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. [8] .

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.

Aug 30, 2024 · In October 2017, the KRG held an independence referendum throughout the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and included Kirkuk despite Baghdad’s opposition. This bold move was a miscalculation, with then-Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordering Iraqi troops to seize Kirkuk from KRG control in retaliation.

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 ...

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...

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...

6 days ago · The oil major and the Iraqi oil ministry signed in 2013 a letter of intent to study developing Kirkuk but that deal was put on hold in 2014 when the Iraqi military collapsed in the face of Islamic ...

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.

6 days ago · BAGHDAD, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Oil major BP , opens new tab is expected to spend up to $25 billion over the lifetime of a project to redevelop four Kirkuk oil and gas fields, a senior Iraqi oil ...

The Battle of Kirkuk, part of the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, was a military deployment by the Iraqi Security Forces to retake Kirkuk Governorate from the Peshmerga after the latter ignored repeated warnings to withdraw, [20] sparking clashes between the two forces. [21]