Kurdish language removed form street signs in Iraq's disputed Kirkuk

Kurdish officials in Kirkuk told Kurdistan 24 that they were “unaware” of the change.

Halgurd Sherwani 2022/01/02 19:21

The newly installed street signs excluding Kurdish language in Kirkuk, Jan. 2, 2022. (Photo: Screengrab/Kurdistan 24)

Iraq Kirkuk Iraq Kurdish langauge Street signs

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Street signs in the disputed Kirkuk province no longer have Kurdish language writings on them, as local authorities recently removed Kurdish as an official language in the province.

Kirkuk city’s traffic engineering department completed installing the new signs that do not offer Kurdish, informed sources told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday.

Officials from the city told Kurdistan 24 that they were “unaware” of the change.

The signs used to be in the three languages of Kurdish, Arabic, and English. Per Article 4 Clause 1 of Iraq’s Constitution, the country’s official languages are Kurdish and Arabic.

For decades, the oil-rich Kirkuk province has been at the center of the territorial disputes between Erbil and Baghdad.

The province was part of the Arabization program launched by the former Baathist regime to change the demography of the Kurdish-majority area.

Kurdish villagers in the province are routinely harassed by Arabs resettled into the area during the former regime.