ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), on Tuesday described the appointment of a Turkmen governor in Iraq’s multiethnic Kirkuk as a “historical turning point” reaffirming the presence of Turkmen in the ethnically and religiously diverse city.
“We have once again shown the whole world that Kirkuk is a legacy for us and that our Turkmen brethren are a trust that will not be abandoned,” he said during his parliamentary bloc’s meeting, adding that the city will “no longer be a matter for negotiations.”
Kirkuk was recognized as part of the newly established Iraq in 1925. The modern Turkish state formally renounced territorial claims to the city - along with other territories in the former Ottoman Mosul province, including Mosul and Erbil - under the 1926 Ankara Treaty with Iraq, in exchange for 10 percent of oil revenues for 25 years.
Mohammed Samaan Agha, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, was elected governor of Kirkuk in mid-April, becoming the first Turkmen to hold the post since its establishment in 1924.
Agha’s election followed the resignation of former governor Rebwar Taha from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Taha had been the first Kurdish governor of Kirkuk since 2017.
Under a political agreement in the 16-seat provincial council, Agha secured 14 votes. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) boycotted the session, citing opposition to the political arrangements behind the vote.
Although Kirkuk’s demography has not been officially determined based on ethnicity and Turkmen population have only two seats from its provincial council, Ankara sees it as a part of the Turkic World - an ideological and cultural construct rooted in history as well as nationalist thought.
“From Kirkuk to East Turkestan [northwestern China], from [Nagorno-]Karabakh [in Azerbaijan] to Cyprus, we stand by all our brothers and sisters, whose loyalty is the very essence of our commitment,” Bahceli added on Tuesday.
The veteran Turkish politician’s remarks come a week after Ankara’s foreign ministry also warmly welcomed Agha’s appointment, describing it as a legitimate right for their “Turkmen kin” in Kirkuk and the whole Iraq.
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