By Ibrahim Saleh</p> <p>BAGHDAD (AA) – Arshad Salihi, the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, has criticized what he described as the “under-representation” of Turkmen in the Iraqi army.</p> <p>Salihi’s remarks came in a Tuesday statement marking the 99th anniversary of the foundation of Iraq’s Armed Forces.</p> <p>“The Iraqi army currently includes only six Turkmen officers,” he said, adding that such blatant under-representation was "incompatible with the constitution”.</p> <p>Article 9 of Iraq’s national charter states that the Iraqi Armed Forces and security services “should be drawn up from components of all the Iraqi people… without discrimination or exclusion”.</p> <p>After Arabs and Kurds, Turkmen represent Iraq’s third largest ethnic community.</p> <p>There are no official figures for Iraq’s total Turkmen population, but Turkmen officials say they account for about 7 percent of the country's population of 38 million.
