Turkmen decry slow pace of Iraq reconstruction

By Mehmet Alaca

ANKARA (AA) – Poor security conditions have made it difficult for displaced Turkmen to return to their homes in post-Daesh Iraq, an Iraqi Turkmen politician told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

According to Mehmet Tutuncu, a Turkey-based member of Iraq’s Turkmen Front, only 35 percent of Turkmen who left the city of Tal Afar have been able to return their homes -- despite the passage of more than one year since Baghdad claimed victory over the Daesh terrorist group.

Since the government announced the defeat of Daesh in late 2017, Tal Afar -- a predominantly Turkmen city in western Iraq -- has not seen any substantial reconstruction, Tutuncu says.

“People can’t return to their homes due to the chronic lack of infrastructure, public order and security,” he lamented.

“Nothing has yet been rebuilt in Tal Afar even though donor states pledged a total of $30 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction last year in Kuwait,” he said.

He added: “The government should start new projects, create job opportunities and open schools so displaced people can return.”

Referring to other Turkmen-populated areas of Iraq, Tutuncu said that both Turkmen and Arabs were concerned about the possible return to these areas by Peshmerga forces loyal to northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

“Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds, along with other minorities, should all have a share in local administration -- in Kirkuk and in other Turkmen cities,” he asserted.

The governor of Kirkuk, for example, should be a Turkmen, according to Tutuncu.

“Fifteen [Iraqi] provinces have Arab governors while three others have Kurdish governors,” he said. “At least one province should be run by a Turkmen governor.”

Earlier this week, the Iraqi authorities announced that a joint force -- composed of army, police and Hashd al-Shaabi (Shia) elements -- had been tasked with maintaining security in oil-rich Kirkuk.