Turkmen Protesting Against CNN’s Misinformation

E-mail addressed to CNN by Dr. Hassan AYDINLI, Turkmen Representative in Europe and President of the Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmen Rights in Belgium.

Sunday 8th July 2007.

Re: Explosion in the Turkmen town of AMIRLI

Amirli is a town in the centre of an area inhabited by the Turkmen BAYAT tribe since at least 800 years. No Kurd has ever lived in that town or its surrounding, as all this area is a well-known Turkmen area in Iraq, inhabited ONLY by TURKMENS.

When your correspondents Hala Gorani from Baghdad and your newsreaders Shihab Ratansi and Ratisla Vassileva are reporting about the horrible explosion of yesterday which killed over 150 innocent TURKMENS and injured over 200 TURKMENS and which caused the destruction of their houses and shops in Amirli, they are misinforming the international public opinion by reporting that Amirli is a locality inhabited by Shia Turkmens and Kurds. This is a lie and intentional misinformations as Kurds have never inhabited AMERLI or its surroundings. In fact, this region is part of TURKMENELI, it is a Turkmen land and it has been inhabited by the Turkmen BAYAT tribe for the past 800 years.

The only possibility that Kurds were among the victims in Amirli is that they were the terrorists who caused the explosion.

Stop your pro-Kurdish propaganda and check your sources twice before you put the information on air.

Do not rely any more on Kurdish sources for information about what is happening in TURKMENELI, the Turkmen region of Iraq, as Kurds are trying to kurdify the Turkmen region by adding the name 'Kurds' to everything happening in Turkmeneli.

We know that after four and half years of illegal occupation of Iraq your so-called independent free reporters and journalists from Baghdad continue to be embedded with occupation forces and that they cannot investigate anything independently on their own, they are always relying on the occupation and Kurdish sources on Iraqi side. This is not independent, free and informative journalism; you are misleading and misinforming the public opinion about Iraq since decades and especially since the occupation of the country by the Anglo-Saxon forces in March 2003.

This is a wake-up call to you CNN people, start reporting the truth if you really are an independent and free information media.