BAGHDAD
Iraq's human rights watchdog on Monday criticized recent attacks on the country's Turkmen, calling on security agencies to protect them.
"We follow with deep concern terrorist attacks against a basic component of the Iraqi people, namely Turkmen," Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights said in a statement.
It cited a surge in attacks on Turkmen, which, it asserted, violated their basic right to life and security.
The commission, Iraq's first independent human rights body, added that these rights were guaranteed by international treaties signed by Iraq and the country's constitution.
"We were shocked by news about the killing of a number of Turkmen farmers in the northern Nineveh province and the bombing of a home owned by Turkmen in Tuz Khormato," the commission said.
It added that the bombing of the home had left tens of innocent people dead and injured.
On Thursday, unidentified militants killed five Turkmen farmers in an eastern Mosul village.
A day later, Iraqi police thwarted another attack on Turkmen farmers in western Mosul, capital of Nineveh Province.
The Turkish government earlier issued a statement calling on the Iraqi government to provide Iraqi Turkmen with adequate protection.
Turkmen account for between 5 and 6 percent of Iraq's overall population of 30 million.
www.aa.com.tr/en
