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WHAT'S A TURKMEN
Scott
Taylor
July 26, 2005, Habur Gate, Northern Iraq - It had taken us hours to get
through the clogged Turkey-Iraq border crossing and, were it not for
some generous bribes and an intrepid driver, we would still be
sweltering in the long lineup. While it is not my usual practice to jump
a queue, in this instance a further delay would have jeopardized the
scheduled rendezvous I had with American helicopters on the Iraqi side
of the border.
When we finally reached the small U.S. military outpost at the expansive
Habur Gate facility, the American soldiers there admitted they had no
prior knowledge of our arrival, and certainly did not expect any
helicopter flights. In true military "by the book" fashion, a staff
sergeant condescendingly advised us that if we wished to visit U.S.
troops in Telafer, we should try notifying the Pentagon first and then
co-ordinate a travel plan through Kuwait.
The assembled soldiers lounging in the air conditioned cafeteria that
hot day cordially offered us some cold pop and snacks, but it was
evident from their amused glances that they believed the three of us
foreign journalists must have been somewhat touched in the head by the
excessive heat.
In this remote corner of Iraq, the U.S. garrison played no more than an
observer's role as the actual border security was enforced by Kurdish
warlord Massoud Barzani's peshmerga militiamen. The handful of American
military police based at the customs house had made no attempt to
intervene in either the issuing of visas or the collection of tax
revenue. Two and a half years after the invasion to topple Saddam
Hussein, the Kurdish provinces still operated as an autonomous region
with no ties to the Baghdad central authorities. Not only did Barzani
still maintain a private army, his Asaish (secret service) was also very
much engaged in keeping their warlord in power.
Seated at a table pondering our next move, Sasha Uzunov, an Australian
photo journalist, and Stefan Nikolawski, a Canadian documentary
filmmaker, and I were approached in the U.S. cafeteria by a Kurdish
Asaish agent. While the U.S. military personnel were prepared to dismiss
our presence, the Asaish agent was intensely curious to learn more about
our visit to Iraq. Having been detained and questioned by Barzani's
secret service on previous trips into northern Iraq, I was amazed the
Asaish would try to exert any kind of authority while inside an American
military compound.
Not realizing the sensitivity of the situation, Uzunov engaged the
Asaish agent in a friendly dialogue and advised him of our inten¬tion to
report on the situation in Telafer - if and when the promised
helicopters arrived. The very mention of the word Telafer started the
Kurdish secret service agent to launch into a well-rehearsed diatribe
about this little known city. When the Asaish operative tried to
ex¬plain how Telafer was a "Kurdish" city being troubled by "Turkmen
insurgents," I impolitely instructed him to "get the hell away from our
table." Incensed at my tone, the Kurdish official grudgingly vacated his
seat, moving a short distance away to where he could still monitor our
conversation.
In order to enlighten my companions, I explained that during my previous
20 trips into Iraq I had grown weary of the constant Kurdish attempts to
marginalize the Turkmen community with whom they share the northern
provinces. I am one of a very few Westerners to ever visit the remote
city of Telafer. On my second trip to this ancient city, in September
2004,1 was seized and held hostage by the insurgents who now controlled
the city. For five harrowing days me and a Turkish journalist, Zeynep
Tugrul, were tortured, threatened with death, and at risk of being
killed by the U.S. troops that were engaging our captors in fierce
fireh'ghts. Since that time, Telafer has remained a hotbed of resistance
to the U.S. occupation.
Such a rare inside look at the Iraqi insurgency had revealed a number of
things to me - one of the most important being that a small chapter of
Wahabbists known as Ansar al-Islam were active in Telafer. What made
this discovery such a shock was that I had spent a great deal of time
and effort researching the Iraqi Turkmen and in the post-U.S. invasion
anarchy, I had made a dozen trips into northern Iraq but had not known
the extremist group was operating in this remote region. I was
fascinated with the complexity of the political and economic landscapes
that seemed to be a lit powder keg poised to ignite a civil war and
possibly fuel an even larger regional conflict.
