See Also: Karkuk(encyclopedia)

Karkuk (sh)




City (pop., latest est.: 419,000), northeastern Iraq.

Located north of Baghdad in the Kurdistan region, it is situated in one of the first areas in the Middle East where oil was discovered. Karkuk is a trade and export centre as well as a centre of Iraq's petroleum industry, with oil pipeline connections to Tripoli and to Yumurtal?k on the Turkish coast. The city has traditionally had a Kurdish and Turkmen majority, but in the late 20th century the Iraqi government adopted a policy of expelling Kurds and Turkmen and resettling the area with Arabs.