Kurdistan Region’s Turkmen call for more rights, say in drafting constitution

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkmen in the Kurdistan Region are asking for increased rights as lawmakers mull drafting a constitution for the Region, a Turkmen council member explained to Rudaw English on Sunday, saying Turkmen lawmakers want veto powers for the group’s political representatives written into the constitution.

“Turkmen are not a part of administrating the country, in making momentous decisions, in leading the country. We have no one at the presidency, we can’t be heard in parliament. We have three members in the provincial council, including me, out of 30 people. We can’t be heard, because we are a minority,” Imad Rafaat, head of the Erbil provincial council’s Turkmen bloc, explained on Sunday.

“That’s why it’s better that when it comes to the Kurdistan Region’s parliament, government and presidency’s momentous decisions, the Turkmen has a veto in those decisions so that they can participate in leading the country,” he added, saying it is not enough for Turkmen to be represented at different levels of politics. 

“It’s not enough,” he said, saying Turkmen need to “be able to be a part of decisions.”

Turkmen representatives from Parliament, the government and the provincial council met to discuss their stake in the Kurdistan Region constitution, the council member told Rudaw on Saturday.

A nine-member committee has now been established to follow up on the issue of Turkmen rights in the constitution, including being recognised as indigenous to the Kurdistan Region, and being included in the Region’s flag and national anthem.

“One of our demands is two members of the constitution drafting committee to be Turkmen,” Rafaat added.

There are a wide range of ethnic and religious minorities in the Kurdistan Region, including Christians, Yazidis, Kakais, Turkmens and Arabs. While many say the Region is a comparatively safe and supportive place for minorities, others have documented various cases of discrimination.

The Kurdistan Region currently relies on a series of laws, instructions and norms as a substitution for the constitution. It also heavily relies on the Iraqi constitution for numerous issues, especially those related to crime.

Under Article 120 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution, the Kurdistan Region is entitled to have its own constitution – as long as it does not contradict that of Iraq. 

Kurdish political parties have been struggling to agree on a constitution since then. In 2009, they drafted a constitution, but it was not put forward due to disputes over certain articles.

In April, MPs were asked to re-submit their agreements and disagreements to parliament in order to restart work on the draft.

President Nechirvan Barzani has in recent months made fresh efforts to bring together all political parties to agree on a new draft for the constitution. He recently told the Vatican Ambassador to Iraq that the rights of Christians will be protected in any future constitution.

“Turkmen in places outside of the Kurdistan Region are not protected, their lives are in danger. Our rights here in the Kurdistan Region are protected,” Muna Kahveci, head of the Turkmen Reform Party’s bloc in the Kurdistan Region parliament said on May 19 during a conference titled The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Unity and Constitution held at University of Kurdistan Hewler.

“We, the Turkmen, an indigenous component of this country, urge the political parties to put conflict aside, and only focus on drafting a constitution of the Kurdistan Region,” she added.

Barzani, during the same conference, said he does not like the use of the word “minorities” for non-Kurds “because the beauty of Kurdistan lies in the mosaic and coexistence we all have in this country.”