An appeal for the protection of Turkmen in Kirkuk

After the last tension in Kirkuk about raising the Kurdish flag over the government buildings, which received local rejection by Turkmen and , Arabs, by Iraqi government in Baghdad, and by regional and international actors, where everyone condemned this step, which may be a key for Daesh to enter Kirkuk. 

Today, after the failure of this policy of Kurdish parties, they are using the alternate policy of the gangs that was already used against Turkmen in Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatoo and other areas, but it was undeclared and hidden. On April 10, 2017, a Kurdish gang kidnapped a Turkmen citizen “Ali Mohammed Ali”, who lives in the Al Quds neighborhood of Kirkuk and works as an employee of one of the Turkmen parties after a fight with him over the flag raising issue. 

On April 27, the gang sent a video showing how the kidnappers are torturing the citizen and asking him to demand his family to pay a ransom for his release. He asks them to do the opposite. The gangs showing him again, while he has been tortured and his face full of blood . This is the policy of the Kurdish parties, which have stepped up and took power and authority under the title of oppressive and under the title of democracy. 

We appeal to all official bodies in Iraq and international and regional actors to intervene and protect the Turkmen from what is happening. These gangs are more dangerous than Daesh because they operate under the guise of the state and the government.

T.R.F/ Media office

29 April 2017