Turkmeneli, also known asTurkmenland,[1] and historically asTurcomania,[2] (Turkish:Türkmeneli,lit. 'Land of the Turkmens'), andEast Turkmeneli (Doğu Türkmeneli)[3] is a political term[2] used to define the vast swath of territory in which theIraqi Turkmens historically have had a dominant population.[4] The term incorporates the Iraqi Turkmen homelands running from Iraq's border withTurkey andSyria and diagonally down the country to the border withIran.[2] It is sometimes referred to as East Turkmeneli to distinguish from theSyrian Turkmen homeland, known as West Turkmeneli.[3] Apart from the designation of the region as Turcomania in a 1785 map by William Guthrie, there's no certain mention of the region in published works until the establishment of theIraqi Turkmen Front.[2]
In particular, theTurkmen/Turkoman consider the capital of Turkmeneli to be disputed city ofKirkuk and its boundaries also includeTal Afar,Mosul (second largest city in Iraq),Erbil,Mandali, andTuz Khurmatu.[5][6] According to Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, the Turkmen/Turkoman note that the term "Turcomania" – anAnglicized 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 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 evenTikrit) andTal Afar, SancarAltun Kupri,Kifri,Khanaqin,Kizil Ribat,Bakuba andMendeli.[7] Consequently, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north.[7]
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, fromTal Afar inNineveh Governorate, throughKirkuk Governorate and Tuz Khurmatu District inSaladin Governorate in north-central Iraq, toMandali in theDiyala Governorate in the northeast ofBaghdad.[6]
Vahram Petrosian suggests that theIraqi 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 thatTal Afar andTuz 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 theTurkmen Hashd al-Shaabi forces."[11]
Media related toTürkmeneli at Wikimedia Commons