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KURDISTAN REGION

Population: 3,757,058

Population in each of the Region’s three provinces:

Erbil:1,334,176
Suleimaniah:1,605,506
Dohuk: 817,376

The people living in the Kurdistan Region are Kurds as well as Assyrians, Chaldeans, Turkmen, Armenians and Arabs.

The Region has a young and growing population, with 36% aged 0-14 years, and only 4% aged over 63. The median age in Kurdistan is just over 20, meaning more than 50% are less than 20. The Kurdistan Region’s demography has changed considerably in the last few decades mainly because

of forced migration by the previous Iraqi government, which is one of the main reasons for the movement from the countryside to towns and cities. By 2001, at least 600,000 people were internally displaced mainly because of the previous Iraqi regime’s policies since the 1970s. This included more than 100,000 people expelled in November 1991 alone from Kirkuk by the Iraqi government. According to a UNDP survey, 66% of people living in Duhok province have been forced to change their residence due to war at any point in their lives, while the figures in Suleimaniah and Erbil are 31% and 7%, respectively.

Traditionally, the majority of people in the Kurdistan Region lived in villages and survived on farming and animal husbandry of mainly sheep and goats thanks to the land’s fertile soil. The Region was known as the breadbasket of Iraq. Today this has reversed, with the majority living and working in the three cities of Erbil, Duhok and Suleimaniah and working in the government, construction, and trade.

In the 1980s Saddam Hussein’s regime destroyed over 4,000 villages and forcibly moved their residents to collective towns. Many of these villages have now been rebuilt. The Kurdistan Regional Government, with the support of UN agencies and NGOs, after 1991 rebuilt 2,620 of some 4,000 destroyed villages.

Area: 40,643 square kilometers

Iraqi Kurdistan Region Consists of these Governorates:

1. Erbil Governorates (The capital of Kurdistan Region).

2. SulaimaniaGovernorate.
3. Dohuk Governorate.

Erbil Governorate:
Bordered with plains and hills on the east side, Erbil city (population: 1,431,580/ area: 14471 Km2.) is the capital of the Kurdistan Region. In this city many races live such as Kurds (93%), the main one, Turkmen, Chaldean, Assyrian and Syrian. The weather is hot and dry in the summer and raining and cold in the winter with a very attractive spring season. Erbil is still the oldest inhabited city; therefore,

the center is considered historical.

Agriculture and animal breeding are the main economic activities in the governorate along with different factories, industries and crafts. Due to stable security, tourism activities are increased and developed

tremendously.
Erbil Citadel

Erbil governorate is famous for its archeological citadel whose date goes back to more than (600) years.B.C. For its oldness and importance, UNESCO has put this citadel as one of the world’s 100 edifices.

About 10 kms beyond Rawanduz, the visitor will come across a great roaring waterfall pouring down from mountain tops in a green cool spot thick with trees all around. Accessible by a road built last decade between the Gully and Mount Kork. A small casino for refreshments.
 

Sulaimania Governorate:

Sulaimania city (population: 1613397 / area: 13368 Km2) was established in the latest 18th Century. The governorate area is above 890m sea level.

Sulaimania is considered as a mountainous area with the weather being cold and snowfall in the

winter and nice in the summer. Known as “Zamo”in the Akad era,

the Shahrazoor Plain is considered as the most fertile plains in the governorate.

Agriculture and animal breeding are considered as main economic activities in the governorate along with wide commercial, tourism and cultural activities.

Sulaimania is proud of producing numerous great Kurdish poets, authors and writers like: Naly, Pyramerd and Bekas. There, two grate dams, Dukan and Darbandikhan, were constructed which are considered as wonderful and attractive tourist landmarks in the Region.

SARCHINAR
5 kms. This summer resort lies amidst tall trees and flowing waters. There are several tourist houses, hotels and casinos.
 

DOKAN LAKE

DERBANDIKHAN LAKE
65 kms. From Sulaimaniya, 26668 kms. From Baghdad. Excellent for boating, with tourist facilities.
 

AHMAD AWA
a delightful mountain resort accessible by a paved road 75 kms. Long off sulaimaniya.

