Iraqi Turkmen leader passes away in Ankara hospital

By Haydar Karaalp

BAGHDAD

Younis Biraqdar, chairman of the Iraqi Turkmen Council (ITC), passed away Monday following a battle with cancer.

Biraqdar died in a private hospital in Turkish capital Ankara, where he had been receiving cancer treatment, Turgut Hurmuzlu, an ITC official, told Anadolu Agency.

According to Hurmuzlu, Biraqdar will be buried in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, his hometown.

The Kirkuk-based ITC is a civil organization that advocates for the rights of Iraq’s sizable Turkmen community.