Iraqi Turkmens

Yazidis fleeing their hometown of Sinjar after it was attacked by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have started to settle in a camp established by Turkey’s disaster agency in the Zakho region of Northern Iraq.

Iraqi Turkmens, one of the largest minority communities affected by the violence in Iraq, are demanding arms to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a prominent leader of the ethnic group has said as the West begins funneling arms to the Kurds.

Yazidis fleeing Iraq following an offensive by Islamic State (IS) militants have been settled in homes in the southeastern province of Şırnak, Culture Minister Ömer Çelik has said on Aug. 7.

Tens of thousands of Yazidi families, as well as Turkmens living in Iraq’s Sinjar district bordering Syria are desperately trying to escape the militants amid reports of massacres.

Thousands of Yazidis and Turkmens have fled jihadist depravity only to face death from starvation and lack of water in Iraq’s searing summer heat Thousands of Yazidis and Turkmens are marooned in the Sinjar Mountain area without food and water after the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant (ISIL) captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar following the retreat of the peshmerga.

Turkey is entering a critical week regarding the direction of its near future.

A week from today, on Aug. 11, it will be clear if Turkey elected its 12th president in the first round on Aug. 10.

Turkey has been doing its best to reach out to Iraqi Turkmens caught in the middle of sectarian strife in neighboring Iraq, the head of a government aid agency has said, in an apparent response to criticism that the government has been ignoring the plight of Turkmens.

Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru on June 27 met with families of the Turkish consulate personnel who were taken hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Koru on June 26 met with the families of the 31 Turkish drivers who were kidnapped in Mosul.

An Iraqi Turkmen Front’s executive council member, who was in the committee that distributes humanitarian aid coming from Turkey, was killed after being shot in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on June 24.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has called on Iraqi Turkmens to be united and urged Sunni and Shia Turkmens to refrain from sectarian confrontation.

The ethnically volatile northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk may soon fall, as militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been gaining ground, a leading representative of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) has warned.