View source for Kirkuk

{{Short description|City in Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name      = Kirkuk
| settlement_type    = [[List of cities in Iraq|City]]
| image_skyline      = Kirkuk citadel.jpg
| image_caption      = View of the Kirkuk citadel from outside
| pushpin_map        = Iraq
| pushpin_label_position = left
| pushpin_relief     = yes
| pushpin_mapsize    =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Iraq
| coordinates        = {{Coord|35|28|0|N|44|19|0|E|type:city(1,000,000)_region:IQ-KI|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = {{IRQ}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hanish |first1=Shak |title=The Kirkuk Problem and Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution: The Kirkuk Problem |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249505175 |website=Digest of Middle East Studies |access-date=15 November 2019 |pages=15–25 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.2010.00002.x |date=1 March 2010|issn=1060-4367}}</ref>
| subdivision_type3  = [[Governorates of Iraq|Governorate]]
| subdivision_name3  = [[Kirkuk Governorate|Kirkuk]]
| subdivision_type4  = [[Districts of Iraq|District]]
| subdivision_name4  = [[Kirkuk District|Kirkuk]]
| established_title  =
| established_date   =
| government_type    =
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m        = 350
| population_total   = 1,075,000<ref>{{Cite web|title=Iraq - The World Factbook|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iraq/|access-date=2023-10-21|website=www.cia.gov}}</ref>
| population_as_of   = 2023 est.
| population_footnotes =
| population_urban   =
| population_density_km2 =
| population_density_sq_mi =
| population_note    =
| subdivision        =
| timezone           = GMT +3
| utc_offset         =
| utc_offset_DST     =
}}
'''Kirkuk''' ({{langx|ar|كركوك}};<ref>{{cite news|title=كركوك.. محافظة عراقية تتنازعها القوميات|language=ar|url=https://www.aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/citiesandregions/2017/10/6/كركوك-محافظة-عراقية-تتنازعها|access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref> {{langx|ku|کەرکووک|translit=Kerkûk}};<ref>{{cite news|date=14 April 2015|title=محافظة كركوك کەرکووک Kerkûk|language=ku, ar|url=https://ciyaye-kurmenc.com/kirkuk/|access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref> {{Langx|syr|ܟܪܟܘܟ|translit=Kerkouk}};<ref>{{Cite news|date=2005|title=Zowaa|work=Bahra Magazine|url=http://www.zowaa.co.uk/bahra/130-8.pdf}}</ref> {{langx|tr|Kerkük}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Irak'ın Kerkük kentindeki patlamalarda 16 kişi yaralandı|language=tr|work=Anadolu Agency|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/irakin-kerkuk-kentindeki-patlamalarda-16-kisi-yaralandi-/1659894|access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref>) is a city in [[Iraq]], serving as the capital of the [[Kirkuk Governorate]], located {{convert|238|km|0|abbr=off}} north of [[Baghdad]].<ref>{{cite web|date=12 January 2013|title=Google Maps Distance Calculator|url=http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm|access-date=2013-03-26|publisher=Daftlogic.com}}</ref> The city is home to a diverse population of [[Kurds]], [[Iraqi Turkmen|Iraqi Turkmens]] and [[Arabs]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bet-Shlimon|first=Arbella|date=2012|title=Group Identities, Oil, and the Local Political Domain in Kirkuk: A Historical Perspective|journal=[[Journal of Urban History]]|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|doi=10.1177/0096144212449143|s2cid=145293772}}</ref> Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original [[Kirkuk Citadel]] which sits near the [[Khasa River]].
It is described by the Kurdish leader and former [[President of Iraq|Iraqi president]] [[Jalal Talabani]] as “the [[Jerusalem]] of Kurdistan”, while it is seen by the Turkmen activist Fatih Salah as the cultural and historical capital of Iraqi Turkmens.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thearabweekly.com/kirkuk-major-centre-iraqi-turkmen-culture|title=Kirkuk: A major centre of Iraqi Turkmen culture &#124; Nazli Tarzi|accessdate=8 February 2024}}</ref> The [[Federal government of Iraq|government of Iraq]] states that Kirkuk represents a small version of Iraq due to its diverse population, and that the city is a model for coexistence in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/public/index.php/ar/story/10388-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A:-%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B6-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%22%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%BA%D8%B1%22|title=العبادي: نريد فرض سلطة اتحادية في "العراق المصغر"|accessdate=8 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=قضية كركوك: رؤية في الأبعاد الإستراتيجية والحلول المقترحة |url=http://fcdrs.com/polotics/116 |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=fcdrs.com |language=ar}}</ref>
==Etymology==
The ancient name of Kirkuk was the [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] ''Arrapha''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Speiser|first=E. A.|date=1948|title=Hurrians and Subarians|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/596231|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=68|issue=1|pages=1–13|doi=10.2307/596231|jstor=596231|issn=0003-0279}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Klein|first=Ralph W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9HYAAAAMAAJ&q=arrapha+hurrian+name|title=1 Chronicles: A Commentary|date=2006|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-6085-7|location=|pages=69|language=en}}</ref> During the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] era, a ''Korkura/Corcura'' ({{langx|grc|Κόρκυρα}}) is mentioned by [[Ptolemy]], which is believed to refer either to Kirkuk or to the site of [[Baba Gurgur]] {{convert|4.5|km|mi}} from the city.<ref>Edward Balfour, Encyclopaedia Asiatica, p. 214, Cosmo Publications, 1976</ref> Since the [[Seleucid Empire]] it was known as ''karkā d-ḇeṯ slōḵ'' ({{langx |syr| ܟܪܟܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܣܠܘܟ}}),<ref>Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Karka d-Beth Slokh — ܟܪܟܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܣܠܘܟ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified January 14, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/108.</ref> which means 'Citadel of the House of Seleucid'<ref>''The Acts of Mar Mari the Apostle'' By Amir Harrak. p. 27.</ref> in Mesopotamian [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], the [[lingua franca]] of the [[Fertile Crescent]] in that era.<ref>''The World's Greatest Story: The Epic of the Jewish People in Biblical Times'' By [[Joan Comay]]. p. 384.</ref>
The region around Kirkuk was known historically in the [[Eastern Aramaic]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]] Assyrian sources as "Beth Garmai" ({{langx|syr|ܒܝܬܓܪܡܝ}}). The name "Beth Garmai" or "Beth Garme" may be of Syriac origin which meaning "the house of bones",<ref>{{cite web|title=Garmai is the plural of Garma/Garmo meaning "bone" |url=http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/syriac/dosearch.php?searchkey=2592&language=id |access-date=20 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727085745/http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/syriac/dosearch.php?searchkey=2592&language=id |archive-date=27 July 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref> which is thought to be a reference to bones of slaughtered [[Achaemenids]] after a decisive battle{{which|date=November 2017}} between [[Alexander the Great]] and [[Darius III]] on the plains between the [[Upper Zab]] and [[Diyala river]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Asahel|title=Nestorians|year=1841|publisher=Harper|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nestoriansorlos03grangoog/page/n60 52]|url=https://archive.org/details/nestoriansorlos03grangoog}}</ref> It was one of a number of independent [[Neo-Assyrian]] states which flourished during the [[Parthian empire]] (150 BC–226 AD).
It is also thought that region was known during the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] periods as ''Garmakan'', which means the 'Land of Warmth' or the 'Hot Land'. In [[Persian language|Persian]] "Garm" means warm;<ref name="internal-displacement.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpDocuments)/032622FF4B21AC90802570B7005944D1/$file/Talabani_report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222524/http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/%28httpDocuments%29/032622FF4B21AC90802570B7005944D1/%24file/Talabani_report.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Iraq's Policy of Ethnic Cleansing: Onslaught to change national/demographic characteristics of the Kirkuk Region by Nouri Talabany|archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref>
After the 7th century, Muslim writers used the name ''Kirkheni'' ([[Syriac language|Syriac]] for "citadel"<ref>[http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/syriac/dosearch.php?searchkey=13974&language=id meaning of Karkha in Syriac] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727085805/http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneiform.languages/syriac/dosearch.php?searchkey=13974&language=id |date=27 July 2011 }}, Syriac dictionary</ref>) to refer to the city.<ref>[http://www.rojname.com/show-all-last-minute-news.php?nuce=144940 Kirkuk and its dependencies: Historically part of Kurdistan – II by Mufid Abdulla] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927154410/http://www.rojname.com/show-all-last-minute-news.php?nuce=144940 |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> Others used other variant, such as ''Bajermi'' (a corruption of Aramaic "B'th Garmayeh" or ''Jermakan'' (a corruption of Persian Garmakan) .<ref name="internal-displacement.org"/>
==History==
===Ancient history===
It is suggested that Kirkuk was one of the places occupied by [[Neanderthals]] based on archeological findings in the [[Shanidar Cave]] settlement.<ref name=CAHipi256>{{Harvnb|Edwards|Gadd|Hammond|1991|p=256}}</ref> A large amount of pottery shards dating to the [[Ubaid period]] were also excavated from several [[Tell (archaeology)|Tell]]s in the city.<ref name=CAHipi374>{{Harvnb|Edwards|Gadd|Hammond|1991|p=374}}</ref>
===Early Bronze===
====Akkadian Period====
Ancient [[Arrapkha]] was a part of [[Sargon of Akkad]]'s [[Akkadian Empire]] (2335–2154 BC),<ref name=CAHipi433>{{Harvnb|Edwards|Charlesworth|Boardman|1970|p=433}}</ref> and city was exposed to the raids of the [[Lullubi]] during [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin's]] reign.<ref name=CAHipi443>{{Harvnb|Edwards|Charlesworth|Boardman|1970|p=443}}</ref>
====Gutian Period====
Later the city was occupied around 2150 BC by [[language Isolate]] speaking Zagros Mountains dwellers who were known as the Gutian people by the Semitic and Sumerian of Mesopotamians. Arraphkha was the capital of the short-lived Guti kingdom (Gutium).
