By Mofak Salman Kerkuklu
Altunköprü is a small Türkmen [1] sub district located 40km north of Kerkuk and the city lies to the north-west of Kerkuk. It is a 50km away from Erbil. [2] Altunköprü means ‘Golden Bridge’ in the Turkish language.
The history of the city of Altunköprü dates back to 228Bc. The indigenous inhabitants of Altunköprü are Türkmens, but in the mid of fifties and also in the recent years a large number of Kurds and Arabs migrated to this town seeking work as economical migrants especially after the Kurdish rebels in 1975 were quelled by the Iraqi Ba’ath regime.
Altunköprü is a Türkmen authentic and it is one of the many Türkmen ancient sub district. [3] [4] Altunköprü is approximately located between Erbil and Kerkuk. It is situated on the bank of Azab Alsfel (Little Zab) River.
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1 The Iraqi Türkmen live in an area that they call “Türkmenia” in Latin or “Türkmeneli” which means, “Land of the Türkmen”. It was referred to as “Turcomania” by the British geographer William Guthrie in 1785. The Türkmen are Turkic groups that have a unique heritage and culture as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is like the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. Their real population has always being suppressed by the authorities in Iraq for political reasons and estimated at 2%, whereas in reality their numbers are more realistically between 2.5 to 3 million, i .e. 12% of the Iraqi population.
2 Turkmenelinden Notlar, Year 1 Issue 2 June 1999, Altunköprü Katliami Page. 2.
3 The Turkmen and Kerkuk, by Yucel Guclu, ISBN 978-1-4257-1853-4, Page 26.
4 The Turkmen and Kerkuk, by Yucel Guclu, ISBN 978-1-4257-1853-4, Page 58
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