Kirkuk massacre

The Kirkuk massacre (Arabic: مجزرة كركوك‎) was an anti-Turkmen race riot in Kirkuk, Iraq from 14–17 July 1959.

The Republican government of Abd al-Karim Qasim appointed Maarouf Barzinji, a Kurd, as the mayor of Kirkuk in July. Political activists affiliated with the Iraqi Communist Party, which in Kirkuk was largely Kurdish, held a rally marking the first anniversary of the 14 July Revolution.[1] Tensions rose following the celebrations, with animosity in the city polarizing rapidly between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen. Fights broke out between the Iraqi Turkmen and Kurds, leaving 20 Iraqi Turkmen dead.[2]

On 15 July 1959, Kurdish soldiers of the Army's Fourth Brigade mortared Iraqi Turkmen residential areas, destroying 120 houses.[2][3] Order was restored on 17 July by military units from Baghdad. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre"[4] and stated that between 31 and 79 Iraqi Turkmen were killed and some 130 injured.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Anderson & Stansfield 2009, 64.
  2. 1 2 3 Anderson & Stansfield 2009, 34.
  3. ↑ Ghanim 2011, 38.
  4. ↑ Entessar 2010, 79.

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