ABSTRACT
Since the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, the city of Kirkuk's status has emerged as one of the thorniest issues in need of resolution. Iraq's Kurds, Turkmen, and Arab communities have all made claims on Kirkuk and its surrounding oil fields. Kurds and Turkmen even go so far as to portray Kirkuk as their “Jerusalem,” implying a quasi-religious and inalienable attachment to the city. Iraq's Kurdish groups in particular expended a great deal of effort trying to advance their claims on Kirkuk, including demanding provisions in Iraq's constitution regarding the city. Neighboring Turkey, in turn, has periodically demanded that Kirkuk not fall under Kurdish control, and that its Turkmen population and identity be preserved as an integral part of a unified Iraq.