====Ur III Period====
The Gutians were driven from Mesopotamia by the [[Neo-Sumerian Empire]] c. 2115 BC.<ref name="William Gordon East 1961">William Gordon East, Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate (1961). ''The Changing Map of Asia: A Political Geography'', 436 pages, p: 105</ref><ref>Georges Roux- Ancient Iraq</ref>
===Middle Bronze===
Arrapkha became a part of the [[Old Assyrian Empire]] (c.2025–1750 BC), before [[Hammurabi]] briefly subjected Assyria to the short-lived [[Babylonian Empire]], after which it again became a part of [[Assyria]] c.1725 BC.
===Late Bronze===
====Mitanni Period====
However, by the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. the [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[Mittani]] of [[Anatolia]] formed a ruling class over the [[language isolate]] speaking [[Hurrians]], and began to expand into a [[Hurri]]-[[Mitanni]] Empire. In the 1450s they attacked Assyria, sacking [[Assur]], and bringing the cities of [[Gasur]] and Arrapkha under their control.<ref name="M. Chahin p. 77">{{cite book|last=Chahin|first=M|title=Before the Greeks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gal_11QHPqUC&pg=PA77|access-date=3 January 2013|year=1996|publisher=James Clarke & Co.|isbn=978-0-7188-2950-6|page=77}}</ref> From c.1450 to 1393 BC the kings of Assyria paid tribute to the kingdom of Mittani.<ref name="M. Chahin p. 77"/>
====Assyrian Period====
The [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (1365–1020 BC) overthrew the Hurri-Mitanni in the mid 14th century BC. Arrapha became part of [[Assyria]] proper, whith the Hurrian population driven away from the region. In the 11th and 10th centuries BC the city rose to prominence, becoming an important city in Assyria until the fall of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–605 BC).<ref>{{cite web|last=Talabany|first=Nouri|year=1999|url=http://www.fortunecity.com/business/laur/791/nouri_kirkuk.htm|title=Iraq's Policy of Ethnic Cleansing: Onslaught to change national/demographic characteristics of the Kirkuk Region|access-date=2006-06-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010909025453/http://www.fortunecity.com/business/laur/791/nouri_kirkuk.htm|archive-date=9 September 2001|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
===Iron Age===
It remained as such throughout the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–605 BC) where it became an important Assyrian city.
After the fall of Assyria between 612 and 599 BC it was still an integral part of the geo-political province of Assyria – [[Achaemenid Assyria]], [[Athura]], [[Seleucid Syria]], [[Assyria (Roman province)]] and [[Assuristan]]. In the [[Parthia]]n and [[Sassanid]] eras Kirkuk was capital of the small Assyrian state of [[Beth Garmai]] (c.160 BC–250 AD).<ref>{{cite web|title=BĒṮ GARMĒ|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bet-garme|publisher=Iranica|access-date=3 May 2012}}</ref>
The city briefly came to be part of the short-lived [[Median Empire]] before falling to the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (546–332 BC) where it was incorporated into the province of [[Athura]] ([[Achaemenid Assyria]]).<ref>Martin Sicker. ''The Pre-Islamic Middle East'', Page 68.</ref><ref name="The Cambridge Ancient History' p. 178-179">I. E. S. Edwards, John Boardman, John B. Bury, S. A. Cook. ''The Cambridge Ancient History''. p. 178-179.</ref>
Later it became part of the [[Macedonian Empire]] (332–312 BC) and succeeding [[Seleucid Empire]] (311–150 BC) before falling to the [[Parthian Empire]] (150 BC–224 AD) as a part of Athura. The Parthians seemed to only exercise loose control, and a number of small [[Neo-Assyrian]] kingdoms sprang up in the region between the 2nd century BC and 4th century AD, one such kingdom named "ܒܝܬܓܪܡܝ", (that is Bit Garmai in [[Syriac language|Syriac]]) had Arrapha as its capital.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mohsen|first=Zakeri|title=Sasanid soldiers in early Muslim society: the origins of 'Ayyārān and Futuwwa|year=1995|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03652-8|pages=135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfYnu5F20coC&pg=PA135}}</ref> Christianity also arose during this period, with Arrapha and its surrounds being influenced by the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. The [[Sassanid Empire]] destroyed these kingdoms during 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, and Arrapha was incorporated into Sassanid ruled [[Assuristan]] (Sassanid Assyria).
In AD 341, the [[Zoroastrian]] [[Shapur II]] ordered the massacre of all [[Assyrian Christians]] in the Persian Sassanid Empire. During the persecution, about 1,150 were martyred in Arrapha.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ocafs.oca.org/Caption.asp?FSID=101122 |title=OCA – Hieromartyr Simeon the Bishop in Persia, and those with him in Persia |publisher=Ocafs.oca.org |date=17 April 2013 |access-date=14 October 2013}}</ref>
===Islamic Conquests of Mesopotamia===
{{Unsourced section|date=July 2024}}
[[Arab]] [[Muslims]] fought the [[Sassanid]] empire in the 7th century AD, conquering the region. The city was a part of the Islamic [[Caliphate]] until the tenth century. Kirkuk and the surrounding areas were then ruled by the [[Hasanwayhids|Hasanwayhid Kurds]] & [[Annazids|Annazid Kurds]] from 1014 to 1120 AD, then it was taken over by [[Great Seljuk Empire|Seljuk Turks]] for many years. After the divided empire collapsed, the city came under the Abbasids rule once again Suleiman Shah who was the governor of the city until it was taken over by [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] in 1258. After the Mongol invasion, the [[Ilkhanate]] was founded in the region and the city became a part of it. The Ilkhanid rule ended when in 1336, the [[Ardalan]] took over the city, despite being vassals themselves of the various in [[Persia]] centred succeeding Turkic federations in the region, namely that of the [[Qara Qoyunlu]], and the [[Aq Qoyunlu]] specifically. After the [[Battle of Chaldiran]] in 1514 the city came under the [[Soran Emirate]] control until it was taken over by [[Baban|Babanids]] in 1694. In 1851 it became under direct control of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Ottoman rule continued until [[World War I]] when the Ottomans were pushed out of the region by the [[British Empire]].
===British occupation===
At the end of World War I, the British occupied Kirkuk on 7 May 1918. Abandoning the city after about two weeks, the British returned to Kirkuk a few months later after the [[Armistice of Mudros]]. Kirkuk avoided the troubles caused by the Kurdish nationalist [[Mahmud Barzanji]], who quickly attempted to overthrow the British Mandate in Iraq and establish his own fiefdom in [[Sulaymaniyah]].
[[File:1933 קירקוק עיראק - בן ציון ישראלי btm11297.jpg|thumb|A photograph of Ben Zion Israeli in Kirkuk Iraq, 1933]]
===Entry into the Kingdom of Iraq===
As both Turkey and Great Britain desperately wanted control of the [[Vilayet of Mosul]] (of which Kirkuk was a part), the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] in 1923 failed to solve the issue. For this reason, the [[Mosul Question|question of Mosul]] was sent to the [[League of Nations]]. A committee travelled to the area before coming to a final decision: the territory south of the "Brussels line" belonged to Iraq. By the Treaty of Angora of 1926, Kirkuk became a part of the [[Kingdom of Iraq]].
