Sulaimani, May 22—The Kurdish daily Kuristani Nwe published, on May 21 issue, extracts from the official historical reference for the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Encyclopedia of Information, in Turkish. The entry proves beyond a shadow of doubt the Kurdistani nature of the city of Kirkuk and that the overwhelming majority of its citizens are Kurdish. The Encyclopedia reads: 

“ The population of the city of Kirkuk is thirty thousand: three-quarters are Kurdish; the remaining one-quarter are Turks and Arabs, with 760 Jews and 460 Caldeans…

Kirkuk is located inside the Willayet (province) of Mosul , and is 160 kilometers northeast of the city of Mosul. It is considered the center of the Sharazoor Region, bordered in the east by the city of Sulaimaniya, in the north by the cities of Koysinjak and Arbil and in the west by the city of Mosul, and from the northwest, the Willayet of Baghdad and the district of Salihiya.

 Kirkuk has five sub-districts which are: Malaha , Toz-Khormatu, Altun-Kopri, Keel and Shwan, which encompasses 352 villages.”

The entry also traces the ancient name for Kirkuk as “ Karkoora.”

 The editorial in Kurdistani Nwe demolishes the claim of Arab chauvinists that Kirkuk is not part of Kurdistan. It goes on to state Kurdistan’s progressive forces, especially Patriotic Union of Kurdistan consider the Turkomans as the second nationality in Kurdistan, recognizing its full political, cultural, educational and administrative rights in the region.