Kirkuk Governorate in the context of "Suret"

Suret (Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܬ, pronounced [ˈsuːrɪtʰ], [ˈsuːrɪθ]), also known as Assyrian, is any of several varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrians. The various NENA dialects descend from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the Assyrian Empire, which slowly displaced the East Semitic Akkadian language beginning around the 10th century BC. They have been further heavily influenced by Classical Syriac, the Middle Aramaic dialect of Edessa, after its adoption as an official liturgical language of the Syriac churches, but Suret is not a direct descendant of Classical Syriac.

Suret speakers are indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia, northwestern Iran, southeastern Anatolia and the northeastern Levant, which is a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia in northwestern Iran through to the Nineveh Plains, Erbil, Kirkuk and Duhok regions in northern Iraq, together with the northeastern regions of Syria and to south-central and southeastern Turkey. Instability throughout the Middle East over the past century has led to a worldwide diaspora of Suret speakers, with most speakers now living abroad in such places as North and South America, Australia, Europe and Russia. Speakers of Suret and Turoyo (Surayt) are ethnic Assyrians and are the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia.

The Hamrin Mountains (Arabic: جبل حمرين, romanized: Jabāl Hamrīn, Kurdish: چیای حەمرین, romanized: Çiyayê Hemrîn or Çiyayên Hemrîn) are a small mountain ridge in northeast Iraq. The westernmost ripple of the Zagros Mountains, the Hamrin mountains extend from the Diyala Governorate bordering Iran, northwest to the Tigris river, crossing northern Saladin Governorate and southern Kirkuk Governorate.

Historically the Hamrin mountains were called Barima, Bārimā and Birimma (Arabic: جبل بارِمّا, romanized: Jabāl Bārimā). Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century historian called the Hamrin mountains range, the "Kurdish mountains". That is because these mountains are situated in the south of Kirkuk and Kurds live there, so, Ibn Khaldun said, "the range Hamrin mountains is a place whose people are Kurdish."

Kirkuk (Arabic: كركوك; Kurdish: کەرکووک, romanized: Kerkûk; Syriac: ܟܪܟܘܟ, romanized: Kerkouk; Turkish: Kerkük) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Citadel which sits near the Khasa River.

It is described by the Kurdish leader and former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani as “the Jerusalem of Kurdistan” even though it is not part of Iraqi Kurdistan region, while it is seen by the Turkmen activist Fatih Salah as the cultural and historical capital of Iraqi Turkmens. The government of Iraq states that Kirkuk represents a small version of Iraq due to its diverse population, and that the city is a model for coexistence in the country.

Al Zab, Al-Zab, or Az-Zab is a town in Iraq administered as part of the Kirkuk Governorate's Hawija District. Between 2014-2017, it was under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and was recaptured by Iraqi government forces during the Hawija offensive in September, 2017.