===Discovery of oil===
{{Main|Kirkuk Field}}
[[File:Kirkukoil.jpg|thumb|[[Baba Gurgur]]]]
In 1927, Iraqi and [[Americans|American]] drillers working for the foreign-owned and British-led [[Iraq Petroleum Company]] (IPC) struck a huge [[oil gusher]] at [[Baba Gurgur]] ("St. Blaze" or father blaze in Kurdish) near Kirkuk. The IPC began exports from the Kirkuk oil field in 1934. The Company moved its headquarters from Tuz Khormatu to a camp on the outskirts of Kirkuk, which they named Arrapha after the ancient city. Arrapha remains a large neighborhood in Kirkuk to this day. The IPC exercised significant political power in the city and played a central role in Kirkuk's urbanization, initiating housing and development projects in collaboration with Iraqi authorities in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref>Bet-Shlimon, Arbella. 2013. [http://cssaame.dukejournals.org/content/33/1/26.abstract The Politics and Ideology of Urban Development in Iraq's Oil City: Kirkuk, 1946–58]. [[Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East]] 33, no. 1.</ref>
The presence of the oil industry had an effect on Kirkuk's demographics. The exploitation of Kirkuk's oil, which began around 1930, attracted both Arabs and Kurds to the city in search of work. Kirkuk, which had been a predominantly Iraqi Turkmen city, gradually lost its uniquely Turkmen character.<ref name="mod-hist-kurds-329-330"/><ref>Chapter 1: Introduction: Kurdish Identity and Social Formation, page 3. // A Modern History of the Kurds. Author: David McDowall. Third edition. First published in 1996. Third revised and updated edition published in 2004, reprinted in 2007. London: [[I.B. Tauris]], 2007, 515 pages. {{ISBN|9781850434160}}. "Few Kurds would claim quite as much today, but would still claim the city of Kirkuk, even though it had a larger Turkoman population as recently as 1958."</ref><ref>Book IV. Ethno–nationalism in Iraq. – 15. The Kurds in Revolutionary Iraq, page 305. // A Modern History of the Kurds. Author: David McDowall. Third edition. First published in 1996. Third revised and updated edition published in 2004, reprinted in 2007. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007, 515 pages. {{ISBN|9781850434160}}. "Tension had been growing for some time between Turkomans, the originally predominant element, and Kurds who had settled increasingly during the 1930s and 1940s, driven from the land by landlord rapacity and drawn by the chance for employment in the burgeoning oil industry. By 1959 half the population of qo,ooo were Turkoman, rather less than half were Kurds and the balance Arabs, Assyrians and Armenians."</ref> At the same time, large numbers of Kurds from the mountains were settling in the uninhabited but cultivable rural parts of the district of Kirkuk. The influx of Kurds into Kirkuk continued through the 1960s.<ref name="Looking into Iraq">Bruinessen, Martin van, and Walter Posch. 2005. [http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Iraq_paper_ISS.htm#_ftnref30 Looking into Iraq] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417225809/http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Iraq_paper_ISS.htm |date=17 April 2017 }}. Paris: European Union Institute for Security Studies.</ref> According to the 1957 census, Kirkuk city was 37.63% [[Iraqi Turkmen]], 33.26% [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] with [[Arabs]] constituting 22.53% of its population. Assyrians comprised 1.25% of the population.<ref name="cris-kirk-2011-43">Part I. Kirkuk and its environs. – Chapter 2. Kirkuk in the Twentieth Century, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MqXyFmFSlTgC&dq=erbil+governorate+mother+tongue+in+1957&pg=PA42 page 43]. // Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise. Authors: Liam Anderson, Gareth Stansfield. [[Philadelphia]]: [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], 2011, 312 pages. {{ISBN|9780812206043}}</ref><ref>Understanding radical Islam: medieval ideology in the twenty-first century,Brian R. Farmer, page 154, 2007</ref>
Some analysts believe that poor [[Oil reservoir|reservoir]]-management practices during the [[Saddam Hussein]] years may have seriously, and even permanently, damaged Kirkuk's oil field. One example showed an estimated {{convert|1500000000|oilbbl}} of excess fuel oil being reinjected. Other problems include refinery residue and gas-stripped [[Petroleum|oil]]. Fuel oil reinjection has increased oil [[viscosity]] at Kirkuk making it more difficult and expensive to get the oil out of the ground.<ref>{{cite web|date=9 July 2005|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/kirkuk.htm|title=Kirkuk|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org|access-date=2006-06-05}}</ref>
Over all, between April 2003 and late December 2004 there were an estimated 123 attacks on Iraqi energy infrastructures, including the country's 7,000&nbsp;km-long [[Pipeline transport|pipeline]] system. In response to these attacks, which cost [[Iraq]] billions of US dollars in lost oil-export revenues and repair costs, the US military set up the [[Task Force Shield]] to guard Iraq's energy infrastructure and the [[Kirkuk–Ceyhan Oil Pipeline]] in particular. In spite of the fact that little damage was done to Iraq's oil fields during the war itself, [[looting]] and [[sabotage]] after the war ended was highly destructive and accounted for perhaps eighty percent of the total damage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iraq.html|title=Iraq|work=Country Analysis Briefs|publisher=Energy Information Administration|access-date=2006-06-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060606034149/http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iraq.html|archive-date=6 June 2006|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
The discovery of vast quantities of oil in the region after [[World War I]] provided the impetus for the annexation of the former [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Vilayet of Mosul (of which the Kirkuk region was a part), to the Iraqi Kingdom, established in 1921. Since then and particularly from 1963 onwards, there have been continuous attempts to transform the ethnic make-up of the region.
Pipelines from Kirkuk run through [[Turkey]] to [[Ceyhan]] on the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and were one of the two main routes for the export of Iraqi oil under the [[Oil-for-Food Programme]] following the [[Gulf War]] of 1991. This was in accordance with a United Nations mandate that at least 50% of the oil exports pass through Turkey. There were two parallel lines built in 1977 and 1987.
===Kurdish autonomy and Arabization===
In 1970 the Iraqi government reached an agreement with Kurdish leader [[Mustafa Barzani]] called the [[Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970|March Agreement of 1970]], but the question of whether the oil-rich province of Kirkuk would be included within the Kurdish autonomous region remained unresolved, pending a new census.<ref name="mod-hist-kurds-329-330">Book IV. Ethno-nationalism in Iraq. – 16. The Kurds under the Baath, 1968–1975, page 329–330. // A Modern History of the Kurds. Author: David McDowall. Third edition. First published in 1996. Third revised and updated edition published in 2004, reprinted in 2007. London: [[I.B. Tauris]], 2007, 515 pages. {{ISBN|9781850434160}}. "It now began to look as if the Baath were playing for time and the year 1971 brought a disintegration of trust between the two parties. The central issue was a demographic one. The census (Article 14) for disputed areas planned for December 1970 had been postponed till the spring by mutual agreement, but when spring came it was unilaterally postponed sine die. Mulla Mustafa accused the government of resettling Arabs in the contested areas, Kirkuk, Khanaqin and Sinjar, and told the government he would not accept the census results if they indicated an Arab majority. He also dismissed the offer of the 1965 census, which he said was forged. When the government proposed to apply the 1957 census to Kirkuk, Mulla Mustafa refused it, since this was bound to show that the Turkomans, although outnumbered in the governorate as a whole, were still predominant in Kirkuk town. Given the residual animosity after the events of July 1959, the Turkomans were likely to opt for Ba'ati rather than Kurdish rule. The Baath thought the Kurds might be packing disputed areas with Kurds from Iran and Turkey, but the real tensions surfaced over the Faili Kurds, resident in Iraq since Ottoman days and yet without Iraqi citizenship. The government argued they were Iranians, and now determined their fate by the simple expedient of expelling roughly 50,000 of them from September onwards."</ref><ref name=crisis>{{Cite book| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn = 978-0-8122-0604-3| last1 = Anderson| first1 = Liam| last2 = Stansfield| first2 = Gareth| title = Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise| chapter=2. Kirkuk in the 20th Century |date = 2011-09-21}}</ref>
Despite the signing of the March Agreement, relations between the Kurds and Iraqi government continued to deteriorate due to the unresolved status of Kirkuk, and there were two attempts to assassinate Barzani in 1972. In response to Barzani's continued demands during the early 1970s for Kirkuk to be recognized as part of the autonomous region under the terms of the March Agreement, settlement construction for newly arrived Arab families increased drastically as the [[Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in North Iraq|Ba'athist government implemented Arabization policies]] to increase the Arab population of Kirkuk. Kurds were forbidden from buying property in Kirkuk, and could sell their properties only to Arabs. They were denied permission to renovate properties in need of maintenance, and poor Shi'a Arab families were paid to move to Kirkuk, while Kurds were paid to move out.<ref name=crisis />
Negotiations between Barzani's [[Kurdish Democratic Party]] and the Iraqi government collapsed in March 1974 and Barzani rejected President [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] declaration of Kurdish autonomy. Many disputes persisted between the Kurds and Arabs and the conflict escalated into the [[Second Iraqi–Kurdish War]] (also called the Barzani rebellion). The rebellion collapsed after Iran withdrew its support for Barzani's forces following the [[1975 Algiers Agreement]] and the Ba'ath regime intensified Arabization efforts.<ref name=crisis /><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-275-94575-6| last = Peretz| first = Don| title = The Middle East Today| chapter=15. Iraq |date = 1994}}</ref>
