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Controversy continues over how to cut up Kirkuk

The Turkmen, the third national component of Iraq, are demanding arms to fight against the Islamic State, just like the Arabs and Kurds, but territorial squabbles are keeping the various groups at arm's length.
Smoke rises from the Khabbaz oilfield, behind Kurdish peshmerga forces, on the outskirts of Kirkuk, February 2, 2015. Production at the oilfield near the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk remained suspended on Monday after incurring severe damage during a weekend attack by Islamic State insurgents, Iraq's oil minister said.  REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW POLITICS ENERGY) - RTR4NWQ7

BAGHDAD — While the Kurds think of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk as the “Jerusalem of Kurdistan,” since the adoption of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution, the Turkmens have been calling for a special status that preserves the city’s ethnic pluralism.

However, the demands of the Turkmens — the third biggest group in Iraq after the Arabs and Kurds — are weakened by divisions within the group. Turkmens include Sunnis, Shiites and a minority of Catholics. This ideological division is crippling their performance as a distinct national group, and it was the main reason that led to the Islamic State (IS) controlling Turkmen-majority areas such as Tal Afar.

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