Kirkuk: The Iraqi City of Black Gold
By: Lindsey Penn/Arab America Contributing Writer
The Middle Eastern countries are very well-known for their oil deposits. In particular, the Gulf is known around the world for its oil production, which the countries built their wealth upon. However, Kirkuk, Iraq has a different experience with oil production. Kirkuk is unique, as its history has led to a diverse population of Arabs, Kurds, Turks, and Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans). Each group has its own claim to Kirkuk, creating a conflict over territory where there is also oil.
The Demographics of Kirkuk
Located 145 miles north of Baghdad, Kirkuk is the capital of the Kirkuk governorate in Iraq. The city is close to the Zagros Mountains, a part of the Kurdistan area in Iraq. Assyrians controlled the land in the 5th millennium BC, and Kirkuk specifically rose to power in the 10th and 11th centuries when it was under Assyrian rule. Starting in 1535, the Ottomans began migrating to Iraq because the Ottoman Empire had started invading Iraq. This included Kirkuk, where many Ottoman Turks moved while they were fighting the Safavids. For that reason, the majority of Kirkuk’s population was Iraqi Turk.
However, that started to change in the 1930s, when Iraq found oil in Kirkuk and began to drill to find more oil. The presence of the Iraq Petroleum Company (owned by the British) created more jobs and boosted the economy. At that time, Arabs and Kurds began to settle in the city to look for employment. Many Arabs and Kurds flocked to Kirkuk, with Arabs settling within the city and Kurds were coming from the mountains to settle in more rural (but still cultivatable) land on the outskirts of Kirkuk. Kurds continued to move to Kirkuk into the 60s.
In 1957, the Iraqi government ran a census that showed Kirkuk’s population. The census showed that about 36% of Kirkuk’s population was Iraqi Turk, 33% Kurdish, and Arabs and Assyrians were less than 23% of the population combined. That trend continues until today, where the Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians or Chaldeans are each big groups in Kirkuk.
Kirkuk’s “Black Gold”
In 1927, the Turkish Petroleum Company discovered oil in Kirkuk. By 1934, the Iraqi government finished constructing two major pipelines, one to Haifa and one to Tripoli, Lebanon. Once those projects were completed, the Iraq Petroleum Company began the production of the oilfield, called Kirkuk field. Since then, Kirkuk is a major city for oil production in Iraq, producing up to 1 million barrels a day even decades later after the discovery. They even did an investigation to find out how much oil was still available in the reserves in 1998, and found that they had over 10 billion barrels’ worth of oil left in the reserves.
Kirkuk’s massive oil production and oil companies have helped the city thrive economically. The city has been able to make several oil deals with multiple companies, including companies in the US. Also, as a historical city, Kirkuk’s economy has a fairly large tourism sector, even though the oil production is still the biggest sector for the economy. As a result of the oil production and tourism, Kirkuk’s economy had been one of the biggest in Iraq.
Conflict in Iraq
The different ethnic groups in Kirkuk all believe that they have a claim to Kirkuk, and therefore, Kirkuk’s resources and wealth. There was especially conflict between the Iraqi government, which controlled Kirkuk, and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which had been trying to form Kurdistan. This came to a head in 2014, when Kurdistan Regional Government gained control over Kirkuk. At the time, the Islamic State (IS) was invading Iraq, to the point where the government became weak. That gave the Kurdistan Regional Government the opportunity to take over Kirkuk and control its resources, including oil.
In 2017, the Kurds held a referendum for independence to create Kurdistan, which included Kirkuk. The referendum was non-binding, but it passed with more than 90% of people voting in favor of independence. Iraqi government officials believed the referendum to be unconstitutional, continuing to claim Kirkuk and its oilfields for Iraq. The Iraqi federal government moved into Kirkuk, sparking conflict. When they moved back into Kirkuk, the Iraqi government expelled the Kurdish army. Although that reassured the Arabs and Turks in Kirkuk, it isolated all of the Kurds, undermining the effort to stabilize the area.
The Oil Today
Mere days after the Iraqi government regained control over Kirkuk, they began creating more deals with the United States and Britain for the oil. During all of the turmoil, the oilfields had not been exported to foreign countries, or been a part of trade deals. Instead, IS used the oil for themselves; and Kurdistan, a country that is not internationally recognized, was not able to sell the oil. This had led to Kirkuk’s economy declining (especially when coupled with the instability resulting in a lack of tourists.) As soon as the oil trade opened back up, Kirkuk’s economy began to rise again.
However, people are arguing that they aren’t seeing the profit from the oil production and deals. Instead of being re-invested in the city of Kirkuk, the profits are being reinvested elsewhere. Currently, the city’s infrastructure is deteriorating, the agricultural sector of the local economy needs support, as well as schools.
Although Kirkuk’s “black gold” put the city on the map, the conflict between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, (and IS, but with decreasing power in the area,) has created a hard situation for the city’s diverse people. The conflict over the oil has made the city unstable. Despite different backgrounds, the Arabs, Turks, Kurds, and Chaldeans want to see the city thrive with the revenue from the oil and see real improvements in their lives.
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