After Barzani's rebellion was defeated in 1974, the districts of Chemchemal and [[Kelar]], which had been part of Kirkuk, became part of [[Sulaymaniyah]] and [[Kifri]] became part of [[Diyala Governorate|Diyala province]]. Other Arab-populated districts, like [[Al Zab|Zab]], became part of Kirkuk.<ref name=Ihsan>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-317-09016-8| last = Ihsan| first = Mohammed| title = Nation Building in Kurdistan: Memory, Genocide and Human Rights| chapter=2. Arabization as Ethnic Cleansing |date = 2016-06-17}}</ref> Kurds, Turkmen and Christian populations were forcibly relocated and replaced with Shi'a from Iraq's south. The expulsions continued after the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|1991 uprisings]]. Kurdish villages were razed and thousands of new homes were built, including at least 200 homes for relatives of Iraqi soldiers killed during the [[Iran–Iraq War|Iran-Iraq War]].<ref name=crisis /> Between 1968, when the Ba'ath Party first rose to power in Iraq, and 2003 between 200,000 and 300,000 persons were forcibly relocated out of Kirkuk.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-317-96875-7| last = Stroschein| first = Sherrill| title = Governance in Ethnically Mixed Cities| chapter=The Future of Kirkuk |date = 2013-10-18}}</ref> According to the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, by August 2005 (during the Iraq War), approximately 224,544 Kurds had returned to Kirkuk and 52,973 Arab persons had left the city.<ref name=Ihsan />
===Nationalization of Iraqi Petroleum Company===
In 1972 the Iraqi government, led by then Vice-President Saddam Hussein, nationalized the [[Iraqi Petroleum Company]] (IPC), after being unable to reach an agreement that would increase oil exports and resolve a longstanding dispute over [[Law 80 of 1961]]. The Iraqi government began to sell its oil to [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern bloc]] countries and the IPC's French partner CFP. After reaching an agreement with the Iraqis in 1973, the IPC members were able to retain some of their interests in southern Iraq through the Basra Petroleum Company but had lost Iraq's main oilfields, including the Kirkuk field.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-78515-0| last = Bamberg| first = James| title = British Petroleum and Global Oil 1950-1975: The Challenge of Nationalism| chapter=18. An Avalanche of Escalating Demands |date = 2000-08-31}}</ref>
===Gulf War===
In 1991, Saddam Hussein invaded [[Kuwait]] and was quickly routed by the United States in the [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]] (also called ''Operation Desert Storm''). In the aftermath of the Iraqi army's defeat, rebellions broke out in Iraq; first in southern Iraq on March 1, and in the northern Kurdish region a few days later. By March 24, Kurdish ''[[Peshmerga]]'' forces had [[1991 uprising in Kirkuk|seized control]] of Kirkuk, but they were only able to hold it until March 28 when it was reclaimed by Hussein's forces.<ref name=sluglett>{{Cite book| publisher = I.B.Tauris| isbn = 978-0-85771-373-5| last1 = Farouk-Sluglett| first1 = Marion| last2 = Sluglett| first2 = Peter| title = Iraq Since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship|chapter=9. The Risings in the Shi'i South and Kurdistan |date = 2001-06-29}}</ref> The US and UK began to enforce a [[no-fly zone]] in Northern Iraq and a ''de facto'' Kurdish Autonomous region emerged in the North. Arabs families were expelled from the Kurdish region and relocated to Kirkuk, which was still controlled by the Iraqi government. In these circumstances, Hussein's government further intensified the decades long policy of Arabization in Kirkuk, requiring that Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians fill out "ethnic identity correction" forms and register as Arabs and many who refused to comply were forcibly relocated north of the Green Line.<ref name=crisis /> In May 1991, [[Massoud Barzani]] announced that [[Baghdad]] had conceded Kirkuk as the capital of the autonomous region, but when the Iraqi government demanded the Kurds join the Ba'athist government the dispute once again escalated to violent conflict and in October 1991 Iraqi forces had withdrawn from several Kurdish provinces in the North including [[Erbil]], [[Dohuk]] and [[Sulaymaniyah]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Pluto Press| isbn =978-0-7453-2662-7| last = Yildiz| first = Kerim| title = The Kurds in Iraq: The Past, Present and Future| chapter=The First Gulf War: From Uprising to Democracy | year=2007| jstor = j.ctt18fs45h| doi =10.2307/j.ctt18fs45h}}</ref>
=== Iraq War (2003–2011) and return of displaced Kurds ===
[[File:Iraqi Personnel Graduate From Kirkuk Training Center DVIDS236956.jpg|thumb|Iraqi Personnel Graduate From Kirkuk]]
American and British military forces led an [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] in March 2003, marking the start of the [[Iraq War|Second Iraq War]]. Kurdish ''peshmerga'' fighters assisted in the 2003 capture of Kirkuk. Though the ''peshmerga'' were allowed to operate even after the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] (CPA) disbanded and outlawed most of the armed militias in Iraq, the ''peshmerga'' were eventually asked to withdraw from Kirkuk and other Kurdish held provinces.<ref name=federalism />
Under the supervision of chief executive of [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] [[L. Paul Bremer]], a convention was held on 24 May 2003 to select the first City Council in the history of this oil-rich, ethnically divided city. Each of the city's four major [[ethnic groups]] was invited to send a 39-member [[delegation]] from which they would be allowed to select six to sit on the City Council. Another six council members were selected from among 144 delegates to represent independents social groups such as teachers, lawyers, religious leaders and artists.
Kirkuk's 30 members council is made up of five blocs of six members each. Four of those blocs are formed along ethnic lines—[[Kurd]]s, [[Arab]]s, [[Assyria]]n and [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]]—and the fifth is made up of [[independent (politician)|independents]] which meant 10 more council seats given to two main Kurdish Parties by Paul Bremer as token of appreciation for cooperation with American Forces. Turkmen and Arabs complained that the [[Kurd]]s allegedly hold five of the seats in the independent block. They were also infuriated that their only representative at the council's helm was an assistant mayor whom they considered pro-Kurdish. [[Abdul Rahman Mustafa]] ({{langx|ar|عبدالرحمن مصطفى }}), a [[Baghdad]]-educated lawyer was elected mayor by 20 [[vote]]s to 10. The appointment of an Arab, [[Ismail Ahmed Rajab Al Hadidi]] ({{langx|ar|اسماعيل احمد رجب الحديدي }}), as deputy mayor went some way towards addressing Arab concerns.
On 30 June 2005, through a secret direct voting process, with the participation of the widest communities in the province and despite all the political legal security complexities of this process in the country generally and in Kirkuk in particular, Kirkuk witnessed the birth of its first elected Provincial Council. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq IECI approved the elections and announced the outcome of this process, which filled the 41 seats of [[Kirkuk Provincial Council]] as follows:
* 26 seats 367 List Kirkuk Brotherhood List KBL
* 8 seats 175 List Iraqi Turkmen Front ITF
* 5 seats 299 List Iraqi Republic Gathering
* 1 seats 178 List Turkmen Islamic Coalition
* 1 seats 289 List Iraqi National Gathering
The new [[Kirkuk Provincial Council]] started its second turn on 6 March 2005. Its inaugural session was dedicated to the introduction of its new members, followed by an oath ceremony supervised by Judge Thahir Hamza Salman, the Head of Kirkuk Appellate Court.
Kirkuk is located in a disputed area of Iraq that runs from [[Sinjar]] on the Syrian border southeast to [[Khanaqin]] and [[Mandali, Iraq|Mandali]] on the Iranian border.<ref name=bartu>{{Cite journal| volume = 86| issue = 6| pages = 1329–1343| last = Bartu| first=Peter |title = Wrestling with the integrity of a nation: the disputed internal boundaries in Iraq| journal = International Affairs| jstor = 40929765| year = 2010| doi = 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2010.00946.x}}</ref> Kirkuk has been a disputed territory for around eighty years — Kurds wanted Kirkuk to become part of the [[Kurdistan Region]], which has been opposed by the region's Arab and Turkmen populations.<ref name=galbraith>{{Cite book| publisher = Simon and Schuster| isbn = 978-1-4165-6225-2| last = Galbraith| first = Peter W.| title = Unintended Consequences: How War in Iraq Strengthened America's Enemies| chapter = Turkey| date = 2008| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/unintendedconseq00galb}}</ref>
The Kurds sought to annex the long disputed territory to the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] (KRG) through Article 140 of the [[Constitution of Iraq|Iraqi Constitution]] that was enacted in 2005.<ref name=gunter>{{Cite book| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield| isbn = 978-1-5381-1050-8| last = Gunter| first = Michael M.| title = Historical Dictionary of the Kurds| date = 2018-02-20}}</ref><ref name=galbraith /> Under Article 140 the Ba'athist Arabization policy would be reversed: Displaced Kurds who had relocated to areas in the Kurdish autonomous region would return to Kirkuk, while the Arab Shi'a population would be compensated and relocated to areas in the south. After the Ba'athist regimes demographic and redistricting policies were undone a census and referendum would determine whether Kirkuk would be administered by the KRG or Baghdad.<ref name=bartu />
Following the [[2010 Iraqi parliamentary election|2010 parliamentary election]] the Kurds signed the Erbil Agreement and backed [[Nouri al-Maliki]] on the condition that Article 140 would be implemented.<ref name=federalism>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-317-11292-1| last = Danilovich| first = Alex| title = Iraqi Federalism and the Kurds: Learning to Live Together| chapter=2. Introducing Iraq's Federal System |date = 2016-05-06}}</ref>
===Violence after U.S. withdrawal===
Three churches in Kirkuk were targeted with bombs in August 2011.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-violence-church-idUSTRE7712GM20110802|title=Bombers target churches in northern Iraq: police|date=2011-08-02|work=Reuters|access-date=2019-05-11|language=en}}</ref> On 12 July 2013, Kirkuk was hit by a deadly bomb, killing 38 people in an attack on a café. A few days prior, on 11 July 2013, over 40 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings across Iraq, including in Kirkuk.<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraqi city of Kirkuk hit by deadly bomb attack|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23297734|work=BBC News|access-date=13 July 2013}}</ref>
