Kirkuk Governorate

File:Kirkuk-Gov.jpg

• Governor: Rakkan Saeed al-Jabbouri{{Cite web|url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/5a238964-2752-44d6-83f9-55ff99f2c8a1|title=Iraqi court issues arrest warrant for acting gov. of Kirkuk on 'corruption involvement'|last=Kurdistan24|website=Kurdistan24|language=en|access-date=2019-09-28}}

Kirkuk Governorate borders were altered in 1976; when 4 districts were added to the Sulaymaniya, Diyala and Saladin Governorates.{{Cite book|title=Nation Building in Kurdistan|last=Mohammed|first=Ihsan|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=9781315597393|location=London|pages=34}} The Kirkuk Governorate received the Arab populated Zab District from the Mosul Governorate.{{Cite book|title=Nation Building in Kurdistan|last=Mohammed|first=Ihsan|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=9781315597393|location=London|pages=33}}

With the Arabization policies of the Ba'ath party, the number of Arabs in official censuses increased fivefold within 40 years, however the most reliable data indicative of the ethnic breakdown of the governorate are those of the 1957 census.{{citation|last1=Anderson|first1=Liam D.|last2=Stansfield|first2=Gareth R. V.|year=2009 |title=Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-4176-1|page=43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zSy2Njz0jWYC&pg=PA43}} The number of Kurds remained relatively constant from 1957 until 1977, decrease in their numbers coincides with the Arabization process in the 1990s.{{citation|last1=Anderson|first1=Liam D.|last2=Stansfield|first2=Gareth R. V.|year=2009|title=Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-4176-1|page=44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zSy2Njz0jWYC&pg=PA43}} The Turkmens were seriously affected by the Ba'ath changing Kirkuk borders their percentage fell from 21% to 7%.

Starting from 1977, 2,000 Christians (Assyrians) were registered as Arabs. From the end of the Gulf War to 1999, about 11,000 Kurdish families were deported from Kirkuk.{{cite news|title=An ancient tragedy|url=http://www.economist.com/node/186940|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=22 June 2013|date=20 February 1999}} Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, 100,000 Kurds have returned to the city of Kirkuk.{{Cite web|url=https://www.themilitant.com/2005/6912/691204.html|title=The Militant - March 28, 2005 -- Iraqi Kurds make progress toward return to oil-rich Kirkuk|website=www.themilitant.com}}

Ethnic data from a League of Nations report from 1925 and British data from 1924, 1930 and 1931 (the province had different borders during these years):

A report by the International Crisis Group points out that figures from 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;{{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|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}} consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmen.

The following is the results of the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election in the Kirkuk governorate. Election results are often used to estimate the demographics of the region. However, Iraqi citizens do not necessary vote for parties based on its ethnic affiliation.

Archeological sites in the governorate include Arrapḫa, Nuzi and Lubdu, which all date back several thousand years. Arrapha is located within the modern city of Kirkuk, Nuzi is identified with the site of Yorghan Tepe and the location of Lubdu isn't certain, but considered to be at Tall Buldagh.{{cite journal |last1=Bagg |first1=Ariel M. |title=Reviewed Work: Siedlungsgeschichte im mittleren Osttigrisgebiet. Vom Neolithikum bis in die neuassyrische Zeit (= Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 28) |journal=Archiv für Orientforschung |volume=53 |date=2015 |page=431 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44810859 |access-date=29 February 2024}}

• 2009 Kirkuk governorate election
• Arabization
• Kurdification
• Turkification

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100101214748/http://www.iauiraq.org/reports.asp Iraq Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit] Reports, Maps and Assessments of Iraq's Governorates from the UN Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit

{{Governorates of Iraq}}

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Category:Governorates of Iraq