Turkmen Ethnic Cleansing in Iraq, Perpetrated by "Kurds" Connected with Al Qaeda
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
November 19, 2008
"Pseudo-Kurdish Talabani and Barzani: Death Squads´ Leaders, Accused for Crimes Against the Mankind" (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pseudo-kurdish-talabani-and-barzani-death-squads-leaders-accused-for-crimes-against-the-mankind.html), I published the first eighth chapters of an insightful book published by Mofak Salman Kerkuklu, one of the Turkmen foremost intellectuals, on "The Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu".
In the present article, I republish parts of the ninth chapter that focuses on ´Kurdish´ terrorist acts perpetrated against the Turkmen over the past five years. The text illuminates in detail how the guards of two former rebels against Saddam Hussein, Talabani and Barzani, who have been maintained in life through continuous colonial interference and French diplomatic concern, turned out to be death squads of unrepresentative tyrannical rulers appointed by the Americans, spreading terror and pursuing extensive policies of ethnic cleansing.
At the same time, the burgeoning infiltration of Al Qaeda among the pseudo-Kurdish leaders risks unleashing a most calamitous dynamics that will pull the entire Middle East into total destruction.
The fully exposed and well-documented criminality of the Talabani and Barzani death squads only underscores the need for their immediate elimination.
The Turkmen City of Tuz Khormatu
By Mofak Salman Kerkuklu
Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu massacre on the 22nd and 23rd of August 2003
Firstly, I would like to mention some important events that occurred prior to the Tuz Khormatu uprising. This uprising was caused by the destruction of the shrine of the Sepulchre of Imam Murtada on top of Tuz Khormatu Mountain, which overlooks the Aq Su River.
The people of Tuz Khormatu built the shrine of Imam Murtada with the consent of the Tuz Khormatu councillor and the knowledge of the deputy governor of Kirkuk on the 23rd August, 2003. The shrine took several days to construct. During the construction, Kurdish workers threatened to destroy the shrine. This was reported by the Turkmen to the Kurdish secret police known as Asayish. Despite this, the security forces and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan did not take any action to deter offenders and to protect the shrine.
To obstruct the construction of the shrine, the Kurdish militia threw building materials, brought to rebuild the shrine, from the mountains. These materials were trampled on the site to deter people from continuing the work.
During the opening ceremony, the Kurdish Asayishs were present at the site and the unarmed Turkmen citizens who attended the opening ceremony were subjected to harassment from the Kurdish security police. In one instance, gunfire was opened on them.
In addition to this, according to information that was revealed to a Turkmen resident in Tuz Khormatu by a Kurdish citizen who had attended a meeting of the Security Council, which was held by the Kurdish militia, the Kurdish militia had decided to demolish the shrine. Therefore, a request was submitted by the Turkmen to the security forces (Kurdish Asayish) on the opening day, primarily to provide protection for the Turkmen people attending the opening ceremony. The security forces refused to grant the request of the Turkmen, giving only flimsy pretexts although they were well aware of the gravity of the situation.
However, on the 21st August, 2003, groups of Kurdish militia decided to blow up the shrine of Imam Murtada Ali Zen Abdin, one of the Turkmen´s most respected holy men. This shrine was a small dome on the hills of Tuz Khormatu.
Hussein´s army had levelled the shrine of Imam Murtada Ali Zein Abdin in the mid 1990s. However, the shrine was rebuilt after the Iraqi leader was deposed with money from Shi´aa donors, but in 2003 the demolition of the Imam Murtada Ali Zein Abdin was carried out when militia from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ´PUK´ Kurdish fired a rocket‐propelled grenade at the shrine's dome, caving it in. This was the second time that the shrine had been destroyed.[1][2][3]
However, the morning after the shrine´s inaugural ceremony during the Muslim Eid (feast), Tuz Khormatu´s Turkmen awoke to see only a smudge of lime‐green rubble on the barren hilltop, where the dome should have been.
After the demolition of the shrine, the Kurdish militia poured onto the streets of Tuz Khormatu and started celebrating the destruction of the Turkmen shrine, shouting slogans hostile to the Turkmen, such as Mako Alawi, No Alawi and Where You Turkmen Hedmana Alikom, ´Where are you, the Turkmen: we have destroyed your Ali!´ and showing the hatred, chauvinism and savagery of the security forces and the members of the National Union of Kurdistan.
