QA-14, 22 November 2024, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Öncü Keçeli, in Response to a Question Regarding the Population Movements toward Kirkuk Regarding the Census in Iraq / Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs

As Türkiye, with all our institutions, we stand by the Iraqi Turkmens and protect their rights and interests.

In this framework, the peace and security of our Turkmen brothers and sisters, who constitute a significant portion of Kirkuk’s population and serve as a bridge of friendship between Türkiye and Iraq, are among our main priorities in bilateral relations with this country.

We have been closely following the recent developments regarding the mass movement of Kurds from the KRI to Kirkuk for the census conducted in Iraq after many years.

Although the census did not collect data on ethnicity, the heavy population movements has rightly caused concern among the Iraqi Turkmen and Arab communities. Clearly, this irregularity would lead to the inclusion of many people who are not originally from Kirkuk in the province’s population. This fait accompli would also impact the elections that will be held in the future.

During the last century, Iraqi Turkmens have been subjected to countless massacres and persecutions. We expect the Iraqi authorities not to allow our Turkmen brothers and sisters to face another injustice due to these recent developments.

Our main expectation and sensitivity regarding Kirkuk is to ensure that the demographic structure in the province, which has taken its current composition through history, is not tampered with and that the people of Kirkuk live in a framework agreed upon by the original constituents of the province.