Will Iraq split into three parts? Who will get Kirkuk? ISIS terrorists, pro-Iran Hashd al-Shaabi fighters, and men from a variety of intelligence agencies are mobilizing in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Meanwhile, the city’s inhabitants try to go on with their daily lives. During the day time, the Iraqi army is in control of the villages in the southern part of the Kirkuk governorate—but at night they are under the controll of ISIS.

If Iraq splits into several states, there will be bloody fighting about the borders. In the Kirkuk governorate, preparations for such struggles have already started: ethnic cleansing follows whenever one armed group takes an area from another group.

Kristiina Koivunen has been an observer of Kirkuki life and the war against terrorism for the past ten years. Her journeys to Kirkuk have been dramatic, but everyday life often proceeds normally in the midst of the hotspots that make it into the news.