The demolition by the Kurdish militia of the shrine of the Sepulchre of Imam Murtada Ali Zaynal Abdin on the top of Tuz Khormatu Mountain, overlooking the Aq Su River, outraged the Turkmen. The news of the destruction of the shrine quickly spread to the town and the people started flocking to the town´s main mosque to express their anger and rejection of these nefarious practices. Although the people had made a request to the security forces for permission to stage a march, this request was declined. This refusal, however, did not deter them and they held their demonstration anyway.[4][5][6][7]
The Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu decided to march through the town to carry out a peaceful protest against the destruction of their holy shrine by the Kurdish militia. Their peaceful demonstration went out of the Imam Ali mosque to go towards the Big Square in Tuz Khormatu. The militia started shooting at the demonstrators from the main headquarters of the National Union of Kurdistan, which prompted some of the young people to enter their homes and fetch light weapons to defend themselves and the demonstration. The march continued on to the heavily fortified mayor's office, despite exposure to gunfire. Militia belonging to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan opened gunfire on the demonstrators in the market, leading to armed hostilities between the two sides, and claiming the lives of a group of Turkmen. In the fighting, a rocket‐propelled grenade (RPG) was also used by the Kurdish militia against the demonstrators and two sites were affected: one of them is near the Public Baths and the second is in the Aljamilla neighbourhood.
The following people were killed when Kurdish militia opened fired on the peaceful demonstrators:
1) Cetin Zaynal Abdin Effendi,
2) Ahmet Hussein Hassan Beyatli,
3) Mohammed Hashim Asker,
4) Ashraf Muzher Kasim Kenna,
5) Ahmed Ramzi Abul Rahman,
6) Hussein Mohammed Hassan,
7) Ismail Taha Yaychi,
8) Ismail Ibrahim Kumbetli,
9) Ahmed Abdul Hussein Damerchi.[8]
Also in Kirkuk, on the night of Saturday the 22nd of August 2003, rocket-propelled grenades were fired by Kurdish rebels at statues of two Turkmen heroes, who were killed by the Kurds in the Turkmen massacre of 14th July 1959, further increasing the tension in the region. Gunfire echoed through the city on Saturday night and squads of Iraqi police were stationed at each of the statues after the attacks.[9]
On the 23rd August 2003, the Iraqi Turkmen Front leader Barrister Sinan Agha released a statement condemning the action of the Kurdish militia against the Turkmen. A copy of the statement was forwarded to the American governor in Baghdad, Paul Premier, asking him to establish an independent committee to investigate the Tuz Khormatu incident. In addition, thousands of Turkmen in Turkey and Baghdad demonstrated in support of the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu and condemning the Kurdish militia atrocity. Meanwhile, the Shi´aa religious leader Moqtada Alsader released a statement condemning the Kurdish militia killing of the Turkmen.[10]
In addition, according to reliable information from Tuz Khormatu, Moqtada Alsader refused assistance from both Kurdish parties to rebuild the Shrine until the perpetrators who had committed this crime were arrested to face trial and punishment. However, the residents of Tuz Khormatu assassinated the perpetrators of this barbaric crime one by one and the last Kurdish militia member who fired on the peaceful demonstrators was shot in mid 2006. Nevertheless, the following Turkmen were injured in Tuz Khormatu during the demonstration:
1) Ali Hashim Mahdi,
2) Mouwaffak Mohammed Nuri,
3) Ali Ismail Muca,
4) Timucin Khayrullah Bellew,
5) Waleed Khalid,
6) Hassan Kazaw Abbas,
7) Seyit Asgar Seyit Ali,
8) Cetin Kalendar,
9) Cevdat Bahjat,
10) Kasim Akber Mali,
11) Isam Abbdin Pasha.
During the clashes, the US troops tried to quell the violence between Kurds and gunfire broke out between the Turkmen demonstrators and the US forces. The new violence had emerged as a new source of trouble for USA-led occupation forces in northern Iraq and the US armoured vehicles and helicopters attached to the 173 Airborne Brigade fought off the demonstrators. Three Turkmen were killed in the exchanges.
