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 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. [9] .

Jan 23, 2025 · Kirkūk, city, capital of Kirkūk muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northeastern Iraq. The city is 145 miles (233 km) north of Baghdad, the national capital, with which it is linked by road and railway. Kirkūk is located near the foot of the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Kirkuk Governorate (Arabic: محافظة كركوك, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat Karkūk; [3] Kurdish: پارێزگای کەرکووک, romanized: Parêzgeha Kerkûkê/Parêzgayi Kerkûk; [4][5] Turkish: Kerkük Valiliği) or Kirkuk Province is a governorate in northern Iraq. The governorate has an area of 9,679 square kilometres (3,737 sq mi).

Oct 17, 2017 · Iraq's oil-rich province of Kirkuk has been the subject of contending claims by different ethnic groups for almost 60 years. It contains a blend of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Assyrians, and...

In line with the wider Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq, the Iraqi government worked to alter the demographic composition of the Kirkuk Governorate by ethnically cleansing non-Arabs—mainly Kurds, but also Turkmen and Assyrians, among others—and replacing them with Arab settlers.

6 days ago · Baghdad and BP's negotiations over a major deal to redevelop Kirkuk's oil and gas fields must include Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, the Kurdish Prime Minister told Reuters, flagging a ...

Sep 10, 2023 · The recent crisis in Kirkuk, an oil-rich city located in northern Iraq, has once again highlighted the intricate historical ethnic and political factors behind the ongoing conflict. Kirkuk has historically been contested between the federal government in Baghdad and authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan region of the north.

Sep 13, 2023 · Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic and oil-rich province in northern Iraq, is a historically disputed area between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and peshmerga security forces took control of Kirkuk in 2014 before being expelled in 2017 by federal troops following a referendum ...

Under the 2005 Iraqi constitution, Kurdistan was recognized as a federal region within the state of Iraq. Kirkuk, claimed by both Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil, was labelled as “disputed”, along other 27 territories.

Oct 16, 2017 · After a controversial independence referendum, Iraq and the Kurds are in a power struggle over the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. DW explains what is driving the conflict – and where it could be...