===Kurdish control (2014–2017)===
On 12 June 2014, following the [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|2014 Northern Iraq offensive]] of the [[Islamic State]], during which it secured control of [[Tikrit]] and nearby areas in Syria, the Iraqi army retreated from their positions in Kirkuk and the [[Peshmerga]] of the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] then took the city.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-islamist-militants-warn-battle-will-rage-after-seizing-mosul-and-tikrit-9530899.html Iraq crisis: Baghdad prepares for the worst as Islamist militants vow to capture the capital], UK Independent, accessed 13 June 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kurds take oil-rich Kirkuk amid advance of ISIL insurgency in Iraq|url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/12/iraq-kirkuk-isil.html|website=Al Jazeera America|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=14 June 2014|date=12 June 2014}}</ref>
On 21 October 2016, the Islamic State launched [[2016 Kirkuk raid|multiple attacks]] in Kirkuk to divert Iraqi military resources during the [[Battle of Mosul (2016)|Battle of Mosul]]. Witnesses reported multiple explosions and gun battles in the city, most centered on a government compound. At least 11 workers, including several Iranians, were killed by a suicide bomber at a power plant in nearby Dibis.<ref>{{cite news|title=Isil launches bomb and gunfire attacks in Iraqi oil city to divert attention from Mosul battle|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/21/isil-launches-bomb-and-gunfire-attacks-in-iraqi-oil-city-to-dive/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/21/isil-launches-bomb-and-gunfire-attacks-in-iraqi-oil-city-to-dive/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=21 October 2016|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=21 October 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The attack was brought to an end by 24 October, with 74 militants being killed and others (including the leader) being arrested.<ref>{{cite news|title=Attack in Iraq's Kirkuk over, 74 IS jihadists killed: Governor|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2016/oct/24/attack-in-iraqs-kirkuk-over-74-is-jihadists-killed-governor-1531308.html|access-date=24 October 2016|work=The New Indian Express|date=24 October 2016}}</ref>
====Kurdification====
Under Kurdish control, Turkmen and Arab residents in Kirkuk experienced intimidation, harassment and were forced to leave their homes, in order to increase the Kurdish demographic in Kirkuk and bolster their claims to the city. Multiple [[Human Rights Watch]] reports detail the confiscation of Turkmen and Arab families' documents, preventing them from voting, buying property and travelling. Turkmen residents of Kirkuk were detained by Kurdish forces and compelled to leave the city. Kurdish authorities expelled hundreds of Arab families from the city, demolishing their homes in the process.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Iraq: Kirkuk Security Forces Expel Displaced Turkmen|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/07/iraq-kirkuk-security-forces-expel-displaced-turkmen|website=Human Rights Watch|date=7 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KRG: Kurdish Forces Ejecting Arabs In Kirkuk|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/03/krg-kurdish-forces-ejecting-arabs-kirkuk|website=Human Rights Watch|date=3 November 2016}}</ref>
[[United Nations]] reports since 2006 have documented that Kurdish authorities and Peshmerga militia forces were illegally policing Kirkuk and other disputed areas, and that these militia have abducted Turkmen and Arabs, subjecting them to torture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Uncertain Refuge, Dangerous Return: Iraq's Uprooted Minorities|url=https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/old-site-downloads/download-710-Download-full-report.pdf|website=Minority Rights Group International}}</ref>
===Iraqi central government control (2017–present)===
{{See also|2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict}}
On 16 October 2017, the Iraqi national army and [[Popular Mobilization Forces|PMF]] militia [[Battle of Kirkuk (2017)|retook control]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/15/kurds-and-iraq-iraqi-troops-advance-on-kirkuk-and-oil-spikes.html|title=Iraqi troops seize parts of oil-rich Kurdish region that voted for independence|date=15 October 2017|work=CNBC|access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> of Kirkuk as the Peshmerga forces fled the city without fighting.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41641563|title = Iraqi forces enter Kirkuk as Kurds flee|work = BBC News|date = 16 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calrev.org/2018/07/24/iraq-iranian-subversion-and-american-engagement/|title=Iraq: Iranian Subversion and American Engagement|last=Schrupp|first=Kenneth|date=2018-07-24|website=The California Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Iraqi Kurdish forces take Kirkuk as Isis sets its sights on Baghdad|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/iraq-isis-kirkuk-baghdad-kurdish-government|access-date=17 October 2017|work=The Guardian|date=12 June 2014}}</ref>
Kirkuk has been a disputed territory for around eighty years. The KRG wanted Kirkuk to become part of the [[Kurdistan Region]], which is opposed by the region's Arab and Turkmen populations.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Simon and Schuster| isbn = 978-1-4165-6225-2| last = Galbraith| first = Peter W.| title = Unintended Consequences: How War in Iraq Strengthened America's Enemies| date = 2008| url = https://archive.org/details/unintendedconseq00galb}}</ref>
There has been a long planned [[Kirkuk status referendum|referendum to resolve Kirkuk's status]] under Article 140 of the [[Constitution of Iraq|Iraqi Constitution]].<ref name="federalism"/>
[[2023 unrest in Kirkuk|Anti-Kurdish unrest started]] in Kirkuk after the building used by the Joint Operation Command in Iraq was transferred to the KDP.
==Demographics==
[[File:Kirkuk in Ottoman archive.jpg|thumb|Kirkuk in Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm.]]
[[Sami Frashëri|Şemseddin Sâmi]] mentioned Kirkuk city in the Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm written in the late 19th century. And says "Kirkuk is located to the southeast of the [[Mosul vilayet]] in [[Kurdistan]], with a population of 30,000." then he says "The Kurds make up three-quarters of the people of Kirkuk, and the rest are Turks, Arabs, 760 Jews and 460 Chaldeans."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/kamus-ul-alam|title=Kâmûs-ül Â'lâm|accessdate=8 February 2024|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=فيلسوف "الأبجدية التركية" يحسم مصير كركوك بـ"دليل" عمره 131 عاماً |url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/ar/story/18495-فيلسوف-%22الأبجدية-التركية%22-يحسم-مصير-كركوك-بـ%22دليل%22-عمره-131-عاماً |website=www.kurdistan24.net}}</ref>
Kirkuk's population was predominantly Turkmen in the early 20th century, when Turkish was the most common language spoken at home. The city had a population near 30,000 in the late 1910s. The Turkmen were majority in the city centre, dominating the political and economic life of the area.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=MacDonell|first=Joseph|title=Jesuits By The Tigris: Men for Others in Baghdad|year=1994|pages=82}}</ref>
The most reliable census concerning the ethnic composition of Kirkuk dates back to 1957. The Turkish-speaking [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] formed the majority in the city of Kirkuk, whilst the Kurds were the plurality in the [[Kirkuk Governorate|governorate]]. The provincial borders were later altered, the province was renamed al-Ta'mim, and some Kurdish-majority districts were added to Erbil and Sulamaniya provinces.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2008/0425/p06s02-wome.html | title=Can the U.N. avert a Kirkuk border war? | date=25 April 2008 | agency=CS Monitor | access-date=2 August 2012 | author=Dagher, Sam}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |'''Census results for the city proper of Kirkuk in 1957'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Iraq_paper_ISS.htm#_ftn11|title=Iraq|website=www.let.uu.nl|access-date=2016-10-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417225809/http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Iraq_paper_ISS.htm#_ftn11|archive-date=17 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|-
|Mother tongue
|Population
|Percentage
|-
|[[Turkish languages|Turkish (Turkmen)]]
|45,306
|37.6%
|-
|[[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]
|40,047
|33.3%
|-
|[[Arabic language|Arabic]]
|27,127
|22.5%
|-
|[[Syriac language|Syriac]]
|1,509
|1.3%
|-
|[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
|101
|0.1%
|-
|Total
|120,402
|
|}
A report by the [[International Crisis Group]] points out that figures from the 1977 and 1997 censuses "are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation" because Iraqi citizens were only allowed to indicate belonging to either the Arab or Kurdish ethnic groups;<ref name="ICG">{{cite web|year=2008|title=Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds: Conflict or Cooperation?|url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/images/Iraq_08_11_13_Turkey_and_Iraqi_Kurds_Conflict_or_Cooperation.pdf|publisher=[[International Crisis Group]]|page=16|access-date=19 June 2018|quote=In Kirkuk governorate overall, the Kurds were the largest group (187,593), with the Arabs second (109,620) and the Turkomans third (83,371). Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation. Moreover, the last three reflect the changes wrought by Arabisation, when Iraqis could indicate belonging to one of two ethnicities only: Arab or Kurd. This meant that many Turkomans identified themselves as Arabs (the Kurds not being a desirable ethnic group in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq), thereby skewing the numbers.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808043240/http://www.genocidewatch.org/images/Iraq_08_11_13_Turkey_and_Iraqi_Kurds_Conflict_or_Cooperation.pdf|archive-date=8 August 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities.<ref name=ICG/> Many [[Iraqi Turkmen]] declared themselves as Arabs (because the Kurds were not desirable under [[Saddam Hussein]]'s regime), reflecting the changes wrought by [[Arabisation]].<ref name=ICG/>
===Ethnic groups===
[[File:Kirkuk Demographical Map 2014.png|237px|right|thumb|Ethnic groups in Kirkuk and its environs in 2014, at the time of the capture of the area by Kurdish forces.]]
