Tuz Khurmatu

Not to be confused with Taza Khurmatu.

Tuz Khurmatu (Arabic: طوزخورماتو, Turkish: Tuzhurmatu,^[1][2] Kurdish: دووز خورماتوو, romanized: Dûz Xurmatû,^[3][4] also spelled as Tuz Khurma and Tuz Khormato) is the central city of Tooz District in Saladin Governorate, Iraq, located 55 miles (89 km) south of Kirkuk. Its inhabitants are predominantly Shia Turkmen, with a minority of Arabs and Kurds.^[5][6][7]

Tuz Khurmatu
City
Tuz Khurmatu Tuz Khormato's location in Iraq
Coordinates: 34°53′N 44°38′E / 34.883°N 44.633°E / 34.883; 44.633
Country	Iraq
Province	Saladin
District	Tooz
Elevation	715 ft (218 m)
Population  (2012)
• Total	119,000
Time zone	UTC+3

Etymology

The name of the city is in the local Iraqi Turkmen dialect, meaning salt and dates.^[8]

History

 

A U.S. Army Soldier and a Turkish Air Force member transport an Iraqi child to safety during a multinational humanitarian airlift effort on Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, July 8, 2007. The victim was hurt in an attack in Tuz Khurmatu.

Naphtha, oil and asphalt was found in the town in the 18th century.^[9]

The city was populated by both Kurds and Turkmens in the 19th century. Claudius Rich visited the town in 1820 and stated that the town had a population of 50,000. In 1882 Major General Gerard visited the town and stated that the town had a bazaar, 300 houses, 100 regulars and 30 zaptiyehs.^[10] The town was captured by United Kingdom in May 1918 and were met with joy from the locals. The local Hamawand tribe would offer their assistance to secure the area.^[11]

In 1925, Tuz Khurmatu’s population was entirely Turkmen, except for some Jewish families (35 out of 405 families).^[12]

40% of the population was Kurdish in the 1947 census.^[13]

In 1976, Tooz District was separated from Kirkuk Governorate and attached to Saladin Governorate for Arabization purposes. The population of the town was 75,737 the subsequent year, and decreased to 51,998 in 1987.^[14] The town participated in the 1991 Iraqi uprising before being suppressed by the Ba'athist Iraqi army.^[15]

Operation Iraqi Freedom

• On June 2, 2005, at least 12 people were killed and at least 40 wounded in an explosion targeting a restaurant.^[16]
• On June 23, 2005, a car bomb detonated by remote control hit an Iraqi police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding 7 civilians.^[17]
• On September 20, 2005, insurgents detonated a car bomb targeting Shiite worshippers as they were exiting the Hussainiyat al-Rasoul al-Azam mosque, killing at least 10 and wounding 21 others.^[18]
• On March 14, 2007, a suicide bomber struck a market and killing 8 and wounding 25.^[19]

Operation New Dawn

• On September 7, 2010, the first US casualties after President Barack Obama declared an end to US combat operations took place near the city when Iraqi insurgents killed 2 US military personnel.^[20]

Post-U.S. withdrawal and Iraqi Civil War

• On October 27, 2012, a car bombing next to a building owned by a Shi'ite endowment killed two civilians and injured ten others.^[21]
• On December 17, 2012, two consecutive car bombings hit a residential area near the city's General Hospital, killing 11 civilians and injuring 45 others. The attacks were part of a country-wide wave of violence that killed almost 100 people in a single day.^[22]
• On January 16, 2013, a suicide car bombing at the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party killed 5 and injured 40 others.^[23][24]
• On January 23, 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral for a politician's relative in the city, killing 42 and leaving 75 others wounded.^[25][26]
• In November 2015, the town experienced clashes between the Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia Popular Mobilization Forces that claimed 11 lives, wounded over 20 people, and damaged over 200 houses through arson committed by both sides.^[27] A truce was reached soon after.^[28][29]
• On November 28, 2015, an ISIL suicide bomber bombed a town checkpoint, killing 6.^[30]

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tuz Khurmatu.

