There are approximately 30 thousand Iraqi Turkmen residing in Turkey, which has a population of 82 million. The Iraqi Turkmen are considered the first external Turks to settle in Turkey. However, today they have been reduced to the position of a minority and are struggling to remain standing. One of the main reasons for this is that the Turkmen living in Turkey in terms of the Iraqi Turkmen in Turkey are obstructed from taking bold and risky steps in its Turkmen-centered regional policies to resolve the problems, which have acquired a chronic status.
The Turkmen diaspora in Turkey differs from the other diaspora. For example, there are 5 million Jews in the US with a population of 328 million. They have a great impact and influence on American society. In fact, the United States establishes sovereignty all over the world over the Jews. One of the major reasons why the United States is so powerful in the world is because the Jews view their own national interests in parallel with those of the United States and work harder than Americans to protect the interests of the United States.
It would not be correct to say that all Turkmen living in Turkey are emotionally linked to this land. Because of the obstruction by various people who are physically here but whose identities are completely elsewhere which prevent Turkey from implementing its Turkmen policy steps the interests of the Turkmen in the region are harmed. In terms of the mind of the state, Turkey is taking courageous and risky steps to resolve the chronic problems of the Turkmen issue. However, persons with political or academic titles are taking steps to obstruct the path of these historical endeavors. These steps damage the Turkmen cause a great deal and put the Turkmen policy of Turkey into a bottleneck situation. This is an ownership issue.
The main responsibility of the Turkmen in Turkey being in the situation they are lies with the Turkmen civilian organizations and agencies. These civilian organizations and agencies have distanced themselves from their main duty of influencing the decision-making mechanisms in Turkey and have been dealing with the Turkmen cause with a very stringent plan of steering the Turkish public. This situation has caused a rift between the Turkmen in Turkey and even the Turkmen in Iraq. In order to eliminate the lack of success of the relevant organizations, they have chosen to attack and address with unjustified criticism those Turkmen personalities who have criticized the working methods of the organizations which have been dragged from one unsuccessful endeavor to the next instead of taking the opportunity to benefit from these proposals.
The mentioned persons and various people living in Turkey put everybody else in a poor light in order to prove themselves right and do not only criticize the AK party but also all the previous Turkish powers before the AK party at the same time. They continuously criticize influential political personas who have put their stamps on the Turkmen policy of Turkey and Turkish politics in order to cover their own failures. Our only hope is that instead of busying themselves with this or that Turkmen personality they would review their own style, methods, and work styles with a view on the recommendations and in line with the new conjuncture of the developing world and harmonize themselves accordingly and put themselves into a better position in which they can function more efficiently with agencies and organizations within the Turkish community.
Dr. Hicran Kazancı
Iraqi Turkmen Front