After attacks by ISIS, Kurdish authorities who were suspicious of the Arab refugees in Kirkuk, expelled hundreds of Arab families who had fled to the region during Iraq's war against ISIS. The refugees were sent to camps for the displaced or to their places of origin. Some of the displaced described themselves as locals and not as internally displaced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/iraq-kurdish-authorities-bulldoze-homes-and-banish-hundreds-of-arabs-from-kirkuk/|title = Iraq: Kurdish authorities bulldoze homes and banish hundreds of Arabs from Kirkuk|date = 7 November 2016}}</ref>
==== Arabs ====
The principal Arab extended families in the city of Kirkuk were: the [[Tikrit]]i and the [[Hadidi (tribe)|Hadidi]] ({{langx|ar|حديدي}}). The Tikriti family was the main [[Arab]] family in Kirkuk coming from [[Tikrit]] in the 17th century. Other [[Arab]] tribes who settled in Kirkuk during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Period are the [[Al-Ubaid (tribe)|Al-Ubaid]] ({{langx|ar|آل عبيد}}) and the [[Al-Jiburi]] ({{langx|ar|آل جبور}}). The Al-Ubaid came from just northwest of Mosul when they were forced out of the area by other Arab tribes of that region. They settled in the [[Hawija]] district in Kirkuk in 1805 during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Period.<ref>Book Bedouins, Part I: Mesopotamia, Syria, northern Iraq, Al-Ubaid, Author Max Oppenheim</ref>
==== Armenians ====
In 2017, around 30 [[Armenians in Iraq|Armenian]] families resided in the city. The community has also an [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian Apostolic]] church.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Clergyman: Armenians living in Kirkuk are in no danger at present|url=https://news.am/eng/news/415384.html|access-date=2020-09-03|website=news.am|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Refworld {{!}} World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Iraq : Armenians|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d0a55.html|access-date=2020-09-03|website=Refworld|language=en}}</ref>
====Assyrians====
{{See also|Citadel Christians}}
The Seleucid town, like many other [[Upper Mesopotamia]]n cities had a significant [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] population. Christianity was established among them in the 2nd century by the bishop Tuqrītā (Theocritos).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=BĒṮ SELŌḴ | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica | access-date=24 June 2014 | author=Morony, Michael | year=1989 | volume=IV | pages=188 | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bet-selok}}</ref> During the Sasanian times the town became an important centre of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], with several of its bishops rising to the rank of Patriarch. Tensions among Christians and Zoroastrians led to a severe persecution of Christians during the reign of [[Shapur II]] (309–379 A.D.) as recorded in the Acts of the Persian Martyrs. Persecution resumed under [[Yazdegerd II]] in 445 A.D. who massacred thousands of them. Their situation greatly improved under the Sasanians in the following two centuries after the advent of a national Persian church of free of [[Byzantine]] influence, namely [[Nestorianism]].<ref name="Bosworth 1954 144">{{harvnb|Bosworth|1954|p=144}}</ref> Persecution resumed under [[Yazdegerd II]] in 445 A.D. who massacred thousands of them. Tradition puts the death toll at 12,000 among them the patriarch [[Shemon Bar Sabbae]].<ref name="Antioch)2003">{{cite book|last1=Afram I Barsoum|author-link1=Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum|last2=Moosa|first2=Matti|title=The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0f-eB_KK7fAC&pg=PA164|year=2003|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=978-1-931956-04-8|page=164}}</ref> The city was known as the centre of the prosperous [[Beth Garmaï (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)|Ecclesiastical Province of Beth Garmai]] which lingered until the conquests of [[Timur Leng]] in 1400 A.D. During the Ottoman period most of Kirkuk's Christians followed the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] whose bishop resided in the Cathedral of the Great Martyrion which dates back to the 5th century. The cathedral was however used as a powder storage and was blown up as the Ottomans retreated in 1918.<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|1954|p=145}}</ref>
The discovery of oil brought more Christians to Kirkuk, however they were also affected by the Arabization policy of the Baath Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Anderson|Stansfield|2011|p=51}}</ref> Their numbers continued to plummet after the American invasion,<ref>{{harvnb|Anderson|Stansfield|2011|p=6}}</ref> and they occupy 4% of municipal offices, a percentage thought to be representative of their numbers in the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Anderson|Stansfield|2011|p=161}}</ref>
They are ethnic Assyrians who speak their own dialect of [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and religiously follow the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] from Kirkuk who lived in or near the citadel, where they adopted the Turkish language from Iraqi Turkmen, especially during the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Their dialect is mutually intelligible with the Iraqi Turkmen dialect. Their official hymns, eulogies, and prayers are in Turkish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerkük'te yaşayan 'Kale Hristiyanları' kendi aralarında Türkçe konuşuyor |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/yasam/kerkukte-yasayan-kale-hristiyanlari-kendi-aralarinda-turkce-konusuyor/2493851 |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref> Their bible is in the [[Ottoman Turkish]] language written in the 1800s and is recited by community leaders.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gzt |date=2022-02-05 |title=Kerküklü "Kale Hristiyanları" kendi aralarında Türkçe konuşuyor |url=https://www.gzt.com/mecra/kerkuklu-kale-hristiyanlari-kendi-aralarinda-turkce-konusuyor-3602979 |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=Gzt |language=tr-TR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=العراق.. "مسيحيو القلعة" يتمسكون بالتركية لغة حياة |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1/2516495 |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref> The Citadel Christians are not to be confused with the community of [[Iraqi Turkmen]] who follow the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]], which numbered around 30,000 in 2015 and live all across [[Turkmeneli]], including Kirkuk, while the Citadel Christians were exclusively in Kirkuk before the migrations.<ref name="IraqTheMinoritiesOfNineveh">{{cite news |last=al-Lami |first=Mina |date=July 21, 2014 |title=Iraq: The minorities of Nineveh |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28351073 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514010333/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28351073 |archive-date=May 14, 2020 |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>
====Jews====
Jews had a long history in Kirkuk. Ottoman records show that in 1560 there were 104 Jewish homes in Kirkuk,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Erdogru |first=M. Akif |date=6 December 2004 |title=A Note on the Population Distribution of Kirkuk Subdivision |url=http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/EN/belge/2-1783/a-note-on-the-population-distribution-of-kirkuk-subdivi-.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121115704/http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/EN/belge/2-1783/a-note-on-the-population-distribution-of-kirkuk-subdivi-.html |archive-date=21 January 2013 |journal=Historical Studies Periodical |volume=xıx |issue=2 |pages=186–189 |access-date=2013-03-26 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and in 1896 there were 760 Jews in the city.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Talabany |first=Nouri |date=January 2007 |title=Who Owns Kirkuk? The Kurdish Case |url=http://www.meforum.org/1075/who-owns-kirkuk-the-kurdish-case |journal=Middle East Quarterly |publisher=Meforum.org |access-date=2013-03-26}}</ref>{{bsn|date=June 2022}} After World War I, the Jewish population increased, especially after Kirkuk became a petroleum center; in 1947 there were 2,350 counted in the census. Jews were generally engaged in commerce and handicraft. Social progress was slow, and it was only in the 1940s that some Jewish students acquired secondary academic education. By 1951 almost all of the Jews had left for Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0012_0_11168.html |title=Kirkuk |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=2013-03-26}}</ref>{{bsn|date=June 2022}}
====Kurds====
Kirkuk is claimed by the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] as its capital, but they do not control the city or province, and Kirkuk is not part of the Kurdistan Region. The last reliable census shows that the Kurds constituted less than a third of Kirkuk's population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNPO: Kurdistan: Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region |url=https://unpo.org/article/538?id=538 |access-date=2020-12-12 |website=unpo.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iraq/215-iraq-fixing-security-kirkuk | title=Iraq: Fixing Security in Kirkuk | date=15 June 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/merve-sebnem-oruc/2017/10/05/the-fateful-question-in-iraq-of-who-owns-kirkuk | title=The fateful question in Iraq of who owns Kirkuk | website=[[Daily Sabah]] | date=5 October 2017 }}</ref>
[[File:Kurdistan1920.png|thumb|Provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres for an independent [[Kurdistan]] (in 1920)]]
