Kirkuk (also spelled Karkuk or Kerkuk, Arabic: كركوك karkūk, Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ karḵ sluḵ, Turkish: Kerkük) is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.
It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, 236 kilometres (147 mi) north of the capital, Baghdad. Kirkuk city lies 83 km south of Arbil, 149 km southeast of Mosul, 97 km west of Sulaymaniyah, and 116 km northeast Tikrit
It stands on the site of the ancient Assyrian capital of Arrapha, which sits near the Khasa River on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement (Kirkuk Citadel). Arrapha reached great importance under the Assyrians in the 10th and 11th centuries BC. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires—the Neo Assyrian Empire, Babylonia, and Media—which controlled the city at various times.
Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an ethnically mixed population, which has moreover experienced dramatic demographic changes in the course of the twentieth century. Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs lay conflicting claims to this zone, and all have their historical accounts and memories to buttress their claims.
Kirkuk Province (Arabic: كركوك Karkūk, Kurdish: Kerkûk, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ Karḵ Sloḵ, Turkish: Kerkük) (or Kirkuk Governorate) is a province in northern Iraq. The province has an area of 9,679 square kilometres (3,737 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population was 848,000 people. The provincial capital is the city of Kirkuk. It is divided into four districts.
From 1976 to 2006, it was named At-Ta'mim Province which means "Nationalisation Province" and refers to the national ownership of the regional oil and natural gas reserves. Prior to 1976 it had been named Kirkuk Province.