Zakho زاخۆ Zaxo | |
|---|---|
City | |
_-_Zakho.jpg) TheLittle Khabur flowing through Zakho | |
  Zakho Location in Iraq | |
| Coordinates:37°08′37.00″N42°40′54.88″E / 37.1436111°N 42.6819111°E /37.1436111; 42.6819111 | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Region |  Kurdistan |
| Governorate | Dohuk Governorate |
| District | Zakho District |
| Elevation | 440 m (1,440 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
• Total | 500,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 |
| • Summer (DST) | not observed |
Zakho, also spelledZaxo (Kurdish:زاخۆ,romanized: Zaxo or Zaco,[1][2]Syriac:ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ,romanized: Zākhō,[3]Armenian:Զախո,[4]Arabic:زاخو,[5]Lishanid Noshan:זאכו,romanized: Zāxo[6]) is a city in theKurdistan Region, at the centre of theZakho District of theDohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from theIbrahim Khalil border crossing. Zakho is known for its celebrations ofNewroz.
The population of the town rose from about 30,000 in 1950 to 350,000 in 1992 due toKurds fleeing from other areas of the country.[7]
The original settlement may have been on a small island in theLittle Khabur river, which flows west through the modern city to form the border between Iraq andTurkey, continuing into theTigris. Other important rivers in the area are the Zeriza and the Seerkotik.[8]
Gertrude Bell, the renowned British archaeologist and Arabist who advised British governors in the region in the closing years of the British Mandate, was convinced that Zakho was the same place as the ancient town of Hasaniyeh. She also reported that one of the first Christian missionaries to the region, theDominican friarPoldo Soldini, was buried there in 1779. His grave was still apilgrimage destination in the 1950s.[9][10]
The town is also the site of Zakho castle, of which today only the tower remains, and of Qubad Pasha castle, a hexagonal structure in Zakho cemetery.
According to an oral tradition transmitted by aJewish informant from Zakho, Me'allim Levi, Zakho was established in 1568 by Slivani tribesmen, whose territory was stretched south of the location of the town. The family ofShamdin Agha came originally from the Slivani tribe, settled in Zakho, and became the most prominent family in Zakho. From the late 19th century onwards, the family of Shamdin Agha ruled "all the Muslims, Jews and Christians of Zakho and its surroundings."[11] Zakho was known to theancient Greeks. In 1844, the travellerWilliam Francis Ainsworth commented: "The appearance of Zakho in the present day coincides in a remarkable manner with what it was described to be in the time ofXenophon."
Zakho is a major marketplace with its goods and merchandise serving the Kurdish-controlled area and most of north and central Iraq. Writing in 1818, Campanile[who?] described the town as a great trading centre, famous for itsgallnuts as well as rice, oil, sesame, wax, lentils and many fruits.[10]
_compound_in_the_town_of_Zakho_in_northern_Iraq._The_MCC_is_the_Joint_Service_Combined_Forward_Liai_-_DPLA_-_e90fe04d4efbcc81673678f66b9d75d2.jpeg)
Due to its strategic location and the abundance of job opportunities, Zakho has attracted many workers and job seekers from different parts of Iraq and even fromSyria and Turkey. Trade with Turkey is now the major element of the economy.[12] Oil drilling began in 2005.[13]
In Islamic history it is perhaps best remembered as the location of theBattle of the Zab between theUmayyads and theAbbasids.
The river forms the approximate political boundary ofKurdistan Regional Government area of Iraq today. Its sister, the Little (or Lower) Zab rises in north-western part ofKurdistan province Iran, in the north of Piranshahr city and flows south-west through Iraq to join the Tigris north of the town ofBaiji. The Dukan Dam straddles the Little Zab some 150 miles upstream from its confluence with the Tigris River. Constructed between 1954 and 1959, the dam has a total discharge capability of 4,300 cms. The power station, constructed in 1979, holds five water turbines and provides 400 MW of electrical energy.
