The Turkmen Brigades are
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled as Turkoman and Turcoman; tr, Irak Türkmenleri), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, Turkish-Iraqis, the Turkish minority in Iraq, and the Iraqi-Turkish minority ( ar, تركمان العراق; tr, Irak Türkleri ...
militias formed as part of the
Popular Mobilization Forces
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) ( ar, الحشد الشعبي ''al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī''), also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization ...
in 2014.
The group's commander,
Said Yilmaz Najar, rejected proposals for a unified Turkmen militia from the
Iraqi Turkmen Front
The Iraqi Turkmen Front ( ar, الجبهة التركمانية العراقية, ''al-Jabha al-Turkmāniya al-Irāqiya;'' tr, Irak Türkmen Cephesi), also abbreviated as ITF, is a political movement representing the Iraqi Turkmen people. It was ...
, saying that his group has both
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
and
Sunni Turkmen.
On 25 September 2016, 16th Brigade announced that the militias would participate in the
Hawija Offensive.
References
Iraqi Turkmen organizations
Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq
Paramilitary forces of Iraq
Popular Mobilization Forces
Rebel groups in Iraq
Resistance movements
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