Kirkuk Governorate

Kirkuk Governorate (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx) or Kirkuk Province is a governorate in northern Iraq. The governorate has an area of Template:Convert. In 2017, the estimated population was 1,259,561 people. The provincial capital is the city of Kirkuk. It is divided into four districts.

The province was named Kirkuk Governorate until 1976, when it was named At-Ta'mim Governorate, meaning "nationalization", referring to the national ownership of the regional oil and natural gas reserves. In 2006, the name "Kirkuk Governorate" was restored.Template:Fact

Governorate government

File:Kirkuk-Gov.jpg

Districts of Kirkuk Governorate

• Governor: Rakkan Saeed al-Jabbouri

Districts

District	Total population, 2018
Kirkuk	974,824
Dibis	50,241
Daquq	66,433
Hawija	120,679

Demographics

Kirkuk Governorate borders were altered in 1976; when 4 districts were added to the Sulaymaniya, Diyala and Saladin Governorates. The Kirkuk Governorate received the Arab populated Zab District from the Mosul Governorate.

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. The number of Kurds remained relatively constant from 1957 until 1977, decrease in their numbers coincides with the Arabization process in the 1990s. 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. Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, 100,000 Kurds have returned to the city of Kirkuk.

Statistics

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):

Ethnic data for Kirkuk Governorate (liwa)
Ethnicity	1924	%	1925	%	1930	%	1931	%
Kurdish	79,646		47,500		67,703		77,608
Turkmen/Turk	28,395		26,100		28,741		28,741
Arab	35,649		35,650		26,561		26,561
Jewish	1,703		-		6,742		2,472
Christian	1,000		2,400		1,228		1,228
Other			-		-		192
Total	146,393		111,650		136,705		136,802

Census results for Kirkuk Governorate
Mother tongue	1947 (Ethnicity)	Percentage	1957	Percentage	1977	Percentage	1997	Percentage
Arabic			109,620	28%	218,755	45%	544,596	72%
Kurdish	151,575	53%	187,593	48%	184,875	38%	155,861	21%
Turkish			83,371	21%	80,347	17%	50,099	7%
Syriac			1,605	0.4%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hebrew	4,042	Template:Pct	123	0.003%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Other			6,545	1.77%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total	285,900		388,829		483,977		752,745

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; consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmen.

2018 election results

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.

Party		Total vote	Percentage	Seats
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	183,283	Template:Pct	6
	Arab Alliance of Kirkuk	84,102	Template:Pct	3
	Turkman Front of Kirkuk	79,694	Template:Pct	3
	Victory Coalition	24,328	Template:Pct	0
	Conquest Alliance	18,427	Template:Pct	0
	National Coalition	14,979	Template:Pct	0
	Nishtiman coalition Movement for Change Coalition for Democracy and Justice Kurdistan Islamic Group	14,118	Template:Pct	0
	New Generation Movement	13,096	Template:Pct	0
	Chaldean Coalition Reserved Christian Seat	4,864	Template:Pct	1
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	4,631	Template:Pct	0
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council	3,810	Template:Pct	0
	Others	39,286	Template:Pct	0
Total		484,618	100%	12(+1)

Archeological sites

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.

See also

• 2009 Kirkuk governorate election
• Arabization
• Kurdification
• Turkification

External links

• Iraq Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit Reports, Maps and Assessments of Iraq's Governorates from the UN Inter-Agency Information & Analysis Unit