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Voltairenet, 17 October 2016

The United States, Turkey and Israël are fanning the flames – all three states are encouraging new lines of separation, unnoticed so far, which might participate in the dismantling of Iraq and Syria.

In the space of a few days, the Yezidis, the Christians and the Turkmen (photo) of Iraq have each demanded an autonomous region of their own, like that of the Kurds.

Yezidism is a religion derived from ancient Mithraïsm, which is also practised by some of the Iraqi Kurds.

The Turkmen form the third ethnic group of Iraq (after the Arabs and the Kurds). They count for more than 3 million of the 34 million Iraqis. Their claim is obviously linked to a part of the plan designed to push Daesh from Mosul towards Syria, and especially to end the illegal presence of Turkish soldiers in Iraq. The Iraqi government has multiplied its initiatives to obtain the withdrawal of the Turkish military from its country, but has so far not succeed.

However, the majority of Iraqi Turkmen are wary of Turkey. In August 2014, one of their cities, Amerli (12,000 inhabitants) was besieged by Daesh, without any help being offered either by the government in Baghdad or the government in Ankara. On the contrary, Turkey supplied Daesh with weapons to use against the Turkmen.

Besides this, a strong minority of the Turkmen is of the Shia confession. It is therefore worried about the latest declarations of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who intends to maintain the Sunnisation of Mosul, which was implemented by Daesh. It observes with anxiety the ongoing repression of all forms of opposition, and that of the minorities in Turkey.

At the same time, in Syria, the Israëli Mossad is attempting to create a Druze independentist group affiliated with Lebanese leader Walid Joumblatt [1]. So far, it has not managed to do so.