Turkmeneli, also known as Turkmenland,[1] and historically as Turcomania,[2] (
Turkish: Türkmeneli,
lit. 'Land of the Turkmens'), and East Turkmeneli (Doğu Türkmeneli)[3] is a political term used to define the vast swath of territory in which the
Iraqi Turkmens historically have had a dominant population.[4] The term incorporates the Iraqi Turkmen homelands running from Iraq's border with
Turkey and
Syria and diagonally down the country to the border with
Iran.[2] It is sometimes referred to as East Turkmeneli to distinguish from the
Syrian Turkmen homeland, known as West Turkmeneli.[3]
In particular, the
Turkmen/Turkoman consider the capital of Turkmeneli to be disputed city of
Kirkuk and its boundaries also include
Tal Afar,
Mosul (second largest city in Iraq),
Erbil (capital of
Kurdistan Region),
Mandali, and
Tuz Khurmatu.[5][6] According to Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, the Turkmen/Turkoman note that the term "Turcomania" – an
Anglicized version of "Turkmeneli" – appears on a maps of the region published by William Guthrie and Adolf Stieler, however, there is no clear reference to Turkmeneli until the end of the twentieth century.[2]
The Turkmen homeland
The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkomans generally consider several major cities, and small districts associated with these cities, as part of their homeland.[7] The major cities claimed to be a part of Turkmeneli, in a north-to-south order, include:
Mosul,
Erbil,
Kirkuk,
Tuz Khurmatu (maybe sometimes even
Tikrit) and
Tal Afar, Sancar
Altun Kupri,
Kifri,
Khanaqin,
Kizil Ribat,
Bakuba and
Mendeli.[7] Consequently, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north.[7]
Prospects of an autonomous region
According to Khalil Osman there has been "a raft of federalist schemes" proposed by various Turkmen/Turkoman political parties.[6] For example, one controversial proposal to set up Turkmeneli as a Turkmen/Turkoman autonomous region included the areas northwest of Iraq, from
Tal Afar in
Nineveh Governorate, through
Kirkuk Governorate and Tuz Khurmatu District in
Saladin Governorate in north-central Iraq, to
Mandali in the
Diyala Governorate in the northeast of
Baghdad.[6]
Vahram Petrosian suggests that the
Iraqi Turkmen Front's (ITF) forwarding of the idea of the recognition of Turkmeneli may pave the way for a future Kurdish-Turkmen conflict.[8]
In 2016 Wassim Bassem reported that the Turkmen/Turkoman have been calling for their own independent province in the Tal Afar district.[9] Their demands had coincided with calls for the establishment of other new provinces for the Christian and the Yazidi minorities.[9]
On 17 July 2017, Turkmen representatives proposed that
Tal Afar and
Tuz Khurmatu become an autonomous Turkmen region and asked for a "special status" for Kirkuk at a summit in Baghdad under the name "Future of Turkmens in United Iraq".[10] They also called for "training and equipping the
Turkmen Hashd al-Shaabi forces."[11]
Anderson, Liam; Stansfield, Gareth (2009), Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, University of Pennsylvania Press,
ISBN978-0812206043
Osman, Khalil (2015), Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation Since 1920, Routledge,
ISBN978-1317674870
Petrosian, Vahram (2003), "The Iraqi Turkomans and Turkey", Iran & the Caucasus, 7 (1/2), Brill Publishers: 279–308,
doi:
10.1163/157338403X00150
Rich, Paul J. (2008), Iraq and Rupert Hay's Two Years in Kurdistan, Lexington Books,
ISBN978-1461633679
Strakes, Jason E. (2009), "Current Political Complexities of the Iraqi Turkmen", Iran & the Caucasus, 13 (2), Brill Publishers: 365–382,
doi:
10.1163/157338410X12625876281505