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Turkmeneli, also known as Turkmenland,^[1] and historically as Turcomania,^[2] (Turkish: Türkmeneli, lit. 'Land of the Turkmens'), and East Turkmeneli (Doğu Türkmeneli)^[3] is a political term^[2] used to define the vast swath of territory in which the Iraqi Turkmens historically have had a dominant population.^[4] 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.^[2] It is sometimes referred to as East Turkmeneli to distinguish from the Syrian Turkmen homeland, known as West Turkmeneli.^[3] 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.^[2]

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.^[5]^[6] 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.^[2]

The Turkmen homeland

The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkomans generally consider several major cities, and small districts associated with these cities, as part of their homeland.^[7] 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.^[7] Consequently, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north.^[7]

Prospects of an autonomous region

According to Khalil Osman there has been "a raft of federalist schemes" proposed by various Turkmen/Turkoman political parties.^[6] 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.^[6]

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.^[8]

In 2016 Wassim Bassem reported that the Turkmen/Turkoman have been calling for their own independent province in the Tal Afar district.^[9] Their demands had coincided with calls for the establishment of other new provinces for the Christian and the Yazidi minorities.^[9]

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".^[10] They also called for "training and equipping the Turkmen Hashd al-Shaabi forces."^[11]

Gallery

Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish
Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish
Bilingual sign in Arabic and Turkish

References

^ Rich, Paul J. (2008), Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Lexington Books, p. x, ISBN 978-1461633679
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Anderson & Stansfield 2009, p. 56.
^ ^a ^b "DOĞU TÜRKMENELİ'DE BATI TÜRKMENELİ'YE ZİYARET". Archived from the original on 9 December 2023.
^ Strakes, Jason E. (2009), "Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen", Iran & the Caucasus, 13 (2), Brill Publishers: 369, doi:10.1163/157338410X12625876281505
^ Anderson & Stansfield 2009, p. 57.
^ ^a ^b ^c Osman, Khalil (2015), Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920, Routledge, p. 243, ISBN 978-1317674870
^ ^a ^b ^c Oğuzlu, Tarik H. (2004), "Endangered community:The Turkoman identity in Iraq", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 24 (2), Routledge: 313, doi:10.1080/1360200042000296681, hdl:11693/49129, S2CID 56385519
^ Petrosian, Vahram (2003), "The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey", Iran & the Caucasus, 7 (1/2), Brill Publishers: 305, doi:10.1163/157338403X00150
^ ^a ^b Bassem, Wassim (2016). "Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province". Al-Monitor.
^ Iraqi Turkmen to propose "special status" for Kirkuk, Anadolou Agency
^ Iraq meeting tackles Turkmens' future in post-Daesh era, Anadolou Agency

Bibliography

Anderson, Liam; Stansfield, Gareth (2009), Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0812206043
Oğuzlu, Tarik H. (2004), "Endangered community: the Turkoman identity in Iraq", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 24 (2), Routledge: 309–325, doi:10.1080/1360200042000296681, hdl:11693/49129, S2CID 56385519
Osman, Khalil (2015), Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920, Routledge, ISBN 978-1317674870
Petrosian, Vahram (2003), "The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey", Iran & the Caucasus, 7 (1/2), Brill Publishers: 279–308, doi:10.1163/157338403X00150
Rich, Paul J. (2008), Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Lexington Books, ISBN 978-1461633679
Strakes, Jason E. (2009), "Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen", Iran & the Caucasus, 13 (2), Brill Publishers: 365–382, doi:10.1163/157338410X12625876281505