Khanaqin

Khanaqin Arabic: 'خانقين Kurdish: Xaneqîn
Alwand river and bridge
Khanaqin Khanaqin's location inside Iraq
Coordinates: 34°20′N 45°23′E
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Diyala Governorate
District	Khanaqin
Elevation	602 ft (183 m)
Population  (1990)
• Total	150,000

Khanaqin (Arabic: خانقين; Kurdish: Xaneqîn خانه‌قین) is a city in Iraq in Iraq's Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on the Alwand tributary of the Diyala River. It is the administrative center of the Khanaqin District, which comprises several towns (such as As-Sadiyah and Jalula) as well as hundreds of villages. The city is divided into two parts by the Alwand, which has played a significant role in land cultivation and the establishment of a strong rural society in the area.

People

The majority of the town's inhabitants are Shia Kalhor Kurds. A sizable number of Turkmen live in the town. Small amounts of Shia Arabs are still left over from the Arabization policy of the Ba'athist regime; Khanaqin was subject to the Arabization policy of Ba'athist Iraq, but this has been substantially reversed since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

Higher education

There are two higher education centers in Khanaqin:

• College of Arts 2004, depended to University of Baghdad. Website
• Institute of Physical Education in Khanaqin 2008. Website

Climate

Climate data for Khanaqin
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	15 (59)	17 (62)	21 (70)	28 (82)	34 (94)	41 (105)	44 (111)	43 (110)	39 (103)	33 (92)	24 (76)	17 (63)	30 (86)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	4 (39)	6 (43)	9 (48)	13 (56)	19 (67)	23 (73)	26 (79)	26 (78)	22 (71)	17 (62)	11 (51)	6 (43)	15 (59)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	48 (1.9)	61 (2.4)	71 (2.8)	38 (1.5)	23 (0.9)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	2.5 (0.1)	28 (1.1)	79 (3.1)	350 (13.7)
Source: Weatherbase

Oil fields

The Naft Khana oil field is capable of producing up to 16,000 barrels per day (2,500 m³/d) of sweet light crude from an oil reserve that is also being tapped by Iran in Naft Shahr. Repairs to the oil plant were completed in March 2006 which restored it to its pre-war condition. The main elements affected were the gas-oil separation facility and the wet crude facility (which separates oil from water). Trucks currently transport oil to the Al Daura refinery in Baghdad. A 20,000-barrel-per-day (3,200 m³/d) oil refinery has been approved for construction in Khanaqin and oil from Naft Khana will be sent there when it is complete. During the 1970s the intensive Arabization and deportation policy of the Iraqi regime led Arabs to settle in this oil-rich city. Due to this policy, all Kurdish refinery workers and, at that time and place, their only Kurdish Engineer (Mr. Sheik Kader Sheik Rahem Talabani) were deported to the West of Iraq.

Notable people

• Leyla Qasim, among the first female peshmerga murdered by Baath regime.
• Mala Bakhtiar, major PUK politician

References

KurdishGlobe article.