Kirkuk (Arabic: كركوك‎ Karkūk; Kurdish: که‌رکووک‎ Kirkûk, Turkish: Kerkük), Azerbaijani: Kərkük) is a city in the north of Iraq, 236 kilometres (147 mi) north of, Baghdad, and 83 kilometres (52 miles) south of Erbil. It is the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an enormously diverse population, which has moreover experienced dramatic demographic changes in the course of the twentieth century.