Why does Kirkuk belong to Kurdistan?

The book 'WHY DOES KIRKUK BELONG TO KURDISTAN?' has been recently published by the Kirkuk Intellectual Association.

It is originally written in Kurdish by the Kurdish writer and journalist Arif Qurbani. It was translated to English by the Kurdish writer and academic Abdulkarim Uzeri.

The book talks about Kirkuk and its importance to the Kurds and how the region is a Kurdistani region that has been a battleground between different armies due to its oil-rich land.

What makes the Kirkuk question so complicated, is that it has so many different ethnicities and sectarian communities who live together in peace.

However, according to the book, the complexities do not arise from the multiethnic and sectarian communities that have been living together in harmony for centuries. This peaceful coexistence was never disturbed by the locals of the city. Rather, it has been planned by outsiders. History tells us that Kirkuk was the city of brotherhood between Kurds, Turkoman, Chaldeans, Armenians, Assyrians, and Jews. Apart from the expulsion of Jews to Israel, no sectarian troubles had ever been reported until the military coup lead by General Kasim in 1958.

However, these troubles in Kirkuk didn't arise out of the blue. Although it happened under Kasim‟s rule, the roots were planted by British colonialism when following the Allied victory in the First World War, Britain and France occupied the region and started dividing the inheritance of the Ottoman Empire.

The book explains the history of this oil-rich city with every detail beginning from the ottoman empire to the modern era with census and documents. It also has a section in which it talks about documents that prove that even Nineveh is also a Kurdistani region.

Click here to read the book...



PUKmedia