Ankara, November 23: Turkey on Monday condemned the killing of an Iraqi Turkmen leader in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and demanded the perpetrators be brought to justice.
“We strongly condemn this terrorist attack,” which targeted Yavuz Efendioglu at his home on Sunday, a foreign ministry statement said.
The ministry called for the perpetrators of the “cowardly” attack to be found as soon as possible and brought to justice.
Gunmen shot Efendioglu dead after knocking at the door of his home, and then fled.
He was a member of the executive committee of the Turkmen Front, Iraq’s main Turkmen political party, which is supported by Turkey.
Iraq’s Turkish-speaking Turkmen community is made up of about 500,000 people living mostly in Mosul, Kirkuk and Tal Afar. They have been the target of a number of deadly attacks, blamed by local authorities on Al-Qaeda.
The Turkmen population and Arabs of northern Iraq are in open conflict with the Kurdish community which wants the oil town of Kirkuk and several other areas to join its semi-autonomous region.
—Agencies