Wasn't Kirkuk as Important as Gaza?!

With the incident of not wearing an Atatürk badge at the Tuzla Infantry School on November 10, we began to discuss how the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) reached this state. With the appointed Governor naming a boulevard in Diyarbakır after Sheikh Said, we also recalled that the British, who wanted to prevent Atatürk from taking Mosul and Kirkuk, had initiated the Sheikh Said rebellion.

The TSK did not reach this state in a single day!.. The first domino was the US soldiers putting sacks over the heads of our soldiers in Sulaymaniyah on July 4, 2003. We waited so long for a diplomatic note to be issued; but those who “sought refuge in the intercession of Washington and Brussels from the wrath of Ankara” could not even issue a “musical note.”

IT WAS KIRKUK THAT WAS “SACKED”

What was the reason for that sack? On the surface, it was the rejection of the March 1 memorandum that envisioned the invasion of Iraq; in reality, it was the TSK's protection and support of Kirkuk and the Turkmens, and this issue being Turkey's “red line.” The AKP government immediately received the message delivered by the sack; it decided that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not the TSK, should deal with Kirkuk and the Turkmens from then on!..

One of the most important consequences of the US invasion of Iraq was the establishment of “Barzanistan” and the subsequent coveting of the ancient Turkmen city of Kirkuk.

From Talabani to Barzani, threats were made: “If Ankara brings up Kirkuk, the Diyarbakır file will be opened...”, “If Turkey interferes in Kirkuk, we will interfere in Diyarbakır...” The US Governor said, “It is now the time for the Kurds... Kirkuk is a Kurdish city.”

Looting took place in Kirkuk and Mosul. Turkish names began to be changed. Land registry and population records were burned. When the Iraqi Turkmen Front was raided in Kirkuk, the Barzani supporters and their bosses celebrated with the words, “Kirkuk was liberated today.”

THEN?

Finally, when Turkmens remained in the minority in the elections held in Kirkuk in 2005, the then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül emphasized that the number of Turkmens was not as high as claimed.

Afterward, Ankara shifted to a policy of “standing at an equal distance to all ethnic groups in Iraq”... Talabani and Barzani were welcomed with red carpets... First, a visit to “Barzanistan” was made, followed by a recognition process... The TSK was also asked to be involved in this rapprochement; but it was not accepted.

Ultimately, in 2021, we saw that the then-Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler went to Erbil!..

To make a long story short; despite this courtship by Ankara, the Barzanis' ambitions over Kirkuk never changed.

Are they the only ones? Bafıl Talabani, the son who became the head of the PUK after Jalal Talabani and who drew the ire of Ankara for openly joining hands with the terrorist organization YPG/PYD in Syria and allowing them to use Sulaymaniyah Airport and allocating helicopters to them, is also among those who say, “Kirkuk is a red line for the PUK... It is the Jerusalem of Kurdistan.”

THE PLACE WHERE IT IS SAID “IF WE ARE NOT THERE, WE WILL GIVE AWAY DIYARBAKIR”

While the AKP's Kirkuk policy is like this, its partner MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli is definitely not of the same opinion. Let us recall these two statements of his:

"Kirkuk, with its bowed neck, embarrassed soul, and sorrowful gaze, is waiting for a voice. Mosul, whose hope has diminished, whose horizon has darkened, and which has been plunged into darkness since 2014, wants a hand to hold onto... We will not give up on the Turkmens... We are not the only ones saying that Kirkuk is Turkish and that the Turkmeneli has a Turkish identity. History is screaming it out loud. Geography is practically roaring, practically speaking. Kirkuk is Turkish, it belongs to the Turks, and Turkmeneli is the ancestral homeland of the Turks... We say that whatever Istanbul is, Kirkuk is the same, they don't understand. We say Mosul is Ankara, their thick skulls don't get it. Even if no one, no person or institution supports the struggle for existence and unity of the Turkmens, we are here, we say at least five thousand Idealists (Ülkücü) are waiting ready, but to no avail; they resort to every means to distort, dilute, and neglect our stance... 'No power will be able to stand in the way of the right to say 82 Kirkuk, 83 Mosul, immediately after 81 Düzce.'... If we are not in Kirkuk, that is when we will give away Diyarbakır."

"Ankara's defense will not start from border provinces and districts, but from Afrin, Ayn al-Arab, Jazira, Qandil, and Kirkuk, as it currently stands."

Let us also note that when Masoud Barzani attempted an independence referendum that included Kirkuk on September 25, 2017, Bahçeli, who was very pleased with Erdoğan's statement that "Kirkuk is a Turkmen city," said, "We are happy and hopeful that Kirkuk and the Turkmens have begun to carry the same meaning and value for Turkey as Gaza and the Palestinians do."

What is the reason for us telling you all this?

It is almost never on the agenda of politicians and the media; but last Monday, for the first time in 18 years, provincial council elections were held in many regions in Iraq—including Kirkuk and Mosul.

The result?

In Kirkuk; Bafıl Talabani's party, the PUK, which acts as a patron to terrorists in Syria alongside the US, came in first, the Arab Coalition List second, the United Iraqi Turkmen Front list third, and the Barzanis' party, the KDP, fourth.

In Mosul, an alliance of Arab parties won first place, while the KDP took second.

After the horse has bolted, the pro-government media is now pointing out that “the plan to de-Turkify Kirkuk was put back into effect in the elections held after 18 years,” and complaining that “thousands of Turkmens who went to the polls were not allowed to vote under the pretext that 'there is a malfunction in the fingerprint system.'”

What happened? Was the power of the government, which is described as writing epics in foreign policy every single day, not enough to prevent this trend that came with drums and pipes in Kirkuk?!

Guess who was the happiest with the results and the first to congratulate Bafıl Talabani?

DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan!..

In summary, they said;

"We congratulate the Kurdish people and all the peoples and faiths living in Kirkuk for their democratic stance in participating in the election, which was held for the first time since 2005. The will of the peoples of Kirkuk has become a hope for the Middle East geography against the efforts of the nation-state mentality in the Middle East to rule and destabilize the region by dividing peoples according to their national identities and beliefs within the scope of a divide-and-rule strategy."

While it is said that a wholehearted struggle is being waged for Gaza, do you see whose “province” the ancient Turkmen city of Kirkuk is becoming?!