At the centre of this brewing crisis was the disputed control of the
Baba Gurgur oilfields outside of Kirkuk. In the immediate aftermath of
Saddam's collapse, Kurdish peshmerga had rushed south from their
autonomous provinces to lay claim to the oilriches of Kirkuk. With Baba
Gurgur accounting for about 40 per cent of Iraq's oil exports, con¬trol
of this asset would provide the Kurds with the economic means to declare
an independent state. However, such a development runs counter to the
political interests of Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia - four countries
that border on northern Iraq and have substantial Kurdish minorities
with strong separatist movements. Making matters even more complicated
for the Kurds is the fact that Kirkuk has long been recognized in the
history of Iraq as a Turkmen city.
Although no formal census has been taken since 1957, it is es¬timated
that the Turkmen number as many as 3,000,000 - or up to 13 per cent of
Iraq's 27 million population. However, in Kirkuk the indigenous
Turkish-speaking Iraqi Turkmen represent more than 50 per cent of a
population that also includes Kurds, Arabs, Chaldeans, Assyrians and
Yazidi.
During his 30-year reign of terror, Saddam Hussein successfully
marginalized the Turkmen through his Arabification policies. For their
part, Kurdish warlords have taken every opportunity to keep the
existence of this significant ethnic minority hidden from the Western
media. As such, Turkmen are routinely listed among "others" in any
analysis published concerning the demographics of Iraq. Those study¬ing
news reports from war-torn Iraq are familiar with the divisions of
Shiite and Sunni Arabs and Kurds, but rarely is the term "Turkmen" ever
seen in print.
To address this void, I wrote the book Among the 'Others': Encounters
with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq. It provided some historical and
political context on this community and, through the detailed account of
my hostage experience, also provided insight into the complex networking
of the local insurgent groups. In terms of international sales, Among
The 'Others' was not a blockbuster, but it certainly has been widely
circulated among the major stakeholders in Iraq - including members of
the U.S. military.
One officer in particular, Colonel H.R. McMaster, took a keen inter¬est
in the book. McMaster was the commander of the 3rd Armoured Cavalry
Regiment, one of the most combat-capable units in the U.S. Army. During
the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003,3ACR had played a pivotal role in
crushing Saddam's forces. That was the role they were trained and
equipped for, and the collapse of the Iraqi forces left them in the
unfamiliar world of a burgeoning guerrilla war.
The U.S. troops had been promised they would be greeted as liberators
and told they would return to America within six months. However, by the
time 3ACR completed a full year tour of duty and had rotated home to
Colorado Springs, they were advised that they would be redeployed back
to Iraq within nine months. To prepare his men for their second tour,
McMaster realized that a major short¬coming of his unit had been their
inability to talk to the Iraqi people. In order to address this, the
intrepid colonel ensured that each and every soldier in 3ACR mastered a
basic proficiency in Arabic before returning to the Middle East.
By a twist of fate, the Pentagon assigned 3ACR to the Telafer sector.
Very quickly the U.S. soldiers found out that their Arabic skills were
useless when conversing with the Turkish-speaking locals. The officers
of 3ACR were soon asking themselves, "What's a Turkmen?"
Soon after, Col. McMaster discovered my book Among the 'Others' and
ordered his staff officers to contact me. Foregoing usual official
Pentagon procedures, McMaster's officers called to offer me an "all
expense paid trip to Telafer." In exchange, I was to provide the
soldiers of 3ACR with a formal presentation about the Iraqi Turkmen and,
in particular, the insurgents in Telafer. It was on the strength of this
unusual request that I invited Sasha Uzunov and Stefan Nikolawski to
join me in my rendezvous at the Habur Gate border post.
At 11:50 a.m., right on schedule, the distinct throbbing sound of
approaching helicopters could be heard. The amused smiles of the GIs in
the cafeteria quickly turned to awe as they rushed to the windows to
watch the rare sight of a U.S. Army Blackhawk chopper land on a nearby
soccer field as an Apache gunship menacingly swept across the rooftops.
The Asaish agent was last seen making a flurry of phone calls as we
hauled our gear aboard the Blackhawk and took off for Telafer.
