Ahmed Qader, a Shiite Turkmen who fled to Babil, told Al-Monitor, “It won't be safe for minorities, namely Shiites, to return to Tal Afar and neighboring villages unless the city is turned into its own province. Turkmens have suffered from three waves of displacement since IS entered the city. This state of stability is only a fleeting period.”
Nahla al-Hibabi, a member of the Iraqi parliament for the Turkmens, told Al-Monitor, “The Turkmens’ demands to manage their affairs independently are not based on sectarian grounds. The constitution allows the establishment of new provinces.” However, the sectarian divide already exists within the Turkmen component itself.
But Turkmen spokesman and human rights activist Jaafar al-Talaafri downplayed the disagreements among Turkmen. He told Al-Monitor, “Shiite and Sunni Turkmens of the city were seeking to turn it into a new province before the fall of Mosul in June 2014. This was when the Iraqi Cabinet announced that Tal Afar would become a province. Therefore, the Turkmens’ demands do not fall within the sectarian and ethnic context that is being brought up today.”
Ali Akram al-Bayati, the director of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation, told Al-Monitor there are other reasons for Turkmens to call for an independent province.
“This would allow access to a certain budget for the construction and development of the province, the formation of a security protection force made up of its citizens to fight against terrorism, as well as providing job opportunities,” he said.
Like Hibabi, Bayati noted that the constitution provides for the right to establish new provinces. He stressed that “turning Tal Afar into an independent province does not mean it will only include Turkmens. It will be open to any other ethnic and sectarian components.”
(Picture: Tal Afar castle)
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