Kirkuk Province

 province, draw only border, governorate (administrative division)

Kirkuk Governorate (Arabic: محافظة كركوك‎‎ Muḥāfaẓat Karkūk, Kurdish: پارێزگای کەرکووک‎ Parêzgay Kerkûk, Syriac: ܟܪܟ ܣܠܘܟ‎ Karḵ Sloḵ, Turkish: Kerkük ili) or Kirkuk Province is a governorate in northern Iraq. The governorate has an area of 9,679 square kilometres (3,737 sq mi). In 2017 the estimated population was 1,259,561 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 Governorate.

History:

From 1976 to 2006, it was named At-Ta'mim Governorate which means "socialism" and refers to the national ownership of the regional oil and natural gas reserves. Prior to 1976 it had been named Kirkuk Governorate. In 2006,[citation needed] the name "Kirkuk Governorate" was restored.

Kirkuk Governorate borders were altered, the Kurdish dominated districts were added to Erbil and Sulaymaniya provinces. the Arab districts were added to Kirkuk province. Turkmen villages were added to Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.
Due to the Arabization policies of the Ba'ath party the number of Arabs in official censuses increased fivefold within 40 years, however the most reliable data indicative of the ethnic breakdown of the governorate are those of the 1957 census. The number of Kurds remained relatively constant from 1957 until 1977, decrease in their numbers coincides with the Arabization process in the 1990s.
The Turkmens were seriously affected by the Ba'ath changing Kirkuk borders their percentage fell from 21% to 7%.Starting from 1977, 2000 Christians (Assyrians) were registered as Arabs. From the end of the Gulf War to 1999, about 11,000 Kurdish families were deported from Kirkuk.

After the US invasion Iraq, 100.000 Kurds have returned to the city of Kirkuk. and these numbers are steadily increasing. Many immigrant Arab families, particularly those of recent arrival have been "encouraged" by the Kurdish government to leave, including financial incentive to do so. In their place have arrived long-banished Kurds (or other Kurds), from as far away as Egypt, Turkey and the Persian Gulf countries to replace them in Kirkuk. Once again, Kirkuk is fast becoming a Kurdish-majority city if not already.

The North and Northeast of the province (Dibis, Altin Kupru, Shuwan, Qarahanjir, Laylan, Daquq, Multaqa, Yayci, Taza and Kirkuk) is controled both politically and militarily by Kurdistan Regional Government. The South (Hawija, Abbasi, Riyad and Rashad) is controled by ISIS.
Mostly Kurdish districts: Dibis, Altin Kupru, Shuwan, Qarahanjir, Laylan, Daquq and Kirkuk Mostly Turkman districts: Multaqa, Yayci and Taza Mostly Arab distrcits: Hawija, Abbasi, Riyad and Rashad.

Kirkuk governorate has a complex administrative history. In short, the province has lost substantial area in its east and southeast to Suleymaniya, Salah ad-Din, and Diyala and had area added to its west from Salah ad-Din and Erbil. These
changes shrunk the governorate and had the general effect of reducing its Kurdish and Turkoman population while increasing
its Arab population (although the former effect was more significant). The province’s internal boundaries were also repeatedly
scrambled, with districts formed and subsequently downgraded, and several Kurdish and mixed subdistricts were abolished before reemerging with Arabized names. These changes, along with the substantial expropriation of land, expulsion of Kurdish residents, and subsequent settling of Arab wafidoon (see Annex 4) were clustered around key events, such as the 1975 collapse of the Kurdish movement, the 1987–88 Anfal, and after the formation of the Kurdish Autonomy Zone in 1991.

Republican Decree no. 608 of 1975 detached the predominantly Kurdish districts of Chamchamal and Kalar from Kirkuk and added them to Suleymaniya governorate. It also detached the mixed Kurdish and Turkoman district of Kifri and attached it to Diyala governorate. Less than two months later, Republican Decree no. 41 of 1976 renamed Kirkuk governorate as At-Ta’mim (literally, nationalization) and separated the mixed district of Tuz Khurmatu from Kirkuk governorate to help create the new Salah ad-Din governorate, with Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit as its capital.

These changes coincided with the collapse of the Kurdish movement and left Kirkuk governorate substantially smaller and with only two districts, Kirkuk District and Hawija (as compared to six districts a year earlier). This may have been part of the motivation for transferring the area of Sagaran from Erbil to Kirkuk and upgrading Dibis subdistrict to a district later that year (Republican Decree no. 72 of 1976). Republican Decree no. 514 of 1984 later transferred the Arab subdistrict of Zab to Hawija from Ninewa governorate.

As described below, around the Anfal, the Kurdish or mixed subdistricts of Qara Hassan (Laylan), Schwan, Yaychi, and Al-Rabi’ (Qara Hanjir) were abolished. Qara Hassan and Sargaran subdistricts were later reestablished with the Iraqi and Arab nationalist names of Umm al-Ma’arik (“Mother of All Battles”) and al-Quds (“Jerusalem”) respectively. Yaychi was also recreated as Multaqa in 2002.

After 2003 the complexity of Kirkuk’s history has created substantial administrative confusion. In particular, the Kirkuk Provincial Council has restored the subdistricts of Yaychi (despite Multaqa subdistrict already existing in the same place) and the Kurdish subdistricts of Schwan and Qara Hanjir. None of these subdistricts are recognized by the federal government and none has a local office of national bodies, such as the Ministry of Municipalities or the Public Distribution System (food ration system).

Source: www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/PW69.pdf