Iraqi Turkmens had hoped that political circumstances would turn in their favor after oil-rich Kirkuk passed from Kurdish rule to the control of the federal government. Yet the Turkmens were disappointed when Iraq's newly appointed prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, excluded Turkmens from his Cabinet.
Ali Mehdi, the spokesman for the powerful Iraqi Turkmen Front, said the Iraqi government blatantly ignores Turkmens. He demanded that one of the eight unfilled Cabinet seats be given to a Turkmen.