Dohuk Governorate:

Dohuk city (population: 912522), was established in1887during Ottoman Caliphate. It is 583m above

sea level. There, different races live: Kurds (%90, 7)

, Chaldean and Assyrians .The city is surrounded by mountains from all sides. There is a dam in the north of the city which is used for agriculture and tourism purposes and, at the same time, is the main source of drinking water.

There are numerous tourism places in the Governorate like Zaweta, SwartuKa, Sarsang, Solav and others. There are also several historical places which go back to the Assyrian era like: Shndukha and AnishKy.

Climate

Geographical characteristics and climate

The Kurdistan Region comprises parts of the three governorates of Erbil, Suleimaniah and Duhok. It borders Syria to the west, Iran to the east, and Turkey to the north, lying where fertile plains meet the Zagros Mountains. It is traversed by the Sirwan river and the Tigris and its tributaries, the Great Zab and the Little Zab.

The mountains of the Kurdistan Region have an average height of about 2,400 metres, rising to 3,000–3,300 metres in places. The highest peak, Halgurd, is near the border with Iran and measures 3,660 metres. The highest mountain ridges contain the only forestland in the Region.

Annual rainfall is 375-724mm. 

The climate of the Kurdistan Region is semi-arid continental: very hot and dry in summer, and cold and wet in winter.

Spring is the most beautiful season in Kurdistan and the time when Kurds celebrate Nawroz, the Kurdish New Year, on the spring or vernal equinox. Mean high temperatures range from 13-18 degrees in March to 27-32 degrees in May.

The summer months from June to September are very hot and dry. In July and August, the hottest months, mean highs are 39-43 degrees, and often reach nearly 50 degrees.

Autumn is dry and mild, and like spring is an ideal time of year to travel in the Region. Average temperatures are 24-29 degrees in October, cooling slightly in November.

Winters are mild, except in the high mountains. Mean winter high temperatures are 7-13 degrees Celsius, and mean lows are 2-7 degrees Celsius.

Education

The region has been making great strides in developing education sector during the last 15 years.

There are seven universities in the Kurdistan Region. The three largest are Salahaddin University in Erbil, the University of Suleimani, and the University of Dohuk. They offer studies in various subjects leading to specialized diplomas, bachelors and masters degrees, and doctorates.

Salahaddin University was established in 1968 in the city of Suleimaniah, and was moved to the city of Erbil in 1981. After the Ba’ath regime withdrew its administration in the aftermath of the Gulf War, in 1992 the Kurdistan Regional Government established the University of Sulaimani and the University of Dohuk.

The two more recently established institutions are the University of Koya and Hawler Medical University.

Kurdistan also has two universities that teach exclusively in English.

The University of Kurdistan - Hawler started its first academic year in September 2006. The only language of instruction at the university is English. Read more about the university in an interview with the Rector, Professor Abbas Vali.

At the American University of Iraq - Sulaimani all instruction will be in English. It will offer an intensive English program in September 2007 to prepare students for its first degree programme, a Bachelors in business administration, in autumn 2008.

There are 10 technical institutions in which middle staffs are graduating in mechanics, medicine, administration, accounting and other fields in addition to more than 2700 primary, secondary and preparatory schools distributed in all districts of the Region

Health

Health sector in the region is distinguished by good level of development, compared to other parts of Iraq, big special hospitals in the main cities and health centers in towns and districts. Also, in the Region, national hospitals and clinics with good doctors, assistants, nurses and workers are widespread where modern medical equipment, devices, labs and drugs are available.

Communication

There are in the region developed and advanced wired and wireless communication systems like:

1. Mobile

2. Wire less

3. Landline and exchanger (PBX)

4. Internet networks with high specifications.

Banking and Finance

There is a great scope for foreign direct investment in the region in banking sector. The Current Picture Since 1992, the Kurdistan Regional Government has endeavored to turn around the state controlled banking system into a loose network of financial institutions engaging in normal banking activities; lending mostly to civil servants, taking deposits and paying out salaries on behalf of the government. Savings accounts have been thriving since 1996.

Currently, the Central Bank of Kurdistan doesn’t set interest rates, which are left to market forces. Kurdish people in the Diaspora send a significant proportion of the foreign currency in the KRG ‘s coffers, and these fluctuating levels of foreign currency availability influences the level of interest rates. Bank to bank business is increasingly being computerized. There is a great scope for foreign direct investment in the KRG banking sector.