As a matter of fact, one of the few things that Tuz Khormatu residents agree on is that religion played a secondary role in the dispute and the primary source of the tension between Kurds and Turkmen was a political struggle over the administration of Tuz Khormatu. Also the US administration has completely failed to disarm the Kurdish militia, who have been terrorising the Turkmen people. The hostile approach from armed Kurdish militia towards the Turkmen and the discontent of the Turkmen with both the USA and Kurdish forces in the district has played a tremendous role in the Turkmen uprising.
On the second day of the Turkmen clashes, the bodies of the Turkmen were taken in a funeral cortège in Tuz Khormatu to the graveyard in the Holy City of Najaf. The population in Tuz Khormatu poured onto the streets to bid their final farewells and there were a lot of tears and anger amongst the Turkmen people. Nevertheless, on the way to Najaf, the bodies were taken to the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad and they were shown to the national and internal journalists who were based there to cover the Iraqi war. The objective of the conference was to show the crimes of the Kurdish militia against the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu.
Meanwhile, several injured Turkmen people who had been shot by the Kurdish militia were sent to Ankara for treatment after they had been refused treatment in Tuz Khormatu hospital, which is under Kurdish militia control.
As a result of the shooting, a member of the Turkmen Front political party Tuz Khormatu, Hashim Nuri Hassan issued harsh condemnation and claimed that the Kurdish militia shot at the Turkmen demonstrators first and the Kurdish police let them get out of control. He said, "We don't feel in Tuz Khormatu that the administrations are fairly and properly represented. The Americans appointed a Kurdish mayor, the police chief is Kurdish and property left from the Saddam Hussein regime has been given to the Kurds and yet, we are the majority in the district.´
Yusuf Younis Johar, the local leader of the party, at the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, blamed the violence on Ansar al-Islam, a group with links to the al Qaeda terrorist network. ´It wasn't us,´ he said. ´The Turkmen started the shooting and the terrorists blew up the shrine´.[11] Moreover, Captain David Swenson of the 1st Armored Division, who is in charge of Tuz Khormatu, stated, ´I have spent part of today trying to persuade local leaders, imams and clan chieftains to avoid revenge attacks. I want the families of the victims to visit each other and make peace´.[12]
Also a statement was issued by Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, in which they denied any role in the violence and blamed ´foreign elements´ and the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime for the clashes in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk. The Turkish media said that ethnic Turkmen started the violence in order to encourage Turkey to deploy troops in northern Iraq and quoted Behruz Gelali, a PUK spokesman. However, Iraqi Turkmen front member Sadadin Arkanj said to the media, ´We want our brethren ´the Kurds´ to intervene so as to put an end to this sedition and help ease tension and for our part, we have started to ease tension. So ´the Kurds´ should deal with the issue properly and not let the terrorists do whatever they want… the coalition troops are themselves responsible for controlling the situation… Yesterday we called for an increase in coalition patrols and an end to police actions. The Kurdish police are behind such provocations. They refuse to speak with us in Arabic, only in Kurdish, which just widens the gap between us.´
David Newton, the head of RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq and a former US ambassador to Iraq, said, ´It has been stated that it is possible that the bomb blast in Tuz Khormatu was an attack by supporters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam. It is a possibility, since it was a bomb, which destroyed the dome of the shrine. I think it is a real stretch to say it was al Qaeda. However, it could be the supporters of Saddam trying to stir up ethnic tension. Beyond that [bomb blast], there was clearly no involvement [of the remnants of Saddam's regime.] It was Kurds versus Turkmen in the clashes.´
However, by Saturday the 23rd of August 2003, the violence had spread to the Turkmen oil‐rich city of Kirkuk. The massacre against the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu caused the Turkmen in Kirkuk to pour out into the streets in order to show their support, unity and solidarity with the Turkmen in Tuz Khormatu, to express their anger and dissatisfaction towards the USA and Kurdish militia in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu.
