Kifri is a town in Iraq and a seat of Kifri District. The district population was estimated at 42,010 in 2003 (source: 2003 - NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq). Kurds form the majority of the population both in this town and in the District, which is currently part of Diyala Governorate. A referendum on whether the district should be restored to Kirkuk Governorate (of which it was formerly part) was scheduled to be held in November 2007, but was initially postponed for up to six months and is still awaited.
Until the 1970s, many inhabitants of the town of Kifri and the villages west to the city was Turkmens. The population in the eastern villages were almost completely Kurdish. However, after 1980 enforced Arabisation changed this situation, and after 2003 a Kurdisation policy - accompanied by large-scale emigration of the Turkmen (mainly to Baghdad and Kirkuk) - changed the demography of the city. The oldest districts - namely Ismaik Beg, Dedeler and Sade - are the original districts mainly inhabited by Turkmen, whereas the newer ones such as Imam Muhammed and Awberi are Kurdish. The arched old bazar with its hans are typical of Ottoman architecture. Unfortunately due to neglect this interesting heritage is being nullified.