The Kurds in History

Early History

The first mention of the Kurds in historical records was in cuneiform writings from the Sumerians (3,000 B.C.), who talked of the "land of the Karda." It would appear that from the earliest times the Kurds were generally unaffected by shifts in the empires around them, as they tended their flocks and obeyed their tribal leaders with a minimum of interference from outsiders. This lack of interference was very probably due to the inaccessibility of the area in which they lived, although they early on gained a reputation for being excellent fighters. At one time or another in their early history, some or all of them came under the dominance of the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Parthians, the Persians, the Romans, and the Armenians.

In the 7th century A.D., the Arabs conquered the area and in time converted everyone in it including the Kurds to Islam. The Kurdish area became a border area between the Muslim Caliphate and the Christian Byzantine Empire, and the Caliphate utilized Kurdish troops in securing the frontier area against the Byzantines based in Istanbul.

In the centuries that followed, the Kurds withstood the invasions from Central Asia which brought the Turkic peoples as far west as Asia Minor (now Turkey), again probably because they occupied an area too difficult for outsiders to reach.

Kurds in the Ottoman Empire

As the Ottoman Empire rose to power in the 13th through 15th centuries; it extended its territory to what is roughly now the border between Iran and Iraq. From then until World War I, the area inhabited by the Kurds was about three-fourths subject to the Ottomans and one-fourth subject to the Persians. Under both, the Kurds enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy: The Kurdish princes who had allied themselves with the Ottoman Sultan, for example, were set up as vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and the areas under their command became autonomous principalities.

Both empires made extensive use of Kurdish military prowess, and as a consequence Kurd often fought Kurd on behalf of the Ottoman or Persian government. The Kurdish areas in present-day Turkmenistan and Khorasan in northeastern Iran were originally settled as military colonies to protect border areas of the Persian Empire.

The Kurdish principalities in both empires cultivated literature and arts to a considerable extent, and small educated Kurdish elite gradually developed. In the 19th century, the same drive toward national identity that was spreading among the Arabs also influenced the Kurdish elite, but for the most part the several small Kurdish rebellions against the Ottomans were prompted by a sense of injustice on the part of local tribal leaders. These rebellions were promptly suppressed by the Ottoman government, and, as they threatened the weakening empire, led to the imposition of direct Turkish rule on the previously autonomous Kurdish principalities.

The Kurds in Modern Iraq

In the days of the Ottoman and Persian empires, the Kurds of the area bordering the two had been an intermittent irritant to both the Ottoman Sultans and the Persian Shahs. After World War I, however, Kurdish antagonism more seriously threatened Iran and the new nations of Turkey and Iraq, as their governments struggled to free themselves of foreign domination and maintain control over their territories.

In the dividing up of the old Ottoman Empire that took place after World War I, the new country of Iraq was formed from the Ottoman wilayets of Baghdad, Basra, and also Mosul with its Kurds and its oil fields. The disposition of Mosul was the cause of much skirmishing among the powers involved, but the British who were to administer the new Iraq prevailed, and in 1925 it was finally attached to Iraq. The Kurds had no voice in the discussions.

During the years between the formation of Iraq and its independence in 1931, limited steps were taken in the direction of the Kurds. In 1926, the initial Iraqi local-language law provided for the teaching of Kurdish in schools in Kurdish-speaking areas, and for the publication of Kurdish-language books. In addition, there was Kurdish representation in the government.

By 1960, however, concessions to the Kurds had been withdrawn, and for the next 15 years, the Iraqi government carried out an extended campaign of "Arabization" of the Kurdish areas, which included such tactics as armed warfare, destruction of villages and deportation of Kurds, moving of Arabs into Kurdish areas, and other measures designed to weaken and demoralize the Kurds.

The Kurds actively resisted this government campaign. In 1974 (Iraq was by now dominated by Saddam Hussein, although he was still only vice-president), the Kurdish resistance, spearheaded by the Kurdish Democratic Party, asked for and received arms and other help from Iran. The resistance escalated but was crushed in April, 1975, when the Shah abruptly withdrew his support of the Kurds in return for a favorable redrawing of the southern border between Iran and Iraq along the waterway to the Persian Gulf.