The demonstration of the Turkmen in Kirkuk began with a peaceful march, to show their solidarity with their ethnic kin in Tuz Khormatu. Turkmen marched on the heavily fortified mayor's office in Kirkuk and, at one point; shots rang out as the marchers passed the precinct police office. When the marchers reached the city hall and the Kurdish militia, the Kurdish police, those who were brought from Suleymaniyah and Erbil, discriminatorily and intentionally opened fire on the unarmed Turkmen demonstrators. Three people were killed with gunmen exchanging gunfire and throwing grenades in the streets.[13][14][15][16]
Afterwards, shooting broke out and the Turkmen burned a police station as well as an illegitimate Kurdish flag. US troops guarding the city hall intervened and more shots were fired, the US troops then moved and opened fire on the Turkmen demonstrators in order to disperse the crowd. After that, US helicopters appeared and, ´Everybody fled,´ said Urfan Essa, one of the witnesses, ´We're afraid of the Kurds. I work in the bazaar (market) and occasionally, someone shouts, 'The Kurds are coming! The Kurds are coming!´ Everyone closes his or her shop. Peace in this town is only on the surface.´ There is no peace and tranquility while the armed Kurdish militias are in the town.[17] The names of the Turkmen martyrs on 23 August 2003 in Kirkuk are:
1) Erkan Yousif Fatah Bulawali,
2) Hassan Ali Amin Beyatli,
3) Yousif Emad Younis Salihi.
The names of the Turkmen who were injured in Kirkuk on the 23rd of August 2003 are:
1) Khalid Abduljebbar,
2) Ahmad Hussein,
3) Ferhan Kerim,
4) Samir Fazil,
5) Ramzi Feyzullah,
6) Jangiz Muattasam,
7) Ahmed Ali,
8) Yasar Adnan,
9) Ahmed Adnan,
10) Mohammed Fatih,
11) Jalil Hussein,
12) Hussein Abdin,
13) Arsalan Nur,
14) Mustafa Hasan,
15) Amjad Khalid,
16) Nevzad Seyit Abbas,
17) Mohammed Omer,
18) Felah Hassan,
19) Geylan Mohammed Najar,
20) Fikret Mohammed Ali,
21) Ali Hayder Jasim.
The incident in Kirkuk was reported on both the CNN-Turk television and private NTV television in Ankara, Turkey and both reports showed that hundreds of Turkmen, carrying blue Turkmen flags, marched on the governor's office. The killing of three Turkmen, with a further eleven wounded by forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was also reported by Turkey's Anatolia news agency.[18]
However, on the morning of Sunday the 23rd August 2003, US troops raided the office of the Turkmen Front and confiscated some weapons found in the building while several hundred Turkmen people protested outside the building.[19] In addition, in the capital city of Baghdad, Turkmen protested, but no violence was reported.
To quell the violence and the elevated tension between the Kurds and Turkmen, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) sent a joint delegation to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to meet with local leaders after three days of clashes between Kurds and Turkmen. On the 24th August, 2003 peace talks were arranged and established by the US administration between the Turkmen and the Kurds. The fragile peace talks were held in Kirkuk and all parties agreed to stop the violence. During the meeting, the Turkmen raised the following issues that are to be resolved:
The Turkmen demands were that all Kurdish police who came to Kirkuk from Suleymaniyah should be returned to their original bases and that distribution of the police forces in Kirkuk and surrounding areas should be in equal proportions. Also they demanded the removal of the Head of police and the governor of Kirkuk city, who was appointed by force with the help of the American armed forces, and the establishment of a committee to bring the people who committed the atrocities in both Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk to justice, compensate the families who were killed by the Kurds during the demonstration and establish a joint committee between the Turkmen.[20] They also demanded the removal of all illegitimate (unrecognised by international law) Kurdish flags from Kirkuk and Kurds to avoid further disturbances. [21][22][23]
The above issues were partially implemented, but only recently. Also, about 550 policemen were reported to have been sent back to Suleymaniyah. Kurdish demonstrators stoned the withdrawing US forces. After the peace talks between the Kurds and Turkmen, with the help of the US forces, the Iraqi police and American troops patrolled the streets of Kirkuk and a tense calm settled over the city after two days of confrontation between Kurdish and Turkmen residents. Shops were open and traffic flowed through the streets of the city once more.
