The historians  said about Kirkuk area the following :"The Kirkuk region includes places between the Zagros Mountain and Little Zab and the Tigris rivers, and the Hamrin mountain range and river Sirwan - Diayala." The same area, was known in the Sassanid era  as Garmakan which means any hot areas. The Islamic encyclopedia  has pointed to the geographical boundaries as follows: "Zab River to the north-west, Mount  Hamrin from the south-west, Diayala River from the south-east, and Mount Zagros from the north-east. Muslim encyclopedia  also wrote about  the area of ​​Kirkuk, saying that the real rulers of this region were Kurds heads living in Ardalan area, and the Ottoman authorities after that and depending on the activities of the princes of Shahrazour  could impose its authority on the city of Kirkuk.
Shams al-Din Sami the scientist and Ottoman traveler and the author of "Dictionary of the Turkish great figures mentioned   " on page 3846, the fifth volume, that  the city of Kirkuk says that: Kirkuk is a city in Kurdistan belonging to the State of Mosul and more than three-quarters of the population are Kurds and the rest are Turks ,Arabs , Jews and Chaldeans "(1). In the same folder, Page 3840, when talking about the Kurds and their homeland, Kurdistan and towns, and when he comes to the name of Kirkuk, he  described it as the most important city of Kurdistan (2).

It seems clear from historical sources which pointed to Kirkuk that Kurds are the main indigenous population with a small group of Christian families. Russian Girenak Joseph, who visited Kirkuk in Kurdistan as a part of his tour through the 187 - 1873 AD, who published the results of his trip and his studies later in 1879, in the fourth volume in the Bulletin of the Caucasus department of the Royal Geographical Russian Society estimated  Kirkuk's population as many as 12-5 thousand people, and he emphasized that except 40 Christian families, the rest of the population were Kurds.  As for The Turkmen and Arabs, they have not been already  existed at the time (3).
We resort to foreign sources in order not to be accused that our sources are biased to the Kurdish compatriots. Take , for example a Georgian Orientalist (Albert Minattichahvili) ,this person is not Kurdish and does not have any connection with Kurds  . He is only an academic and researcher, looking and writing studies, and in his book " Profiles about Kurds in the social ,economic and  cultural relations " he mentioned specifically in Page 193 that the majority of known Turkmen families in Kirkuk, such as family (Ouchi, Qirdar, Naftachi Zadah, Jacob Zadah, and others) originally descended from Kurdish families migrated from the rural Kurdish suburb of Kirkuk to live in the city and because of the political economic process they became Turkish with time (4), and confirms that the important part of Kirkuk aristocracy was Kurdish . His opinion was based on Ottoman sources (5).

Kurdish tribes form the majority of the tribes of the of Kirkuk Liwa'a and annual guide  of the Iraqi state issued in1936, during its review of the population and the families of Kirkuk, said that from the total of 13 clan names were (9) Kurdish families and (3) Arab tribes and and one Turkmen tribe  (6). Mr. Fahmy has proved in the magazine - The Magazine - Issue of 19,990,523 m 1005, that Kirkuk is a  Kurdish city, despite the policy of Arabization and forced displacement against its Kurdish population.  Dr. Abdul Aziz al-Douri, in his book " The economic History of Iraq, in the fourth century AH" Beirut, Lebanon, Pages (97), and Dr. Nawar Solomon "Modern History of Iraq" Cairo 1968, Pages (356-357), and the late Mahmoud Durra in " Kurdish issue in Iraq, "Beirut, Lebanon, Dar Altalie'a1963, Page (225) and Durra gave statistics in the page (225), and Mr. Edmond Gharib" Kurdish issue "Beirut, p. 10, Dr. Shaker _Khasbak in" the Kurds and the Kurdish issue " Beirut, m 1.1959 m and m 2.1989 m, all these studies confirmed the value of Kurdish Kirkuk, (7). Amir Taheri said in an article (Turkey and Iran), which was published in the newspaper "Middle East" The number is 8907 page 24, that "It is known that the Turkmen who represent only one per cent in Iraq." According to statistics, the Kurds represent about 53% of the population of Kirkuk and 91% of the district of Erbil and 100% of the population of Sulaymaniyah Liwa'a and 35% of the population of Mosul Liwa'a (geography of the Islamic world .. the problem of the Kurds from Page 419 to 431, Dr. Salah Al-Din Ali Shami / Riyadh, Dr. Zainuddin Abdul intended / Kuwait, as well as Shakir _Khasbak in "the Kurds and the Responsible Kurdish", p. 51 Beirut, m 2.1959 m, and i 1.1989 m. Iraqi document, "government" old confirms Kurdish Kirkuk, reported in Book – Geography of modern Iraq - the first edition, Press Dar ALalaam, Baghdad, year 1304 / 1924 m of the author Hashim Sa'adi, Page 213 on Kirkuk, wrote  the following: of the selves of Kirkuk 19,000 (nineteen thousand) people, most of their inhabitants are Kurds, and there are quite a few of the Arabs and a bit of the Persians (meaning the Faily Kurds, Lures) and Turkmen. that most people, but all of them were good at speaking Turkish and the reason for this is the effect of the Turks, who were soldiers stationed there since five ages ..
Note the Iraqi Ministry of Education decided the teaching of this book in high schools in Iraq (8).
Sources:
1 - Nuri al-Talabani, Kirkuk, and attempts to change their reality, p. 7, London 1997.
2 - the same source.
3 - Dr. Jabbar Qadir, a century and a half-century of Turkification and Arabization.
4 - Awni Daoudi, Kirkuk, Sweden.
5 - Dr. Jabbar Qadir, a century and a half-century of Turkification and Arabization.
6 - Dr. Shaker _Kasbah, northern Iraq, a study of the facets of natural and human, Baghdad University, 1973 Table 12, p. 135.
7 - Dr. Ali Bapakhan, views and ideas of chauvinism, anti-Faili Kurds, Iraq, free newspaper, No. 263, Wednesday, August 25, 1999, London.
8 - from the archives of the breeder, Mr. Sabri Thomas, on Wednesday, 08/16/2006.


Mudhaffar Ismail

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