A picture taken on April 30, 2018 shows an electoral banner for the Iraqi Turkmen Front hanging beneath the flags of Iraq (L) and the Iraqi Turkmen (C, white crescent and stars on a blue background) above a pedestrian crossing in the oil-rich and multi-ethnic northern city of Kirkuk. - The past seven months have seen a dramatic turn of events in Kirkuk, the "Jerusalem of Kurdistan", where hopes of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan were dashed after Baghdad retaliated against a referendum held in September. (

Why Iraqi Turkmens are excluded from the new government

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A picture taken on April 30, 2018 shows an electoral banner for the Iraqi Turkmen Front hanging beneath the flags of Iraq (L) and the Iraqi Turkmen (C, white crescent and stars on a blue background) above a pedestrian crossing in the oil-rich and multi-ethnic northern city of Kirkuk. - The past seven months have seen a dramatic turn of events in Kirkuk, the "Jerusalem of Kurdistan", where hopes of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan were dashed after Baghdad retaliated against a referendum held in September. (

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