Turkmens commemorate Kirkuk massacre 28 years on
The Iraqi Turkmens community Thursday commemorated the 28th anniversary of Kirkuk massacre, where some 100 Turkmens were killed by Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime on March 28, 1991.
The massacre took place in the town of Altun Kupri and children and elderly people were among the victims.
The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) in northern Iraq's Kirkuk organized a program Wednesday to commemorate the day. The program was attended by the Turkish Consul General in Erbil, Hakan Karaçay, ITF Deputy Ayd?n Maruf and a number of local officials and residents.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Karaçay said that Turkmens are a major element of Iraq's national fabric. He acknowledged Ankara's continued support for the political, economic and cultural rights of the country's large Turkmens community.
"May our Turkmens brothers who were martyred in the [1991] massacre rest in peace," he said. "The perpetrators had hoped to erase the political and cultural presence of Iraqi Turkmens," he added. Iraqi Turkmens, also known as Iraqi Turks, are a Turkic-speaking minority whose total population is estimated at some 3 million.
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