• Tuz Khurmatu Air Base
• White Flags

References

1. "Tuzhurmatu'da Türkmen - Kürt dayanışması nasıl bozuldu?". BBC News. from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
2. "Tuzhurmatu'ya 15 yıl aradan sonra Türkmen kaymakam atandı". www.aa.com.tr (in Turkish). from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
3. "Gelê Duz Xurmatû: Em ê destûrê nedin dagirkeriyê". ANF News (in Kurdish). from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
4. "لیژنەی ناوچە كوردستانییه‌کانی دەرەوەی ئیدارەی ھەرێم له‌گه‌ڵ نوێنەرانی خه‌ڵكی زیانلێکەتووی دووزخورماتوو كۆبووه‌وه‌". Parliament of Kurdistan (in Kurdish). from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
5. [1] 2017-02-18 at the Wayback Machine Arab-Kurd conflict heats up after Tuz Khormato incidents
6. [2] 2017-09-17 at the Wayback Machine Tuz Khurmatu: Atrocities against Iraqi Turkmen on the Rise
7. "Iraqi Turkmen". Minority Rights Group International. 19 June 2015. from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
8. "Iraq's Tuz Khurmatu: A town rich in history and conflict | Nermeen Mufti". AW. from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
9. Rasoul, Rasoul Muhammed (2017). "History of Kirkuk from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century until Becoming Part of the Iraqi Monarchy in 1925" (PDF). University of Erfurt: 188. (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-11-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
10. Rasoul, Rasoul Muhammed (2017). "History of Kirkuk from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century until Becoming Part of the Iraqi Monarchy in 1925" (PDF). University of Erfurt: 8. (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-11-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
11. Rasoul, Rasoul Muhammed (2017). "History of Kirkuk from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century until Becoming Part of the Iraqi Monarchy in 1925" (PDF). University of Erfurt: 137. (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-11-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
12. "Question of the Frontier between Turkey and Iraq - League of Nations" (PDF). 20 August 1925. (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
13. C. J. Edmonds (1957). Kurds, Turks and Arabs, Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925. Oxford University Press. p. 438. from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
14. Ihsan, Mohammad, Administrative Changes in Kirkuk and Disputed Areas in Iraq 1968-2003, pp. 26–27
15. Goldstein, Eric (June 1992). Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and Its Aftermath. U.S.: Human Rights Watch. p. 58. ISBN 1-56432-069-3. from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
16. "20 dead in Iraq bombings". The Guardian. 2 June 2005. from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
17. "Car bombs kill nearly 40 people in Baghdad – International Herald Tribune". from the original on 2007-05-21. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
18. "Microsoft PowerPoint – Eye on Iraq Sep 20, 2005 – English" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
19. "Iraqi president returns after treatment - Yahoo! News". from the original on 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
20. "Iraqi soldier fires on US troops, kills 2". from the original on 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
21. "Killing and wounding 12 civilians east of Tikrit (NINA News Agency)". from the original on 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
22. . Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
23. . Trust.org. Reuters. 2013-01-15. Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
24. Margaret Griffis (2013-01-16). "Iraq Slaughter: 55 Killed, 288 Wounded". Antiwar.com. from the original on 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
25. Marwan Ibrahim (2013-01-23). "Iraq suicide bomb at Shiite mosque kills 42". Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
26. Margaret Griffis (2013-01-23). "At least 51 Killed, 98 Wounded in Iraq Attacks". Antiwar.com. from the original on 2020-05-04. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
27. "Eleven dead as tensions flare in Tuz Khurmatu". Kurdistan24. 2015-11-15. from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
28. "Absent government, fragile truce holds in Tuz Khurmatu". Iraq Oil Report. 18 November 2015. from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
29. Joel Wing (20 January 2016). "MUSINGS ON IRAQ". from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
30. "Suicide bomber kills 6 in flashpoint town". Yahoo! News. 2015-11-28. from the original on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2016-01-11.

34°52′38″N 44°38′18″E / 34.87722°N 44.63833°E / 34.87722; 44.63833