ERBIL, Iraq

A leading Turkmen politician on Friday urged representation for his ethnic group in Iraq’s top government structures.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aiden Maarouf, minister for component affairs in northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said that the Turkmen hope to have a share in the upcoming Iraqi government.

Maarouf, who is also a member of the executive bureau of the Iraqi Turkmen Front party, said that differences between Iraqi political parties have hindered the formation of the Iraqi government despite more than four months since elections were held last October.

He added that in previous Iraqi governments Iraqi Turkmen were subject to marginalization in terms of their representation in the executive authority.

Maarouf said that the Turkmen were supposed to be represented in the Iraqi parliament leadership, adding that the Turkmen should also have portfolios in the Iraqi government including in the positions of deputy prime minister and vice president.

Turkmens are a Turkic ethnic group.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar