Special to WorldTribune.com

BAGHDAD — Ethnic Turks have formed a militia in Iraq.

Turkmens in northern Iraq announced they formed a militia to protect against rival ethnic groups in the Kirkuk area. They said the Shi’ite-led militia has mobilized hundreds of fighters and acquired weapons and equipment.

“The Turkmen themselves have taken up arms to defend their rights,” Iraqi Turkmen Front director Arshad Salihi said.

At a news conference on June 16, Salihi posed with an assault rifle as
he described plans to protect ethnic Turks in northern Iraq.

He said thousands of Turkmens fled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant offensive in
June as Kurdish forces seized the ethnically-divided city of Kirkuk.

“These have been negative developments,” Salihi said.

Organizers said the new militia has been guarding Turkmen communities in
absence of the Iraq Army. They said 1,500 fighters have been assigned around
Tuz Khormato, located 10 kilometers south of Kirkuk.

So far, the militia has clashed with Kurdish forces linked to the
Kurdish Regional Government, based in Irbil. Organizers said the fighting
has stopped Turkmens from returning to their homes.

Organizers said the militia was hoping for military and financial
support from neighboring Turkey. Ankara has warned that it would not
tolerate a Kurdish takeover of Kirkuk as well as Turkmen areas of northern
Iraq.

But the Turkmen community has been divided between Sunnis and Shi’ites.
The Shi’ites were said to favor the Iranian-backed government of Prime
Minister Nouri Al Maliki while the Sunnis were quietly welcoming ISIL.

“The central government’s arms go to our Shi’ite brothers,” Salihi later
told the London-based Al Monitor website. “The Sunnis and the Kurds are
already armed.”

  Arshad Salihi, ethnic Turks, Ethnic Turks establish militia as Kurds consolidate power in northern Iraq, ISIL, Kirkuk