102 years later: The Kirkuk governorate returns to Turkmen

A short while ago, in a Kirkuk Provincial Council session, Governor Rebwar Taha, who is close to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), resigned. The council accepted Taha’s resignation and elected Mohammed Samaan Agha, leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), as the new governor. Thus, the governorship of Kirkuk returned to the Turkmen after nearly a century. This development, met with great enthusiasm among the Turkmen, significantly affects not only Iraq but all actors in the region. Kirkuk is one of the most sensitive geopolitical fault lines not only in Iraq but in the entire Middle East. Decades of disputes over oil, identity and land ownership have condemned the city to a state of endless “transience.” From a historical demographic perspective, the 1957 census remains the most critical reference point for Kirkuk, as it is the last reliable source indicating that Turkmen constituted a slight majority in the city center. In this context, the election of Mohammed Samaan Agha, leader of the ITF, as governor on April 16, 2026, is viewed by Turkmen circles as “the end of a century-long hiatus.”