Kirkuk: The Disputed Heart of Kurdistan
- Sherko Sabir
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Introduction
Kirkuk (Kurdish: Kerkûk) is one of the most important and most contested cities of Kurdistan. An ancient city built around a towering citadel, it sits on vast oil reserves and stands at the meeting point of the Kurdish highlands and the plains of central Iraq. For Kurds it is a historically Kurdish city and a national cause — a place the Ba’athist state tried to strip of its Kurdish identity through decades of Arabization, and whose final status remains unresolved to this day.
This is the latest entry in our geographic series profiling the cities and towns of the region — where they are, who controls them, who lives in them, and why they matter to the Kurdish story.
Quick Facts
Common Name: Kirkuk
Kurdish Name: Kerkûk
Country: Iraq — capital of Kirkuk Governorate; a disputed territory claimed by the Kurdistan Region
Population: Governorate around 2 million (2024); a Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab city
People: Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs, with Christian and other minorities
Setting: About 250 km north of Baghdad, on the oil-rich plains below the Zagros
Status: Disputed under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution
Known For: Its citadel, its oil, and the Kurdish struggle to reclaim it
Contents
Location and Geography
Kirkuk lies in north-eastern Iraq, about 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, where the foothills of the Zagros descend toward the Mesopotamian plain. The city grew up around its great citadel on a mound above the Khasa River, and the surrounding governorate covers nearly 10,000 square kilometres of fertile farmland and oil field. That land bridges the Kurdish mountains to the north and east with the Arab and Turkmen plains to the south and west, which is part of why control of Kirkuk has been fought over for so long. Beneath it lie some of the largest oil reserves in Iraq, centred on the famous Baba Gurgur field.
People and Population
Kirkuk Governorate has a population of around two million. The city has long been home to Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs, together with Christian and other minorities — a diversity Kurds have historically embraced as part of Kirkuk’s character. Kurds regard Kirkuk as a Kurdish city with deep roots, and point out that its present demographic mix is in large part the product of deliberate state engineering: the Ba’athist regime expelled Kurds and settled Arabs from the south precisely in order to change who lived there. Tellingly, when Iraq held a national census in 2024, questions on ethnicity were left out altogether — a sign of how politically sensitive the simple question of who lives in Kirkuk remains.
History
Kirkuk is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world, with a citadel said to stand on foundations thousands of years old and associated in tradition with the prophet Daniel. Through the Ottoman centuries it was a trading and administrative town within the wider Kurdish lands. Everything changed in 1927, when oil was struck at Baba Gurgur and Kirkuk became central to Iraq’s wealth. From then on the city’s fate was tied to its oil — and successive governments in Baghdad were determined to keep both the oil and the city out of Kurdish hands, setting the stage for decades of conflict.
Arabization and the Kurdish Cause
From the 1960s onward, and especially under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi state pursued a systematic campaign of Arabization in Kirkuk. Kurdish and Turkmen families were forced out, their villages razed, and Arab settlers were moved in from central and southern Iraq; the regime even renamed the province “Al-Ta’mim” and redrew its boundaries to dilute the Kurdish presence. This demographic engineering was part of the same machinery of repression that produced the Anfal campaign and the gassing of Halabja. For Kurds, reversing this injustice — returning displaced families and restoring Kirkuk’s Kurdish character — is a matter of basic justice, and it lies at the heart of why Kirkuk is so central to the national cause.
Kirkuk Today
Kirkuk’s status is still unresolved. When ISIS swept through northern Iraq in 2014, it was the Kurdish Peshmerga who defended Kirkuk and kept it out of the hands of the militants after the Iraqi army collapsed. Kurds governed the city until October 2017, when — following the Kurdistan independence referendum, in which Kirkuk took part — Iraqi federal forces and allied militias moved in and took back control. Since then the city has been administered by Baghdad, though Kurds continue to press their claim. In early 2025 Iraq finally began implementing a law to return farmland seized under the Ba’athists to its original Kurdish and Turkmen owners, though Kurdish farmers have reported obstruction and harassment as they try to reclaim their land.
Timeline of Key Events
Antiquity — A city grows around the citadel above the Khasa River.
1927 — Oil is struck at Baba Gurgur, making Kirkuk central to Iraq’s wealth.
1960s–80s — The Ba’athist state Arabizes Kirkuk, expelling Kurds and settling Arabs.
1988 — The Anfal campaign devastates Kurdish areas around Kirkuk.
2005 — Article 140 of the constitution sets out a path to resolve Kirkuk’s status.
2014 — Kurdish Peshmerga defend Kirkuk as ISIS advances and the Iraqi army collapses.
2017 — After the independence referendum, Iraqi forces retake the city.
2025 — A law begins returning Ba’athist-seized farmland to Kurdish and Turkmen owners.
Debates and Controversies
Kirkuk is the most disputed city in Iraq. Kurds regard it as a historically Kurdish city and, in the words of Kurdish leaders, the “Jerusalem of Kurdistan” — and point to Article 140 of the constitution, which promised normalization (the return of those expelled under Arabization), a census and a referendum to settle the city’s status. That referendum has never been held, and Kurds argue that successive governments in Baghdad have deliberately stalled it to keep Kirkuk and its oil under central control. Arab and Turkmen parties contest the Kurdish claim and oppose the city joining the Kurdistan Region, and Turkey has long taken an interest in the Turkmen population. The result is a fragile city where rival security forces, oil politics and unresolved history all collide. This profile is written from a Kurdish perspective, while recognising that Kirkuk’s other communities are part of its life and its future.
Significance for the Kurds
For Kurds, Kirkuk is far more than an oil city — it is a symbol of both injustice and hope, a Kurdish city wrongfully taken and not yet restored. The campaigns of Arabization and the atrocities of the Anfal era are remembered as part of the same effort to erase the Kurdish presence from this land. Reclaiming Kirkuk — peacefully, lawfully and through the return of its displaced people — remains one of the defining goals of the Kurdish national movement, and the city stands at the very heart of the question of Kurdistan’s future.
Related Places and Topics
Chamchamal, the Kurdish town on the road from Kirkuk toward Sulaymaniyah.
Halabja, and the wider Anfal campaign and Arabization of the disputed territories. Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Kirkuk?
Kirkuk is in north-eastern Iraq, about 250 km north of Baghdad, where the Zagros foothills meet the plains. It is the capital of Kirkuk Governorate and a disputed territory claimed by the Kurdistan Region.
Is Kirkuk a Kurdish city?
Kurds regard Kirkuk as a historically Kurdish city. Its mixed population of Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs is in large part the result of decades of Ba’athist Arabization that expelled Kurds and settled Arabs in their place.
Why is Kirkuk disputed?
Kirkuk sits on huge oil reserves and is claimed by both the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad. Article 140 of the constitution promised a referendum to settle its status, but it has never been held.
Who controls Kirkuk now?
Since October 2017, after the Kurdish independence referendum, Kirkuk has been under the control of the Iraqi federal government, though Kurds continue to assert their claim to the city.
References and Further Reading
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