The [[Baban]] family was a Kurdish family that, in the 18th and 19th centuries, dominated the political life of the province of [[Sharazor]], in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan. The first member of the clan to gain control of the province and its capital, Kirkuk, was Sulayman Beg. Enjoying almost full autonomy, the Baban family established Kirkuk as their capital. It was from this time that Kurds in Iraq began to view Kirkuk as their capital. This persisted even after the Babans moved their administration to the new town of Sulaymaniya, named after the dynasty's founder, in the late 18th century.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&q=encyclopedia+of+the+ottoman+empire ''Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire'', Baban Family Entry], p.70</ref>
====Turkmens====
[[File:Misak-i_milli.png|thumb|[[The Republic of Turkey]]'s borders according to the [[Misak-i Milli|National Pact]]]]
<!--[[File:Misaki-milli.jpg|frame|left|Misak-ı Milli]]-->
[[Iraqi Turkmen|Iraqi Turkmens]] view the city as their capital, with the last reliable census showing the city of Kirkuk had a Turkmen majority.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/kirkuk-constitutional-promises-normalization-census-and-referendum-still-unfulfilled|title=Kirkuk: Constitutional Promises of Normalization, Census, and Referendum Still Unfulfilled|website=Middle East Institute|accessdate=8 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thearabweekly.com/kirkuk-major-centre-iraqi-turkmen-culture|title=Kirkuk: A major centre of Iraqi Turkmen culture|accessdate=8 February 2024}}</ref>
In the city of Kirkuk, Turkmens reside in the neighborhoods of Tisin, Musalla, Korya, Baghdad Road, Sarıkahya, Şaturlu, Beyler, Piryadi, Almas, Arafa, Bulak, Çukur, İmam Abbas, Cırıt Square, Çay, 1 June and Beşiktaş. They are sparsely dispersed in other neighborhoods. It is also known that Christian Turkmens live in the neighborhoods of Şaturlu, Almas and Arafa in Kirkuk. There are many Turkmen villages around Kirkuk. These villages include Türkalan, Yayçı, Çardaklı, Kızılyar, Kümbetler, Bulova and [[Bashir, Iraq|Beşir]].<ref>{{Cite report |last=Merkezi (ORSAM) |first=Ortadoğu Araştırmaları |title=ORSAM Analysis 203, Bilgay Duman, The Situation of Turkmens and The Turkmen Areas After ISIS |url=https://www.academia.edu/40261120}}</ref>
The riverfront, the historical homes, alleyways, the old cemeteries, and the prevailing musical modes of Kirkuk historically belong to the Turkmen. The old names of most of the villages and districts in Kirkuk, as well as the prevalent trades and occupations, trace back to Turkmen families.<ref>{{cite web | title=Iraqi Turkmen: The Controversy of Identity and Affiliation| website=FES – Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | date=1 August 2021 | url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2060577.html | access-date=8 February 2024|author=Ali Taher Al-Hamoud}}</ref>
The [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] are believed to be descendants of numerous Turkic migration waves. The earliest arrivals date back to the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]] and [[Abbasid]] eras, when they arrived as military recruits.<ref>Matthew Gordon, The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra, A.H. 200-275/815-889 C.E., SUNY Press, 2001, p.1</ref> Considerable Turcoman settlement continued during the [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuq]] era when [[Tughril|Toghrul]] entered Iraq in 1055 with his army composed mostly of [[Oghuz Turks]]. Kirkuk remained under the control of the [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuq]] Empire for 63 years. However, the largest Turkic migration waves occurred during the four centuries of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule (1535–1919) when Turkish migrants from [[Anatolia]] were encouraged to settle in the region;<ref>{{citation |last=Taylor|first=Scott|year=2004|title=Among the Others: Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq|publisher=Esprit de Corps Books|page=31|isbn=978-1-895896-26-8}}</ref> indeed, it is largely from this period that modern Turkmens claim association with [[Anatolia]] and the modern [[Republic of Turkey|Turkish state]].<ref name="Anderson & Stansfield 2009 loc=17" />
In particular, following the conquest of Iraq by the Ottoman sultan [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in 1535, Kirkuk came firmly under Ottoman control and was referred to “Gökyurt” (Blue Homeland) in the Ottoman records, "perhaps indicating that Kirkuk was identified as a particularly Turkic town by that time."<ref name="Anderson & Stansfield 2009 loc=17">{{citation |last1=Anderson|first1=Liam D.|last2=Stansfield|first2=Gareth R. V.|year=2009|chapter=Kirkuk Before Iraq|title=Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|page=17|isbn=978-0-8122-4176-1}}</ref> Under the Ottomans, Turkish migrations from [[Anatolia]] to Kirkuk occurred throughout the centuries; firstly during the initial conquest of 1535, followed by the arrival of Turkish families with the army of sultan [[Murad IV]] in 1638, whilst others came later with other notable Ottoman figures.<ref name="Anderson & Stansfield 2009 loc=17"/> These families occupied the highest socioeconomic strata and held the most important bureaucratic jobs until the end of Ottoman rule.<ref name="Anderson & Stansfield 2009 loc=17"/> During this period, the Turcoman were the predominant population of Kirkuk city and its close environs but Kurds constituted the majority of the rural population of Kirkuk.<ref name="Looking into Iraq"/> Kirkuk had a population near 30,000 in the late 1910s, [[Iraqi Turkmens|Turkmens]] were majority in the city center, dominating the political and economic life of the area.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.bilimarastirmavakfi.org/musulvekerkuk/musulkerkuk02.html#dipnot|title=Türkmenler|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122643/http://www.bilimarastirmavakfi.org/musulvekerkuk/musulkerkuk02.html#dipnot|archive-date=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.uu.nl/organisatie/faculteit-geesteswetenschappen|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417225809/http://www.let.uu.nl/~martin.vanbruinessen/personal/publications/Iraq_paper_ISS.htm|url-status=dead|title=Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen - Universiteit Utrecht|date=8 February 2024|archivedate=17 April 2017|website=www.uu.nl}}</ref>
Currently Iraqi Turkmen politicians hold just over 20 percent of seats on Kirkuk's city council, while Turkmen leaders say they make up nearly a third of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkmen-iraq-between-rock-and-hard-place-1460749597|title=The Turkmen of Iraq: Between a rock and a hard place |access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref>
==Main sites==
Ancient architectural monuments of Kirkuk include:
* the [[Daniel in Islam|Prophet Daniel]]'s [[Tomb of Daniel|Tomb]]
* [[Kirkuk Citadel|the Kirkuk Citadel]]
* [[Qaysareyah of Kirkuk]]
* [[Qishla of Kirkuk|the ''Qishla'' of Kirkuk]]
The archaeological sites of Qal'at [[Jarmo]] and [[Yorgan Tepe]] are found at the outskirts of the modern city. In 1997, there were reports that the government of [[Saddam Hussein]] "demolished Kirkuk's historic citadel with its mosques and ancient church".<ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2000/photo3.htm |title=Kirkuk Citadel |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=2013-03-26}}</ref>
The architectural heritage of Kirkuk sustained serious damage during [[World War I]] (when some pre-Muslim Assyrian Christian monuments were destroyed) and, more recently, during the [[Iraq War]]. [[Simon Jenkins]] reported in June 2007 that "eighteen ancient shrines have been lost, ten in Kirkuk and the south in the past month alone".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/story/0,,2098272,00.html | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals | first=Simon | last=Jenkins | date=7 June 2007}}</ref>
== Geography ==
=== Climate ===
Kirkuk experiences a hot [[semi-arid climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]]: BSh) with extremely hot and dry summers and mild winters with moderate rainfall. Snow is rare but it fell on 22 February 2004,<ref>{{cite news|last=Cole|first=William|title=Rare Iraq snowfall lifts troops' spirits|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dispatches/stories/022304b|access-date=3 March 2013|newspaper=The Honolulu Advertiser|date=23 February 2004}}</ref> and from 10 to 11 January 2008.<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraq under cold front bringing snow and below zero temperatures |url=http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/jan/11/iraq_under_cold_front_bringing_snow_and_below_zero_temperatures.html |access-date=3 March 2013 |newspaper=Indian Muslims |date=11–12 January 2008 |agency=Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) |quote=BAGHDAD, Jan 11 (KUNA) – Snow fell on large areas of Iraq following two days of low temperature. Dr. Daoud Shaker, head of the Iraqi weather bureau told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) snow fell in Baghdad during two hours in the morning on Friday after coming under the effect of two pressure systems, one cold originating from Siberia and the other warm coming from the sea. He said the temperature on Friday was "below zero in several Iraqi areas" resulting in snowfalls Thursday in several western areas. But the snowfall continued on Friday along with the low temperatures, he added. He predicted that the snowfalls and rain would subside as of Friday night paving the way for subzero temperatures in the next few days that could reach six degrees Celsius below zero specifically at night. He added that the snow that fell on Baghdad has melted. But in Kirkuk and several northern cities including Suleimaniah, snow fell again on Friday along with very low temperatures. According to weather sources, up to four millimeters of snow fell on Kirkuk Friday. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928003714/http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/jan/11/iraq_under_cold_front_bringing_snow_and_below_zero_temperatures.html |archive-date=28 September 2013 }}</ref>
{{Weather box
|width = auto
| location     = Kirkuk (1991–2020)
| metric first = Y
| single line  = Y
| Jan record high C =24.0
| Feb record high C =26.7
| Mar record high C =32.4
| Apr record high C =40.3
| May record high C =44.5
