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The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled '''Turkomen''', '''Turcoman''', and '''Turkman''')( ethnic group living in Iraq , notably in the cities of Arbil , Tal Afar , Kirkuk , and Mosul . Like the Assyrians , they claim to be the third largest ethnic group in the country (following the Arab s and the Kurds ). However, estimates of their numbers vary dramatically, from 222,000Helen Chapin Metz and the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. '''''Iraq: A Country Study''''', p. 86. to 2,500,000. Adherents.com - Iraq The Turkmen of Iraq are not to be confused with the LANGUAGE The Iraqi Turkmen speak a dialect of Turkish that is heavily influenced by Arabic , and Ottoman Turkish . Ethnologue and Linguasphere classify their spoken language as a form of South Azerbaijani , thus making them linguistically closer of the Azeris of Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran . For their written language, they use the standard Turkish Language and Latin-based Turkish Alphabet . Some sources state that they are evenly split between Sunni and Shia Islam by faith.http://iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50067 According to Talip Büyük, Shiites make 65% of the population and Sunnis make the rest.http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/02/20/guncel/agun.html HISTORY The origin of the Iraqi Turkmen dates back to the Al-Ma'mun and Al-Mu'tasim rules of Abbasid in 9th century. Most of the Turkmen living in the region settled in northern Iraq during the early and the Ba'ath domination over Iraq, a policy of Arabization was imposed on the Turkmen and the rest of Iraq's non-Arab minorities. It was declared in the constitution that schools were prohibited from using the Turkish language and banned Turkish-language media in Iraq. In the 1980s, Saddam prohibited the public use of the Turkish language completely. PRESENT STATUS Although some have been able to preserve their language, the Iraqi Turkmen today are being rapidly assimilated into the general population and are no longer tribally organized. With the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 , tensions between the Kurds and the Turkmen grew substantially. As a result, Kirkuk soon became the only violent non-Arab city in Iraq during the Iraq War . Iraqi Turkmen have also emerged as a key political force in the controversy over the future status of northern Iraq and the Kurdish Autonomous Region . The government of Turkey has helped fund such political organizations as the Iraqi Turkmen Front , which opposes Iraqi federalism and in particular the proposed annexation of Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Regional Government . Kurds Accused Of Rigging Kirkuk Vote , Al Jazeera Tensions between the two groups over Kirkuk, however, have slowly died out and on January 30, 2006, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani , said that the "Kurds are working on a plan to give Iraqi Turkmen autonomy in areas where they are a majority in the new constitution they're drafting for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq."1 However, it never happened and the policies of Kurdification by KDP and PUK after 2003 (with non-Kurds being pressures to move) have prompted serious inter-ethnic problems.Stansfield, Gareth. (2007). Iraq: People, History, Politics. p71 Between ten and twelve Turkmen individuals were , accessed on 2007-09-06 In the December 2005 Elections , between five and seven Turkmen candidates were elected to the Council of Representatives. This included one candidate from the ITF (its leader Sadettin Ergec ), two or four from the United Iraqi Alliance , one from the Iraqi Accord Front and one from the Kurdistani Alliance . Turkmens Win Only One Seat in Kerkuk , Iraqi Turkmen Front SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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