After the bitter power struggles that erupted between Kurds and Turkmen in oil‐rich Kirkuk following the downfall of the Hussein regime, there was much speculation over who might be responsible for the Tuz Khormatu clashes that had compounded the tension. A Kurdish member of the Kirkuk City Council blamed the radical group Ansar Al-Islam. The Iraqi Turkmen Front, on the other hand, claimed that the Kurds were behind the violence and also accused the USA of failure to protect the Turkmen in Iraq. In addition, other Turkmen groups called on Turkey to send troops to the Turkmen-populated areas for protection, while thousands of Shi´aa marched in Baghdad on the 25th August in support of the Turkmen, who are also Shi´aa.
The PUK and the Iraqi Turkmen Front finally reached a settlement agreeing to establish a joint committee to investigate the incidents and to prosecute those responsible for the clashes. This was reported by KurdSat on the 26th August. The families of those killed in the clashes will receive compensation and moral support and a joint committee will be established to prevent such incidents in the future. Both sides also agreed to meet regularly to discuss political, economic and social issues and to instruct their members to work towards peaceful coexistence in the city.[24]
However, the mayor of Tuz Khormatu, Muhammad Rashid, said the violence was not instigated by either foreign terrorists or the remnants of Hussein´s Ba´ath Party regime. He believes that the responsibility lies with what he called ´dubious elements´ from both Kurdish and Turkmen groups in Tuz Khormatu. ´These acts don´t serve national unity or the Kurdish–Turkmen fraternity. For hundreds of years, they have lived together in this area without sectarian or doctrinal differences and dubious elements from both parties were behind such sedition.´ Still, others say the mayor is downplaying the severity of ethnic tensions in northern Iraq between the two communities. ´The tension has been there and this is one outbreak. However, I think that the outbreak has been contained. Maybe the United States needs to look at its relations with Kurds and Turkmen and see if they can do something that would lower the tensions; lower the grievances of the Turkmen.´
Turkmen fears are that Tuz Khormatu would be attached to the Kurdish north in a future federal Iraq and that this would not acceptable for all Iraqi Turkmen; the city itself is large enough to be considered as the new Tuz Khormatu Province. A member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front pointed angrily at the red, white and green Kurdish flag painted on the hillside some distance from the remnants of the Imam Ali shrine. ´This is not Kurdistan,´ he said. ´This is the Turkmen city of Tuz Khormatu.´ Throughout the north of Iraq, Turkmen are being short‐shifted by the Americans working in partnership with their Kurdish wartime allies and are being denied their proper representation in Iraqi´s new interim local government. The predominantly Sunni Turkmen of Kirkuk complain of abuse at the hands of Peshmerga Kurds within the police.[25][26][27]
With inter-ethnic tensions once more erupting, the Turkmen appealed to Turkey to send troops to the city to restore order.[28]29]
Ankara was quick with the rhetoric of sympathy. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the Islamic republic of Iran, ´Ali Khameni´, condemned the Kirkuk killings. Their foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, stated that such treatment was unacceptable.[30] However, this oratorical solidarity was clearly a substitute for action.
Although Turkey is deeply worried about a Kurdish national resurgence that will sweep across its border with northern Iraq, it is at least as worried about its ailing relations with the USA. Since the war, the USA has made it plain that Turkish intervention in northern Iraq will be unwelcome.
