Türkiye condemns assassination of former Turkmen officer in Kirkuk, northern Iraq

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye on Friday condemned the "heinous terrorist attack" which killed a former officer of the Iraqi Turkmen Front's Security Department in Kirkuk, northern Iraq.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that Ahmet Tahir, a former officer of the Iraqi Turkmen Front's Security Department, lost his life as a result of an assassination today (March 3) in Kirkuk," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic in a statement.

Condemning the attack, the statement said: "This terrorist act targets not only the peace and security of Turkmens, one of the constituent and primary components of Iraq but also Iraq’s stability."

Türkiye called on the Iraqi authorities to "immediately identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them before justice," it added.

Tahir, who was in charge of the Iraqi Turkmen Front's Security Department, was killed in Kirkuk.

Bagdad's recent decision to limit the use of the Turkmen language in its northern Kirkuk province drew immediate backlash from Kirkuk’s Turkmen community, with Turkmen leaders rejecting it as unconstitutional and unacceptable.

Following uproar within and outside the country, Iraq has retracted its decision to limit the use of the Turkmen language in its northern Kirkuk province, local media reported on Thursday.