi constitutions since 1958 recognised them as a “MAIN COMPONENT” of the Iraqi people with definitive privileges such as the creation of an “Autonomous Kurdish Region”. How come that the Turkmens who represent more than 25% of the population in the north of Iraq where you aim to create a “Kurdish State” or “Kurdish Extended Region” for which you have already written a constitution which in its article N° 3 forbids the creation of a “Turkmen Autonomous Region” within the limits of so-called Kurdistan Extended Region and in its article N°6 denies the Turkmens the rights to be considered a MAIN COMPONENT of the people of this region that you were given by the Iraqi regimes which you always described as UNDEMOCRATIC?

6. The United Nations in its report accuses the Kurdistan Region authorities of torturing and ill-treating hundreds of detainees, who are being held “for prolonged periods, some for several years” in the Kurdish Autonomous Region without referral to an investigative judge or without any charges being brought against them, the majority of these prisoners are Turkmens. How can you explain these violations of Human Rights by your regional authorities?

7. It is a well known and well documented fact that the Ba’ath regime in application of its policy of Arabisation of the Turkmen Region of Iraq has destroyed numerous Turkmen towns and villages (BESHIR, TISIN, TERKALAN etc…) forcefully displaced their inhabitants and confiscated their lands and properties along with confiscating Turkmen properties all over the Turkmen Region, especially in Kerkuk Governorate. Since the occupation of Iraq in April 2003 the Kurds with the blessing of the American occupation authorities have in their turn grabbed all these Turkmen properties and allocated them to the Kurds brought from other regions of Iraq and even from outside Iraq. Isn’t this a violation of the Turkmens’ basic and Human Rights? Isn’t this a violation of the Iraqi Constitution?

I thank you in advance for putting these questions to Mr. Massoud Barzani.

Yours truly,

Dr Hassan Aydinli
Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative


	QUESTIONS OF THE TURKMENS TO MR. MASSOUD BARZANI Brussels, 8th May 2007 - European Parliament Mr. Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdish Regional Government 'exchanged views' with Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the European Parliament. As only MEPs can take the floor in Committee Meetings the Turkmen Representative in Europe sent some questions for Mr. Barzani to the Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee: Mr Jacek SARYUSZ-WOLSKI, MEP Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs At the European Parliament Brussels, 8th May 2007 Dear Mr. Chairman, Dear Honourable Members of the European Parliament, As the Representative of the Iraqi Turkmens in Europe, I would very much appreciate if you would present the Turkmen people’s concerns in the form of the following questions to Mr. Massoud Barzani during the “Exchange of Views” at the EU Parliament’s Foreign affairs Committee to-day, 8th of May 2007 at 15:00 h:- 1. Northern Iraq is a MULTICULTURAL-MULTI ETHNIC area inhabited by Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs and Assyrians. Rather than establishing an equal partnership with all ethnicities why do you insist on Kurdish domination and treating others as minorities? Isn't that a recipe for inter-ethnic violence? 2. What are your criteria for the Turkmens of Iraq who live side by side with the Kurds and the Arabs in Iraq and who undeniably are the second main ethnic group in the north of Iraq and the third most important ethnic group composing the Iraqi people to be considered constitutionally as : a) The Third “Main Community of Iraq” (and not a Minority !) with constitutional rights equal to those recognised to the Arabs and the Kurds in the Iraqi Constitution. b) The “Second Main Community in the north of Iraq” (and not a Minority !) with rights equal to those recognised only to the Kurds in your “New Kurdish Constitution” c) In your vision of ‘democracy’, what is the minimum number for a particular group of people in Iraq to be considered as representing a “Main Group” (and not a Minority Group)? 3. Your party is called Kurdistan Democratic Party “KDP” and you claim that it is a democratic party. Why is the opposition suppressed and why don't we see anybody else elected to its head except a Barzani since its creation decades ago? 4. You have established your “Kurdistan Area” under American protection. How long do you think you will last when the Americans withdraw? 5. The Kurds represents only around 17% of the Iraqi people yet the Iraqi constitutions since 1958 recognised them as a “MAIN COMPONENT” of the Iraqi people with definitive privileges such as the creation of an “Autonomous Kurdish Region”. How come that the Turkmens who represent more than 25% of the population in the north of Iraq where you aim to create a “Kurdish State” or “Kurdish Extended Region” for which you have already written a constitution which in its article N° 3 forbids the creation of a “Turkmen Autonomous Region” within the limits of so-called Kurdistan Extended Region and in its article N°6 denies the Turkmens the rights to be considered a MAIN COMPONENT of the people of this region that you were given by the Iraqi regimes which you always described as UNDEMOCRATIC? 6. The United Nations in its report accuses the Kurdistan Region authorities of torturing and ill-treating hundreds of detainees, who are being held “for prolonged periods, some for several years” in the Kurdish Autonomous Region without referral to an investigative judge or without any charges being brought against them, the majority of these prisoners are Turkmens. How can you explain these violations of Human Rights by your regional authorities? 7. It is a well known and well documented fact that the Ba’ath regime in application of its policy of Arabisation of the Turkmen Region of Iraq has destroyed numerous Turkmen towns and villages (BESHIR, TISIN, TERKALAN etc…) forcefully displaced their inhabitants and confiscated their lands and properties along with confiscating Turkmen properties all over the Turkmen Region, especially in Kerkuk Governorate. Since the occupation of Iraq in April 2003 the Kurds with the blessing of the American occupation authorities have in their turn grabbed all these Turkmen properties and allocated them to the Kurds brought from other regions of Iraq and even from outside Iraq. Isn’t this a violation of the Turkmens’ basic and Human Rights? Isn’t this a violation of the Iraqi Constitution? I thank you in advance for putting these questions to Mr. Massoud Barzani. Yours truly, Dr Hassan Aydinli Iraqi Turkmen Front Europe Representative

QUESTIONS OF THE TURKMENS TO MR. MASSOUD BARZANI