ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Syrian Turkmen living in Turkey are demanding citizenship after the Turkish government offered nationality to the ethnic group in Lebanon, just days after a deadly explosion devastated much of Beirut. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish foreign minister, visited the devastated Lebanese capital on Saturday, and said he was tasked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer citizenship to the country’s Turkmen ethnic minority. “We also stand with our kin, the Turks and Turkmens in Lebanon and around the world. We will grant Turkish citizenship to our brothers who say ‘I am Turkish, I am Turkmen,’ and express their desire to become a citizen.These are our [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s instructions,” Cavusoglu said, reported Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA). The minister’s speech has prompted a number of Syrian Turkmen groups to call on Ankara to include them in the offer as well. “Please hear us out dear President. We as the Syrian Turkmens want to be eligible for this right,” reads a joint statement by the groups based in the city of Gaziantep on the Syrian-Turkish border on Sunday, adding that there are nearly one million Syrian Turkmens living in Turkey who have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011, reported the Turkish service of the VOA. The statement adds that members of the ethnic group left their country due to war, and appreciate Turkey for embracing them, adding that they are ready to, “sacrifice ourselves in the frontlines for the sake of Turkey.” It is unclear whether Ankara’s offer extends to all Turkmen or just those living in Lebanon where giant explosions destroyed its capital city of Beirut last week. Turkmen officials, mostly from Iraq, have been invited to meetings by Ankara but the details of the meetings have remained unclear. Aydin Maruf, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) minister responsible for the affairs of ethnic and religious groups, met with Cavusoglu last week. Maruf, who is also a member of the Turkmen Front, told Rudaw English on Monday that it is not clear whether the citizenship offer would cover Iraqi Turkmen or not. Asked if they would welcome such an offer if it covers them, he declined to comment on the grounds that there is no such decision yet. The world was shocked on August 4 when two great explosions destroyed part of Beirut, leading to the deaths of at least 158 people and the injury of some 6,000 others. There are no accurate statistics to ascertain the world’s Turkmen population, but thousands reside in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and are considered a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority group. Turkey has spoken up against alleged violations of Turkmen rights in other countries, and has on occasion provided practical support. This includes sending COVID-19 response aid to Turkmens in the disputed Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Turkey has also spoken up about alleged oppression by Chinese authorities against Uyghurs - who are also Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group living in Central and East Asia. Most of them live in China.
