A few days before October 16, 2017 the people of Kirkuk took up arms and gathered on the streets against the threats of the Iraqi army and the Hashd al-Shaabi.


“All you political parties, we beg you please to be united and have one voice now that these people here are,” one Kirkuk resident addressed Kurdish leaders via Rudaw TV.

“Kurds, we should all stand firm in the face of our bloodthirsty enemies,” he continued. “They do this to us over and over again and this time we must go before they do.”

The people of Kirkuk—men and women—vowed to defend their city.

“Kirkuk is the heart of Kurdistan, Kirkuk is the Quds of Kurdistan,” said a woman brandishing an AK-47 Kalashnikov. “And for it we’ll spill our own blood.”

Feeling the threat building up Kurdish Peshmerga units reinforced their positions on many fronts south and west of Kirkuk.

However, in an unexpected turn of events which some political leaders label as treason many Peshmerga units were told to abandon their posts and allow the Iraqi army and Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi to enter Kirkuk.

This short film by Rudaw’s Hunar Ahmed recounts that fateful day in Kirkuk and how the contested city switched from Kurdish control to the Iraqis within hours.

Rudaw