The Turkmen were about to become a recognized piece of the post-war
Iraqi puzzle.
Scott Taylor
Author and military analyst
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
March 29, 2006
TURKMEN IN IRAQ - A HUNGARIAN VIEWPOINT
My first visit to Kirkuk was in September 2003. At that time, members of
the Iraqi Turkmen Front had assembled to choose its new leader to
replace the departing Sanan Ahmet Aga. The congress of the delegates had
been watched over by American soldiers. I can still hear the Turkmen
community's applause that greeted the American military commander who
was present that day. It is quite possible that the American would have
been welcomed with just as much enthusiasm only a few steps away from
this location, at the Kurds' headquarters. The same man, however, would
not have risked his life by making a public appearance in Fallujah or
Tikrit. I thought to myself, then and there, that history, which forms
right in front of our eyes, is quite complicated. Sometimes it isn't
easy to know which is the oppressor and which is the defender.
However, there is only one Iraq - if we believe that the peoples living
together picture their destiny and their future in one joint state. For
a long time, similar to other Western journalists, I had only heard of
the Turkmen. But looking back, I am proud to say that, unlike so many
people in Europe, at least I had not mistaken them for the Turkmen
living in the former Soviet Union. It is a special experience for a
Hungarian journalist to meet Turkmen in Iraq. Probably not many people
know that the Hungarians have not always lived in their European
country.
Our ancestors arrived in Hungary from Asia in the 9th century. A century
later they formed a Christian kingdom. A considerable number of
historians and linguists believe that the old Hungarians were actually
Turks from central Asia, and that we are genetically and linguistically
closely related to Turks of the world. We Hungarians express the words
"pocket," "aubergine," and "apple" the same way as our Turkmen friends
in northern Iraq do. I was delighted to hear that, according to my
Turkmen friends, my looks are also similar to theirs. That could be
true, but I obviously still have to take lessons in Turkish - after all,
one cannot speak to one's relatives in English. For someone who loves
his home and cherishes the memory of his ancestors, it is always a great
pleasure to be welcomed by friends.
Beyond my personal feelings for the Turkmen, I sympathize with them
concerning certain political matters too. Hungarians know very well what
it is like to be a minority. Because of certain historical events, one
third of our nation was forced to live outside the borders of Hungary.
Regarding the situation in northern Iraq, it has to be pointed out that
all peoples of the world have the right to have autonomy. The Turkmen,
descendants of the old Turks, should play an important part in the
government of the new Iraq. This requires a firm strategy, clear
political faith, and hard work.
Although Kirkuk and other towns in northern Iraq are full of blue-coloured
houses, the Turkmen people have still not occupied their rightful place
in the community of nations. It is necessary to work harder, a lot
harder for the world to at least be aware of the existence of the
Turkmen. As far as I know, the work has begun, but it would be an
exaggeration to state that decision-makers of the European Union would
be able to mark on a map the whereabouts of the Turkmen or, as a matter
of fact, those of the Shia and Sunni Arabs or the Kurds. This situation
needs to change because the future of the Turkmen is at risk. It is
clear that Iraq is not the same country as it was under the regime of
Saddam Hussein. I can remember this thought coming to my mind when my
friend Scott Taylor and I had entered Iraq from
Turkey in 2003.
We were greeted at the Kurd-controlled border of northern Iraq by a sign
saying, "Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan." The Turkmen should not have to
fight the shadows of a dead family's empire, but instead should face the
new challenges of the post-war era. The Turkmen must rely only on
themselves, like they have so many times before in history. That is the
destiny of all peoples with a small population. But we must not forget
that "heart and free people can make great deeds," as a famous Hungarian
poet once said. And only with strong heart can we gain freedom.
I trust that the Turkmen nation follows a path of wisdom, eventu¬ally
becoming an appreciated member of the international community. This is
in the interest of us all because benevolent people of the world hope to
hear good news every day from Iraq, not tales of gunfire.
Ldszlo Szentesi Zoldi
Journalist and foreign affairs adviser
Budapest, Hungary
April 6, 2006
info@turkmeninstitute.org
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