Tal Afar

Tal Afar[1] (Arabic: تَلْعَفَر, romanized: Talʿafar, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}IPA: [talˈʕafar] Turkish: Telafer) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul,[2] 52 km (32 mi) east of Sinjar[2] and 200 km (120 mi) northwest of Kirkuk. Its local inhabitants are exclusively Turkmen.[3] While no official census data exists, the city, which had previously been estimated to have a population of approximately 200,000, had dropped to 80,000 as of 2007.[4] Tal Afar's population is about 85 percent Sunni Turkmen, while a 15 percent are Shia Turkmen.[5] 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of the town of Tal Afar are the mounds of Yarim Tepe which yielded remains from the Halafian culture of the Hassuna, Halaf and Ubaid periods, between 7000 and 4500 BC.[6][7]