The restriction of the official use of the Turkmen language in northern Kirkuk through the decision of the general secretary of the Iraqi Cabinet is a violation of the basic rights of Turkmens, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
In a written statement, the ministry pointed out that the decision also contradicted the articles of the Iraqi Constitution.
“Article 4 of the Constitution governs the provision that Turkmen is the official language in the administrative units where the Turkmen population is concentrated. Likewise, Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution emphasizes that the Constitution guarantees administrative and cultural rights of all components that make up Iraq,” it underlined.
The ministry further said that such steps which ignore the rights and sensitivities of the Turkmens are harming efforts toward establishing a cultural coexistence.
“We call on the Iraqi authorities to quickly review this decision,” the statement read.
The Kirkuk province has a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population, dating back to the Ottoman era, and Iraq's neighbor Türkiye has taken a firm stance against attempts to manipulate its ethnic makeup.
Turkmens are Iraq's third largest ethnic community after Arabs and Kurds.
There are no official figures for Iraq's total Turkmen population, but Turkmen officials say they account for about 7% of the country's population of 38 million.
