In Syriac chronicles it appears under the name of Beth Garma’i shortened to Bagarmi, then Arabized into Bajermi or Jermakan, which also means "warmth" or " the land of warmth". The area has always been of strategic interest to all the powers who have occupied it throughout the ages because of the trade routes which criss-cross its vast plains and their proximity to the many mountain passes such as the Bazyan, the Basrah and the Sagerma.(1) Consequently, these occupying powers established military garrisons in the nearby cities of Kifri, Dooz-Khurmatu, Daqooq, Altoon-Kopri (Perde’) and Kirkuk city itself, both to defend these cities and to protect the trade routes. These strongholds were used not only for military action against enemies, but also as headquarters for the collecting of customs duties from caravans travelling between western Anatolia, Iraq and Syria, and cities in south western Iran such as Senendaj(Sena), Kermanshah and Hamadan. In the famous dictionary "Qamous Al-A`ala’m", published in Istanbul in 1896 [1315 Hijri], the city of Kirkuk is described as follows: : "It is located within the Wilayet of Mosul which belongs to Kurdistan; it is at a distance of 160 km south-east of the city of Mosul. It is situated amidst a range of parallel hills next to an extended valley called "Adham valley". It is the administrative centre for the Sharazour Sanjak and has a population of 30,000; it has a citadel [fort], 36 mosques, seven schools, 15 Takias, 12 Khans, 1,282 shops, and eight public baths."(2)

The same author describes the demography of Kirkuk in a subsequent section as: : "three quarters of the inhabitants are Kurds and the rest are Turkmans, Arabs, and others. Seven hundred and sixty (760) Jews and four hundred and sixty (460) Chaldians also reside in the city".

The city of Kirkuk, as described in the "Encyclopedia de l`Islam" is characterized as follows: : "It is bordered by the Lower Zab on the north-west, the Hamreen mountains on the west, the Diyala river on the south-west, and the Zagros mountains on the north-east". (3)

According to S.H. Gadd and Sidney Smith, "the present city of Kirkuk stands on the site of the old city of "Arrapha".(4) They add that the Sassanides called the area Garmakan (mentioned earlier) and that the region was often attacked by mountain peoples who inhabited its north-western territories during the Babylonian and Assyrian empires.

Throughout history, the conquerors of Kurdistan have tried to destroy the existing Kurdish emirates one after the other. One may consider the time of occupation of Kurdistan by Saffawis during the reign of Shah Ismail as the point in time at which the enforced settlement of Turkman in the area began. The Saffawid tried to impose the Shi`ite "Kezelbashi" faith on the Kurds, in an attempt to replace the Sunni Moslems whom they did not trust. (5)

The Ottomans, who followed the Saffawis, tried at first to befriend the Kurds so as to incite them to rise against the Shi’a Saffawis. This allowed the Kurdish emirs to win back their sovereignty in some parts of their emirates, including the regions of Arbeel and Kirkuk, which were regained by Said Beg Shah Ali, the emir of the Soran emirate. (6)

Kurdistan became a battleground for a long period between the Shi’a Saffawis, whose capital was Tabreez, and the Sunni Ottomans. This was especially true during the reigns of Shah Tahmasib, Shah Abbas, and Shah Tahmasib Kuli Khan - also known as Nader Shah - and the Ottoman Sultans Sulaiman Qanooni and Murad the Fourth. Kirkuk's strategic location caused it to change hands many times during these wars.