- Title: IRAQ: TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN KURDS AND TURKMEN AS FIGHTING LEAVES SEVERAL DEAD
- Date: 25th August 2003
- Summary: (W4) TUZ KHARMATU 110 KM NORTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 23, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. SLV KURDISH FLAG ON TOP OF A HILL; KURDISH PEOPLE WALKING; LV DOME OF SHI'ITE SHRINE ON A TOP OF A HILL (4 SHOTS) 0.23 2. TRACKING SHOT ARMED KURDS IN CARS WITH U.S SOLDIERS; CAR DRIVING OFF (2 SHOTS) 0.42 3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) MAYOR OF TUZ KHARMATU, MOHAMMED RASH
- Embargoed: 9th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TUZ KHARMATU AND KIRKUK, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAAPJCP499CB7YOQIW8S9BHHABC
- Story Text: Tensions rise between Kurds and Turkmen as fighting
leaves several dead in the past two days.
Iraqi police patrolled the streets of Kirkuk on
Sunday (August 24, 2003) after ethnic violence in northern Iraq
left several dead, stoking further tension in a country
already grappling with lawlessness and a guerrilla
insurgency.
Clashes between Kurds and Turkmen erupted on Friday in
the town of Tuz Khurmatu, and unrest spread on Saturday to
Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city that is a key oil industry
hub.
Funerals for some of those killed in the violence were
due to be held on Sunday, creating more potential
flashpoints.
The mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, Mohammed Rashid, said the
fighting was sparked when Turkmen accused Kurds of
desecrating a revered Shi'ite shrine outside the city.
"These acts don't serve the national unity nor the
Kurdish-Turkman fraternity. For hundreds of years, they
have lived together in this area without sectarian or
doctrinal differences. Dubious elements from both parties
were behind such sedition," the mayor said.
A U.S. Army spokeswoman said Iraqi police killed two
people in Tuz Khurmatu on Friday while trying to quell the
unrest. The American military had previously said it was
U.S. troops that fired the shots, but later changed its
account of the incident.
Kurdish and Turkmen residents said as many as 15 people
were killed in the fighting.
Ethnic tensions have long simmered in the area around
Kirkuk, where former President Saddam Hussein tried to
drive out Kurds and Turkmen to strengthen the Arab
population at the site of Iraq's richest oil reserves.
Kirkuk has a U.S.-appointed Kurdish mayor, and many
members of the Turkmen minority, who speak Turkish and have
close political ties with Turkey, say they want more
influence.
Turkish newspapers blamed Kurdish 'peshmerga' fighters
belonging to Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
party for the trouble in the Kirkuk region.
"Playing with fire," said a headline in the
mass-circulation Hurriyet daily, which said three Turkmen
were killed during a protest in Kirkuk at the killing of
seven Turkmen in an earlier incident.
It said a crowd of some 5,000 had marched through the
city, chanting "Kirkuk is Turkish, it will remain Turkish".
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