Arshad al-Salihi


Arshad al-Salihi is an Iraqi Turkmen politician who has been a member of Iraq Parliament since 2010 and leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front since May 2011.

Early life and education

Salihi was born in Musalla district of Kirkuk city in 1959. He has completed primary and secondary education in Kirkuk. He entered the Faculty of Science of Baghdad University in 1978.

Career

After secondary school, Salihi began participating in Turkmen national political activities, and for this he was arrested by Baath government in 1979 and spent nine years in Abu Ghraib Prison as a political prisoner. His elder brother was executed by Baath regime and his family was expelled to the southern parts of Iraq.
After the fall of the Saddam Hussain regime, he became the Musalla agent of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in 2003. After 2004 he served as Syria representative of the Iraqi Turkmen Front for 4 years. In 2008 Iraqi Turkmen Congress, he was elected as the ITF head of the Kirkuk city. He has been elected to the Iraqi Parliament from Kirkuk city at parliamentary elections of 2010.
In 2011 Salihi's home was damaged by a mortor attack, and in 2013 he survived an attempted assassination.
On May 2011, he succeeded Sadettin Ergeç and became the President of the Iraqi Turkmen Front. In 2014 he is deputy chairman of the party.
In 2014, Salihi was elected as chairman of the Iraq parliamentary Human Rights Committee.