The end to the Kurdish resistance also brought about a series of government moves designed to render the Kurds less of a threat. Political areas were remapped to designate a smaller area as "Kurdish," and Arabs were moved into the excluded Kurdish areas to dilute the Kurdish populations. Any teaching in Kurdish was stopped, and the Kurdish departments and schools in universities were closed.

In 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini, and in 1980 Iraq went to war against Iran. The Iraqi Kurds supported the Iranians, and toward the end of the war the Iraqi government retaliated with an extensive, devastatingly cruel campaign against the Kurds. Between February and August of 1988, hundreds of Kurdish villages in northern Iraq were totally destroyed, and as many as 200,000 Kurds were killed in the process. This was the period during which the Iraqi government used chemical weapons against Kurdish soldiers and civilians alike, causing an international uproar.

The Iran_Iraq war ended in 1989, with Saddam Hussein's armed forces nearly intact. Between then and the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990, the Kurds ceased guerrilla activity in the Kurdish areas and concentrated on advancing their cause politically from exile in Iran.

The Gulf War and Subsequent Events

On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait. Between then and the actual war the following February, the Kurds at first tried to convince Saddam to trade concessions for the Kurds in return for support in a possible war, and then, as American troops were being built up in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, they positioned themselves for a likely Iraqi defeat. They reopened negotiations with the dissident Shi'a Arabs from the south, and in meetings in Damascus and Beirut all the dissidents developed a united front which had the goal of overthrowing Saddam Hussein and setting up a coalition government for Iraq.

Immediately after the ceasefire on March 2, 1991, the dissident Shi'a Arabs in the south rebelled. The Kurds in the north took advantage of the situation and rebelled also. Within three weeks all the Kurdish area was in revolt, the towns of Ranya, Sulemaniye, Arbil, Dahuk, Aqra, and Kirkuk were under Kurdish control, and the province of Mosul was under siege. In response, Saddam Hussein gathered his Republican Guard, marched back into the territory so recently captured by the Kurds, and within a week had retaken all the territory.

As the Republican Guard proceeded, well over a million Kurds fled in unprecedented numbers to the Turkish and Iranian borders. Iran accepted the Kurdish refugees, but Turkey refused them entrance. Refugees on the Turkish border were stranded on mountainsides exposed to the winter weather, and because trucks could not reach them there was a desperate lack of food and materials from which to build shelter. Turkey allowed foreign journalists into the area, and the world watched, aghast, as thousands of Kurds died.

Western governments responded by dispatching supplies through Turkey and by direct airdrops to the refugees. Turkey's President Turgut Ozal proposed that the United Nations take over territory in northern Iraq and establish a safe haven for the Kurds. At a European Community meeting in Luxembourg, Britain's Prime Minister John Major presented a proposal for a UN-protected Kurdish enclave; the plan was endorsed by the other European leaders, and about a week later was endorsed by the United States as well.

Operation Provide Comfort

Operation Provide Comfort is the name given to the 1991 implementation by the United States and its Gulf War Allies of a safe haven for Kurds. Under the Operation Provide Comfort umbrella, allied western troops on the ground persuaded the Kurds to descend from the mountains into the plains, where camps were set up with relief supplies as an added inducement. Allied troops were also sent into Dahuk, to maintain a presence so that the Kurdish refugees who had fled that area would go back to their homes. And the area of Iraq above the 36th parallel which includes Arbil, Mosul, Zakho, and Dahuk was declared a no-fly zone: Any Iraqi planes flying above the parallel would be subject to reprisal.

By July, the system had been established, and the western troops withdrew from Iraq to bases in Silopi, just across the Turkish border, leaving a small staff, the Military Coordination Center in Zakho, to oversee the continuing relief effort and to act as a stabilizing force. The no-fly zone was regularly patrolled by aircraft from the United States, Great Britain, France, and Turkey.

Operation Provide Comfort was not the only source of help for the Kurds. There were several other relief programs supported by different countries and agencies, and a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening opposition to the Iraqi government and Saddam Hussein.

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