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.

Kassem Kara, a leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Tal Afar, said on June 17, 2014, that the Turkmens could not overcome their divisions and unite against IS. The Shiite Turkmens took refuge in areas controlled by Kurdish peshmerga forces while the Sunni Turkmens resorted to IS-controlled Mosul. Tal Afar turned into an example of how the Turkmens prioritize their sect over their nationality. This also applies to the Turkmens split between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurds. Such a situation will ultimately lead to their weakening and disintegration, according to Kara.

In this regard, Turkmen Front leader in Kifri Shaheen Turkmenoglu told Al-Monitor, “Playing on the division of Turkmens into Shiites, Sunnis and Christians will only lead to smashing the Turkmen nationality. First, the sectarian divide will weaken the group and lead to a split among its elites. Then the group will be dispersed and eliminated. Our story, the Turkmens', has always been about division and dispersion.”