On the 25th August, members of the Turkish National Movement Partly (MHP) vigorously demonstrated outside the Ankara offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the leading Kurdish grouping in Kirkuk. Clashes ensued with such ferocity that 23 police officers were injured and the Kirkuk violence was a further complicating factor for the Turkish government, which was already wrestling with the US invitation to join the international coalition with ground troops in Iraq. Nevertheless, on the 30th August 2003, the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Barrister Sinan Agha, received representatives of the International Red Cross and human rights worker, Mr Tom Plus. The following Turkmen within the ITF also attended the meeting: Kanaan Shakir Aziz Aghali, Moayed Ilhanli and Salim Sabir Atrakchi.[31]
Notes
1. Sheikh Abbas Al-Imami, About the latest incident which occurred between the Turkmen and Kurds in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk, published in both Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 25th August 2003
2. Mr Muhsin Albayeti, Establishment and continuous investigation in the Martyrs of the Turkmen in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu, published in both Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 8th September 2003
3. Iraq and its Turkmen: no Kurdish imperialism for us, The Economist, August 30th 2003, page 28
4. Sheikh Abbas Al-Imami, About the latest incident which occurred between the Turkmen and Kurds in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk, published in both Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 25th August 2003
5. Mr Muhsin Albayeti, Establishment and continuous investigation in the Martyrs of the Turkmen in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 8th September 2003
6. Article published by the Jamahir Al_Turkmen on 6 September 2003 in ITO-Habber
7. Iraq and its Turkmen: no Kurdish imperialism for us, The Economist, August 30th 2003, page 28
8. Turkmeneli Newspaper, year 9, issue 592, page 1, published on Sunday the 24th August 2003
9. Arabs face evictions as Kurds take revenge Michael Howard in Daqooq, Iraqi Kurdistan, The Guardian, Friday 18th April, 2003
10. Turkmeneli Newspaper, year 9, issue 593, page 1, published on Wednesday the 27th August 2003
11. Daniel Williams, 11 killed in ethnic violence in N. Iraq: US troops intervene in riots, slaying six, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, 24th August, 2003 page A16, Correspondent Anthony Shadid and staff writer Theola Labb in Baghdad
12. Ibid
13. Daniel Williams, 11 killed in ethnic violence in N. Iraq: US troops intervene in riots, slaying six, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, 24th August, 2003 page A16, Correspondent Anthony Shadid and staff writer Theola Labb in Baghdad
14. Sheikh Abbas Al-Imami, About the latest incident which occurred between the Turkmen and Kurds in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 25th August 2003
15. Mr Muhsin Albayeti, Establishment and continuous investigation in the Martyrs of the Turkmen in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 8th September 2003
16. Article published by the Jamahir Al_Turkmen on 6th September 2003 in ITO-Habber
17. Daniel Williams, 11 killed in ethnic violence in N. Iraq: US troops intervene in riots, slaying six, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, 24th August, 2003 page A16, Correspondent Anthony Shadid and staff writer Theola Labb in Baghdad
18. Michael Howard in Daqooq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Arabs face evictions as Kurds take revenge, The Guardian, Friday 18th April, 2003
19. Turkish Daily News, August 2003
20. Mr Muhsin Albayeti, Establishment and continuous investigation in the Martyrs of the Turkmen in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 8th September 2003
21. Sheikh Abbas Al-Imami, About the latest incident which occurred between the Turkmen and Kurds in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 25th August 2003
22. Article published by the Jamahir Al_Turkmen on 6th September 2003 in ITO-Habber
23. Mr Shirzad Shiekhani, Kirkuk is looking for new flag and continuation of new schools in Turkmen and Kurdish, published in ITO-Habber, 2003
24. Kathleen Ridolf, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, Czech Republic Rfe/Rl Iraq Report, vol. 6, no 36, 29th August 2003
25. Sheikh Abbas Al-Imami, About the latest incident which occurred between the Turkmen and Kurds in Tuz Khormatu and Kirkuk, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 25th August 2003
26. Mr Muhsin Albayeti, Establishment and continuous investigation in the Martyrs of the Turkmen in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu, published in Al-Kitabat and ITO-Habber, 8th September 2003
27. Article published by the Jamahir Al_Turkmen on 6th September 2003 in ITO-Habber
28. Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer, Ethnic Fighting Spread in Northern Iraq, Associated Press writers Tarek al-Issawi in Kirkuk, Hrvoje Hranjski in Tikrit and D'Arcy Doran in Baghdad contributed to this report
29. Kasim Serena Hawses, Turkmen, Assyrians, Zionists and Kurds, published in Kitabat, September 2003; also other articles published in ITO-Habber, 10th September 2003
30. Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer, Ethnic Fighting Spread in Northern Iraq, Associated Press writers Tarek al-Issawi in Kirkuk, Hrvoje Hranjski in Tikrit and D'Arcy Doran in Baghdad contributed to this report
31. Turkmeneli Newspaper, year 9, issue 594, Page 1, published Wednesday the 31st August 2003
Note
Picture: Turkmen demonstrators showing their anger against the destruction of the Imam Murtada Shrine (From the book of Mr. Mofak Salman Kerkuklu: Figure 47)
Online editions of Prof. Dr. M. S. Megalommatis´ book on the "Turkish – Greek Relations and the Balkans" are available here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/turkeygreecemegalommatis (in Turkish) and http://community.webshots.com/user/greeceturkeymegalommatis (in Albanian)