A leading Turkmen official in Iraq's Erbil province Tuesday said that Iraq remains under U.S. occupation and the Americans have the final say in all security matters, Turkey's daily New Anatolian reported.

Citing the recent U.S. arrest of Iranian officials in the heart of Erbil, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Erbil Provincial Chairman Nezhet Abdulgani was quoted as saying that "This proves we are still under American occupation. The decisions taken by local officials in a country under occupation are null and void."

He warned that the situation in Iraq is getting worse and the country is being divided along sectarian lines as political groups failed to reach a common understanding.

"Each state minister is linked to a sectarian group and serves their interests and thus there's no harmony," said Abdulgani.

He accused the Iraqi administration of neglecting Turkmen ethnic, saying that "we see that the administration doesn't accept us as a counterpart."

With some Turkmen population living in the autonomous Kurdish region, the Turkmen people are part of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament.

However, the ITC has been rejecting to take part in the regional parliament.

"We see today that the Turkmen deputies who entered the Kurdish regional assembly haven't achieved much," Abdulgani said.

Source: Xinhua