“Beginning of the division of Iraq”, “violation of international law”: the Turkoman minority in Iraq condemned the construction by the Iraqi Kurds in a long trench hundreds of kilometers, officially presented as a defense against the jihadists.
“We see this trench as the beginning of the division of Iraq. It would be the implementation on the ground of a redrawn geopolitical map, “he told AFP the party leader Iraqi Turkmen Front, Archad al-Salehi.
The government of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which extends into northern Iraq, defends it to any expansionist aim, arguing that the trenches, three meters wide and two deep, is only intended to prevent jihadist attacks of the Islamic State (EI).
But officials from the Turkmen community, the route of the deep ditch raises suspicion.
According to them, the trench will cross the western Iraq is, from the town of Rabia bordering Syria than Khanaqine, near the Iranian border.
It largely follow the 1000 kilometers of the front line between Kurdish fighters and those of EI.
But the Kurdish fighters, the peshmerga, are present beyond the borders of their region, after defeating the EI in areas where the Iraqi military had fled.
The trench would allow them to include these territories in Iraqi Kurdistan although there not belong according to present boundaries, denounced the Turkmen also called Turkmens.
Preserving the unity of Iraq –
They are worried because these areas contain many of them.
“70-80% of the territories (which would pass the Kurdish side of the trench) are populated by Turkmen,” said Mehdi Saadoun, a militant of the Foundation for Relief Turkomans.
“The cities of Tal Afar, Kirkuk and Tuz pass Khourmatou the side of Iraqi Kurdistan if the government does not apply the law preserving the unity of Iraq,” he warned.
This vast country in the Middle East has many minorities including the Kurds, whose population is estimated at about four million, and Turkmen on which there are no recent statistics encrypted.
Iraqi Turkomans have maintained in the past difficult relations with the Kurds. Ethnic rivalries have come to light since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003 and by the Kurds claim Kirkuk.
The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has admitted recently accelerated fortification of its defenses against the IE but firmly rejects any political project.
“This trench is a defensive system against car bombs used by Daech (Arabic acronym EI),” insisted a spokesman for Iraqi Kurdish fighters, Jabar Yawar.
“It will not be built everywhere, some areas do not need. It will be for military officials to decide “its route, he added.
The excavation work has not started Touz Khourmatou but they began near Kirkuk, a city located in a rich oil region and to Jalawla, near the Iranian border, according to the Turkmen officials.
For Jassem Mohammed Jaafar, a Turkmen Parliament, the trench “violates international conventions and the rights of people who will be forced to live on each other.”
Salehi called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take a stand against this controversial trench.
AFP