turkmen in iraq and their flight - orsam

TURKMEN IN IRAQ AND THEIR FLIGHT: A DEMOCRAPHIC QUESTION
ligious and ethnic groups in Iraq alive. These
fears and delays of a census are closely linked
to the dispute over oil-rich Kirkuk where Arabs,
Kurds and Turkmen have incompatible
claims. Absence of reliable data on population
segments in Iraq is a huge drawback for any demographic
analysis and therefore independent
surveys are ever more important and crucial
in understanding and addressing social and
political problems in today’s Iraq. Nevertheless,
because most registers in other countries,
studying Iraqi Turkmen diaspora was also not
possible without a custom independent survey.
In this study, we have collected information
through two surveys. The first survey we have
conducted in Iraq employed a randomized
sample of Iraqi Turkmen living in a number of
cities in Iraq while the second survey was carried
out in major cities in Turkey used convenience
sampling. Therefore, we cannot claim
these two survey samples of being representative
of overall Turkmen population in Iraq or
Iraqi Turkmen diaspora community in Turkey.
However, both surveys provide us a rich array
of information that may help a better understanding
of their demographics and processes
of international mobility among Iraqi Turkmen.
I believe this represents largely the best
option particularly when one considers that
these surveys were conducted in 2004, within
a year of the 2003 invasion which uprooted
about 5 million Iraqis and caused a death tally
over a million.
International Migration Survey in Iraq
Following a preparation period, 40 interviewers
were trained to administer a four-module
questionnaire to about 1400 randomly selected
Iraqi Turkmen households in selected cities
and towns in Iraq where a sizeable Turkmen
population is expected to exist according to the
past census results, literature and also on the
basis of interviews made with key informants
from the Iraqi Turkmen community in Turkey.
Accordingly cities and towns of Altunkopru,
Baghdad, Besir, Dakuk, Erbil, Hanekin, Kirkuk,
Musul, Suleymaniye, Taze, Telafer, Tuz, and
Zeynelabidin were selected. However, it had
not been possible under the current conditions
in Iraq to complete all interviews as initially
planned. As a result, some areas had to be
excluded due to high insecurity. Then our final
sample size was reduced to 1040 households
accommodating 5986 individuals (2992 females
and 2994 males) in 12 cities and towns instead
of initially planned 1500 households.
In every town and city three districts were selected
randomly and within each selected district
one street was randomly selected by the
fieldworkers. Interviewers were sent to contact
and conduct face to face interviews with 15
Turkmen households from each selected street.
The method to select Turkmen households
was visiting houses beginning with the first house
(by door number) in the street until finding
a Turkmen household and continuing the same
procedure till completing 15 interviews. Interviewers
were allowed to ask help from these
initial Turkmen households to identify other
Turkmen households in areas they are required
to conduct interviews. If the street accommodates
too few households, the interviewers are
required to proceed to the next street on the
right or left until the set number of interviews
in any selected area is completed. To facilitate
the process, whenever possible we have sent interviewers
to the areas they are originally from
or to the areas they are familiar with.
The questionnaire was designed to collect information
on the households’ background characteristics
including the size, living conditions,
employment and education status of members,
relative wealth and living standard compared
to others living in the same area, migration
experiences of household members, if there is
any, migrant’s decision making processes and
factors influencing migration decision, along
with the information about migration experiences
of communities of which the household
members are a part. Module A covered the
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