Turkish Foreign Ministry concerned about population movement to Kirkuk amid census in Iraq

Türkiye is closely monitoring developments on the intensive movement of Kurdish people from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to Kirkuk amid the census, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli wrote on X.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern Friday about the population movement toward Iraq's northern Kirkuk province as a nationwide population census is underway.

Türkiye is closely monitoring developments on the intensive movement of Kurdish people from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to Kirkuk amid the census, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli wrote on X.

"Although no data on ethnic origins has been collected in the said census, the intense population movement has understandably caused concern among Iraqi Turkmen and Arab communities," said Keçeli.

He emphasized that the irregularity could result in the inclusion of groups who are not originally from Kirkuk into the city's population through fait accompli and that it would clearly affect future elections.

"We expect Iraqi authorities to prevent our Turkmen kin, who have been subjected to countless massacres and atrocities over the past century, from being victimized once again due to these latest developments in the census," he said. "Our primary expectation and sensitivity regarding Kirkuk is that the historical demographic structure of the province is not tampered with, and that the people of Kirkuk continue to live in a manner agreed upon by the original components of the province."

Iraq begun a nationwide census Wednesday, including the KRG, the first in 37 years.

Although the census is normally done every 10 years, it has been delayed since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq due to subsequent violence and upheaval.

A two-day curfew was in place from Wednesday to facilitate the census.

The population count is expected to influence various issues such as the national budget, development projects and parliamentary and provincial council seats.

The census will be done electronically and will not include questions about ethnicity or sect.






X
Sitelerimizde reklam ve pazarlama faaliyetlerinin yürütülmesi amaçları ile çerezler kullanılmaktadır.

Bu çerezler, kullanıcıların tarayıcı ve cihazlarını tanımlayarak çalışır.

İnternet sitemizin düzgün çalışması, kişiselleştirilmiş reklam deneyimi, internet sitemizi optimize edebilmemiz, ziyaret tercihlerinizi hatırlayabilmemiz için veri politikasındaki amaçlarla sınırlı ve mevzuata uygun şekilde çerez konumlandırmaktayız.

Bu çerezlere izin vermeniz halinde sizlere özel kişiselleştirilmiş reklamlar sunabilir, sayfalarımızda sizlere daha iyi reklam deneyimi yaşatabiliriz. Bunu yaparken amacımızın size daha iyi reklam bir deneyimi sunmak olduğunu ve sizlere en iyi içerikleri sunabilmek adına elimizden gelen çabayı gösterdiğimizi ve bu noktada, reklamların maliyetlerimizi karşılamak noktasında tek gelir kalemimiz olduğunu sizlere hatırlatmak isteriz.