turkmen in iraq and their flight - orsam

ORSAM-CENTER FOR THE MIDDLE EASTERN TURKMEN STUDIES
It was found that Turkmen is a well-educated population with a high tendency to move abroad,
particularly to Turkey due to historical and cultural ties. Possibly in response to the tightening immigration
admission regimes across the board, as many as 50 per cent of all Turkmen migrants
crossed borders without necessary papers or overstayed their permits and visas.
This study presents a story of an unsettled minority population in Iraq and indicates high emigration
pressures felt by Turkmen. Given the current uncertainty prevailing in Iraq, one would expect
many more have left since our fieldwork and many more are likely to flee their homes in the future
unless a multi-ethnic peace is secured in the country.
Introduction: The Turkmen Question in Iraq
Immediately after the invasion of Iraq in March
2003, as an international migration researcher,
I was concerned about the potential repercussions
of this military move for international migration
in Iraq. The available data from international
organisations were already showing that
the First Gulf War had caused a shift in Iraq’s
migration profile: the country had switched
from a country of immigration hosting millions
of contract workers and refugees into a country
of emigration seeing many of its citizens
fleeing. In an earlier study, I have documented
emigration trends from Iraq 1 and presented it
with an environment of insecurity perspective
which was developed to explain ethnic tensions
initially and later was developed to be applied
in international migration cases 2 . The 2003 invasion
did not help much to alleviate the environment
of insecurity which is a key driver for
emigration from Iraq. Since the invasion living
conditions in Iraq are severed and millions of
Iraqis are internally and internationally displaced.
In this book, I am discussing the international
side of this displacement with a particular
focus on the experiences of Turkmen population.
Insecurity in Iraq and securitisation of migration
discourse in general are two faces of today’s
international migration from Iraq. A sizeable
population of Iraqis left Iraq for European destinations
and many settled in or still waiting in
limbo (i.e. asylum seekers and undocumented
migrants). Given the tightening admission rules
and European obsession with immigration
control, we can predict many Iraqis to be
among illegal migrants as well as many among
those who lost their lives in attempting crossing
in the European borderlands. These borderland
casualties should be seen as another aspect of
human insecurity for Iraqis who happened to
be destined to Europe for security.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Iraqi emigration
was more of a steady flow of people
avoiding the dangers of a shattering country.
With the 2003 invasion, we have seen mass
influxes into neighbouring countries, flight of
huge number of Iraqis. Middle East was not
strange to any such mass movements. Saddam
Hussein’s attack on Kurds had killed thousands
and forced hundreds of thousands to flee into
neighbouring Turkey. Starting from 1948 War
resulting in the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians
3 , till the summer 2006 Israeli attack on
Lebanon, the region saw millions of people displaced
and many left uprooted for decades (e.g.
Palestinians in Syria and Jordan). The first Gulf
War had forced about 2 million immigrants to
leave Iraq 4 . Alongside immigrants, many Iraqis
also fled the country at the time. Today, estimates
tally that over 4.5 million Iraqis are displaced
within and outside Iraq as a result of the
2003 invasion and violence in the aftermath.
Turkmen in Iraq also had their share in these
mass displacements.
Iraq, similar to other nations in the Middle
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