Iraqi Turkmens arming for self-defense

Feeling threatened by the extending control of Kurdish peshmerga forces in Kirkuk, Iraqi Turkmens have begun to arm themselves, a prominent representative of the ethnic group has said, as the country finds itself dragged into further turmoil.

“We are definitely determined to establish an armed force. People are obliged to defend themselves,” Erşad Salihi, the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), told daily Hürriyet.

“All other groups have militia forces. We are facing difficulties as we don’t have weapons. The central government’s weapons go to our Shiite brothers. The Sunnis and the Kurds are already armed,” Salihi added.

Following the seizure by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants of the Iraqi province of Mosul last week, Iraqi security forces retreated and left Kirkuk to Kurdish militants.

According to a deal reached between Iraqi defense and interior ministries and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), peshmarga will step in when the central government’s army fails to fulfil its duties, and this deal is the legal basis for the increasing peshmarga presence across northern Iraq.
The Kurdistan flag is now waving at a vast former U.S. military camp surrounded with concrete blocks as you enter Kirkuk, and it is clear that the Iraqi army is “out” while the Kurdish peshmarga forces are “in.”

Constabulary forces made up of Turkmen, Arab and Kurdish police officers are not totally absent from
the streets, but the only military power now is the peshmerga.

“We definitely don’t see Kirkuk as a part of the Kurdish region,” said Salihi, expressing his annoyance at the possibility of Kurdish authority becoming...