BAGHDAD — While the Kurds think of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk as the “Jerusalem of Kurdistan,” since the adoption of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution, the Turkmens have been calling for a special status that preserves the city’s ethnic pluralism.
However, the demands of the Turkmens — the third biggest group in Iraq after the Arabs and Kurds — are weakened by divisions within the group. Turkmens include Sunnis, Shiites and a minority of Catholics. This ideological division is crippling their performance as a distinct national group, and it was the main reason that led to the Islamic State (IS) controlling Turkmen-majority areas such as Tal Afar.