| Jun record high C =48.1
| Jul record high C =50.0
| Aug record high C =50.6
| Sep record high C =47.0
| Oct record high C =42.0
| Nov record high C =32.0
| Dec record high C =30.6
| year record high C =
| Jan record low C = -4.7
| Feb record low C = -4.0
| Mar record low C = 0.6
| Apr record low C = 4.0
| May record low C = 12.0
| Jun record low C = 18.2
| Jul record low C = 21.2
| Aug record low C = 21.0
| Sep record low C = 18.0
| Oct record low C = 10.5
| Nov record low C = 1.0
| Dec record low C = -0.5
| year record low C =
| Jan high C = 14.4
| Feb high C = 16.4
| Mar high C = 21.0
| Apr high C = 27.0
| May high C = 34.4
| Jun high C = 40.7
| Jul high C = 43.8
| Aug high C = 43.6
| Sep high C = 38.6
| Oct high C = 31.6
| Nov high C = 22.9
| Dec high C = 16.6
|Jan mean C = 9.6
|Feb mean C = 11.3
|Mar mean C = 15.6
|Apr mean C = 21.2
|May mean C = 28.2
|Jun mean C = 34.1
|Jul mean C = 36.9
|Aug mean C = 36.5
|Sep mean C = 31.6
|Oct mean C = 25.4
|Nov mean C = 16.7
|Dec mean C = 11.5
| Jan low C = 5.2
| Feb low C = 6.4
| Mar low C = 10.7
| Apr low C = 14.9
| May low C = 21.1
| Jun low C = 26.4
| Jul low C = 29.3
| Aug low C = 28.9
| Sep low C = 24.6
| Oct low C = 19.5
| Nov low C = 11.5
| Dec low C = 6.7
|precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 66.6
| Feb precipitation mm = 54.7
| Mar precipitation mm = 50.7
| Apr precipitation mm = 37.8
| May precipitation mm = 14.0
| Jun precipitation mm = 0.1
| Jul precipitation mm = 0.3
| Aug precipitation mm = 0.0
| Sep precipitation mm = 0.7
| Oct precipitation mm = 14.9
| Nov precipitation mm = 43.1
| Dec precipitation mm = 54.9
| Jan precipitation days = 11
| Feb precipitation days = 11
| Mar precipitation days = 11
| Apr precipitation days = 9
| May precipitation days = 5
| Jun precipitation days = 0
| Jul precipitation days = 0
| Aug precipitation days = 0
| Sep precipitation days = 0
| Oct precipitation days = 5
| Nov precipitation days = 7
| Dec precipitation days = 10
| Jan humidity = 72.4
| Feb humidity = 67.1
| Mar humidity = 58.0
| Apr humidity = 51.2
| May humidity = 35.7
| Jun humidity = 25.3
| Jul humidity = 23.6
| Aug humidity = 25.3
| Sep humidity = 29.3
| Oct humidity = 40.5
| Nov humidity = 59.0
| Dec humidity = 69.4
|source 1 = WMO (precipitation days 1976–2008)<ref name= WMO >{{cite web|url=http://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=1466%7D%7D|title=World Weather Information Service|last=WMO|website=World Weather Information Service}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-2-WMO-Normals-9120/Iraq/CSV/KIRKUK_40621.csv
| title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020: Kirkuk |format=CSV
| publisher = [[NOAA|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
| access-date = 2 August 2023}}</ref>
|source 2 = Meteomanz(record high since 2009)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.meteomanz.com/sy3?l=1&cou=2050&ind=40621&m1=01&y1=2009&m2=06&y2=2024 |title=NAJAF - Weather data by month |access-date=28 June 2024 |website=meteomanz}}</ref>
}}
==Notable people==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Ibtisam Abdallah]] ([[Iraqis|Arab]] novelist)
* [[Seyyid Abdullah Pasha]] ([[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] grand vizier)
* [[Najiba Ahmad]] ([[Iraqi Kurds|Kurdish]] writer and poet)
* [[Fadhil Al Azzawi]] ([[Iraqis|Arab]] writer and poet)
* [[Herdi Noor Al-Deen]] ([[Iraqi Kurds|Kurdish]] soccer player)
* [[Saadeddin Arkej]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]], Honorary Leader of [[Iraqi Turkmen Front]])
* [[Selim Bayraktar]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] actor)
* [[Hijri Dede]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] poet)
* [[Chopy Fatah]] (Kurdish singer)
* [[Ismail Ahmed Rajab Al Hadidi]] (Arab politician)
* [[Mohsen Abdel Hamid]] (Kurdish politician)
* [[Muhammad Sadiq Hassan]] (Turkmen poet)
* [[Hajim al-Hassani]] ([[Iraqis|Arab]] politician)
* [[Rafiq Hilmi]] ([[Iraqi Kurds|Kurdish]] poet, writer and academic)
* [[Kevork Hovnanian]] ([[Armenians in Iraq|Armenian]] founder of [[Hovnanian Enterprises]])
* [[İsmet Hürmüzlü]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] actor)
* [[Adnan Karim]] (Kurdish singer)
* [[Najmiddin Karim]] (former Kurdish governor of Kirkuk, Neurosurgeon, and founder of The [[Washington Kurdish Institute]])
* [[Fathi Safwat Kirdar]] (Turkmen painter)
* [[Lütfi Kırdar]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] politician, Minister of Health and Social Security in [[Turkey]])
* [[Nemir Kirdar]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] billionaire, businessman, financier, founder and CEO of [[Investcorp]])
* [[Younis Mahmoud]] ([[Iraqis|Arab]] Captain of the Iraqi soccer team)
* [[Rashad Mandan Omar]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] Minister of Science and Technology in the Interim Iraq Governing Council and the [[Iraqi Interim Government]])
* [[Ali Merdan]] (Kurdish musician)
* [[Talib Mushtaq]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] diplomat and Arab nationalist in Iraq during the 1930s)
* [[Abdul Rahman Mustafa]] (former Kurdish governor of Kirkuk)
* [[Salih Neftçi]] (Turkmen engineer and economist)
* [[Osama Rashid]] ([[Iraqis in the Netherlands|Arab-Dutch]] soccer player)
* [[Arshad al-Salihi]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]], President of [[Iraqi Turkmen Front]])
* [[Riza Talabani]] ([[Iraqi Kurds|Kurdish]] poet)
* [[Mehmet Türkmehmet]] ([[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmen]] soccer player)
{{Div col end}}
==Sister cities==
Kirkuk is [[sister city|twinned]] with:
* {{Flagicon|Turkey}} [[Konya]], Turkey<ref>{{cite web |title=Turkish FM's speech to Kirkuk's Turkmen community |url=https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/8/kirkuk744.htm |website=ekurd.net |access-date=13 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=UNPO: Iraqi Turkmen: Turkey Promises Protection Of Turkmen |url=https://unpo.org/article/14669 |website=unpo.org |access-date=13 May 2024}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Arabization]]
* [[Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Kirkuk-Sulaimaniya]]
* [[Kirkuk Massacre of 1924]]
* [[Kurdification]]
* [[List of largest cities of Iraq]]
* [[Operation Fath 1]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
===References===
* {{Cite book|last=Bosworth|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam Vol. V|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJY3AAAAIAAJ|year=1954|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-06056-2|pages=144–147}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=I. E. S.|last2=Gadd|first2=C. J.|last3=Hammond|first3=N. G. L.|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Vol. 1, pt. 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64hz8vbtVaQC|access-date=3 January 2013|year=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521227179 }}
* {{Cite book|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Vol. 1, part 2|last1=Edwards|first1=Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen|last2=Charlesworth|first2=Martin Percival|last3=Boardman|first3=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPPgAAAAMAAJ|access-date=3 January 2013|year=1970|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521077910}}
==Further reading==
; Published in the 19th century
* {{Cite book |title=Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia |year=1871 |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Bernard Quaritch |editor=[[Edward Balfour]] |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/cyclopaediaofind02balfuoft#page/576/mode/2up |chapter= Kirkook }}
* {{Cite book |publisher = [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |location = London |title = Handbook for Travellers in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Persia, etc. |editor= Charles Wilson |editor-link=Charles William Wilson |date = 1895 |oclc = 8979039 |chapter=Kirkuk |isbn = 9780524062142 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=icy5QKym2BoC&pg=PA305 }}
; Published in the 20th century
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Kerkuk |volume= 15 |last= Peters |first= John Punnett |author-link= John Punnett Peters | page= 755 |short= 1}}
* {{Cite book |publisher = Karl Baedeker |location = Leipzig |title = Palestine and Syria |edition =5th |date = 1912 |chapter=Kerkuk |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BykoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA429 }}
; Published in the 21st century
* {{Cite book |publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]] |location = Santa Barbara, USA |editor1 = Michael R. T. Dumper |editor2=Bruce E. Stanley |chapter=Kirkuk |title = Cities of the Middle East and North Africa |date = 2008 |isbn=978-1576079195 }}
* Bet-Shlimon, Arbella (2019). ''City of Black Gold: Oil, Ethnicity, and the Making of Modern Kirkuk''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-5036-0812-2}}.
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite magazine|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/making-oil-foundations-political-settlement-kirkuk|title=Making Oil the Foundations of a Political Settlement in Kirkuk |author=Raad Alkadiri|magazine=Commentary|publisher=[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]|date=October 24, 2017}}
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/iraq-kurds-and-me-what-went-wrong-kirkuk|title=Iraq, the Kurds and Me: What Went Wrong in Kirkuk?|author=[[Steven A. Cook]] |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |date=October 23, 2017}}
* {{Cite report|url=https://icg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/215-iraq-fixing-security-in-kirkuk.pdf|date=June 15, 2020|title=Iraq: Fixing Security in Kirkuk|author=[[International Crisis Group]]}}
{{Districts of Iraq}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Kirkuk| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Assyrian cities]]
[[Category:Assyrian communities in Iraq]]
[[Category:Cities in Iraq]]
[[Category:District capitals of Iraq]]
[[Category:Kurdish settlements in Iraq]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC]]
[[Category:Populated places in Kirkuk Governorate]]
[[Category:Turkmen communities in Iraq]]