In 1991, Zakho was the centre of thehaven established by the British and the Americans inOperation Provide Comfort to protect theIraqi Kurds from beingmassacred bySaddam Hussein when he responded brutally to the Kurdish rebellion. Most of the inhabitants of the city had fled to the mountains. When the American forces arrived, they described the town as aghost city.[14]
The 27 February1995 Zakho bombing killed over 50 people. When theU.S. Army closed itsmilitary base in Zakho in 1996, they evacuated several thousandKurds who had connections to the base and who feared reprisals. Many of them were givenasylum in the USA. According toDavid McDowall, this constituted a suddenbrain drain, with Zakho losing many of its most educated citizens.[15]
In 2008 it was reported that theTurkish Army maintained four bases in Zakho District, under an agreement concluded with theIraqi Government in the 1990s.[16]
The2011 Dohuk riots, which targetedAssyrian-owned businesses, were sparked by KurdishMuslim clerics in the town.[17]
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The city was the center of alarge Chaldean Catholic diocese up until the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was divided into three dioceses: Amadia, Zakho, andAkra-Zehbar.[citation needed] The Armenians of Zakho established their community after theArmenian genocide, with the first Armenian church in the city being established in 1923.[18]
Zakho was formerly known for itssynagogues and a large, ancient Jewish community. In the middle of the 19th century, Zakho became the chief spiritual center for the Jews of Kurdistan, and many sources refer to it as yerušalayim de-kurdistan 'the Jerusalem of Kurdistan.'[19][20][21]
The banks of the nearbyKhabur River are mentioned in the Bible as one of the places to which the Israelites were exiled (1 Chronicles, 5:26,[22] 2 Kings 17:6,[23] 2 Kings 18:11[24]).
The Jews spoke theJewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Zakho and were also fluent inKurmanji, the language spoken by non-Jewish Kurds.[25]
Kurdish society was primarily a tribal one. The Jews of Zakho bore arms like Kurdish Muslims.[26] There was an attack on the Jews in 1891, when one of the synagogues was burnt down. The troubles intensified in 1892.
Most of the Jews relocated to Israel in the 1950s.[27] While the Jews of Zakho were among the least literate in thediaspora, they had a unique and rich oral tradition, known for its legends, epics and ballads, whose heroes came from both Jewish and Muslim traditions.[28]
Zakho has a hot-summerMediterranean climate (Csa in theKöppen climate classification) with very hot, dry summers, and cool wet winters.
| Climate data for Zakho | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 10.2 (50.4) | 12.2 (54.0) | 16.5 (61.7) | 21.8 (71.2) | 29.1 (84.4) | 36.2 (97.2) | 40.4 (104.7) | 40.0 (104.0) | 35.7 (96.3) | 27.9 (82.2) | 19.4 (66.9) | 12.3 (54.1) | 25.1 (77.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.9 (35.4) | 3.1 (37.6) | 6.1 (43.0) | 10.1 (50.2) | 15.0 (59.0) | 20.1 (68.2) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.2 (73.8) | 19.2 (66.6) | 13.7 (56.7) | 8.4 (47.1) | 3.9 (39.0) | 12.4 (54.3) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 144 (5.7) | 136 (5.4) | 129 (5.1) | 109 (4.3) | 43 (1.7) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.0) | 27 (1.1) | 83 (3.3) | 127 (5.0) | 799 (31.6) |
| Source:[29] | |||||||||||||
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One of Zakho's famous landmarks is theDelal Bridge, made of stone.
Zakho Castle lies in the city centre on the western bank of the Khabur. It served as the governor's house in the reign of theBadinan Emirate and was enlarged by Prince Ali Khan. It was built on the ruins of an older castle. Today, only the castle's tower remains.
The Qubad Pasha Castle, in Zakho's cemetery, is hexagonal, with six windows and an entrance gate.[30]
In 2007, the UNHCR reported that there were still 10,000internally displaced persons in the Zakho district as a result of theIraq War.[31]
Zakho Football Club (Zakho FC) was founded in 1987. The sports club plays in theIraqi Premier League, where only the top 16 Iraqi football clubs play. Zakho FC has its own stadium with a capacity of 20,000 seats.
Zakho Basketball Club (Zakho SC) won the Kurdistan Basketball Super Cup and beatDuhok SC inErbil.[32]
Travelers and local rabbis referred to Zakho as the 'Jerusalem of Kurdistan.'
In many sources, Zakho is called "Jerusalem of Kurdistan," and in one of them even "Jerusalem of the Diaspora." According to Rabbi Haviv 'Alwan, Zakho was called "Jerusalem of Kurdistan" because Jews living in villages at a walking distance of three or four days from the city had to come there to be ordained as a rabbi, a shohet (ritual slaughterer), or a mohel (a person authorized to perform a circumcision).
37°09′N42°41′E / 37.150°N 42.683°E /37.150; 42.683
| Anbar Governorate |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Babil Governorate | ||
| Baghdad Governorate | ||
| Basra Governorate | ||
| Dhi Qar Governorate | ||
| Diyala Governorate | ||
| Duhok Governorate | ||
| Erbil Governorate | ||
| Halabja Governorate | ||
| Karbala Governorate | ||
| Kirkuk Governorate | ||
| Maysan Governorate | ||
| Muthanna Governorate | ||
| Najaf Governorate | ||
| Nineveh Governorate | ||
| al-Qādisiyyah Governorate | ||
| Saladin Governorate | ||
| Sulaymaniyah Governorate |
| |
| Wasit Governorate | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
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