Zakho (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: ; , or
Zaco) is a district and a town in
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
located a few kilometers from the Iraqi-Turkish
Ibrahim Khalil borderIbrahim Khalil is a border crossing point between Turkey and Iraq - Kurdistan Region. Before the control point and gate there is a bridge crossing the river Khabur_, which forms the natural border between Iraq and Turkey....
.
Zakho is a province of the Governorate of Dohuk. The city has 600,000 inhabitants. It may have originally begun on a small island in the
Little KhaburThe Khabur or Little Khabur is a river that begins in Şırnak, Turkey, flows through Zakho, Iraq and empties into the River Tigris at the tripoint between Turkey, Iraq and Syria....
which currently flows through the city. The Khabur River flows west of Zakho to form the border between Iraq and Turkey and flows into the
TigrisThe Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates. The river flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
.
The town of Zakho was already known to the ancient Greeks.
Zakho (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: ; , or
Zaco) is a district and a town in
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
located a few kilometers from the Iraqi-Turkish
Ibrahim Khalil borderIbrahim Khalil is a border crossing point between Turkey and Iraq - Kurdistan Region. Before the control point and gate there is a bridge crossing the river Khabur_, which forms the natural border between Iraq and Turkey....
.
Zakho is a province of the Governorate of Dohuk. The city has 600,000 inhabitants. It may have originally begun on a small island in the
Little KhaburThe Khabur or Little Khabur is a river that begins in Şırnak, Turkey, flows through Zakho, Iraq and empties into the River Tigris at the tripoint between Turkey, Iraq and Syria....
which currently flows through the city. The Khabur River flows west of Zakho to form the border between Iraq and Turkey and flows into the
TigrisThe Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates. The river flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
.
History
The town of Zakho was already known to the ancient Greeks. In 1844 the traveller William Francis Ainsworth commented: "The appearance of Zakhu in the present day coincides in a remarkable manner with what it was described to be in the time of Xenophon."
Gertrude BellGertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell CBE was a British writer, traveller, political analyst, administrator in Arabia, and an archaeologist who mapped and identified Anatolian and Mesopotamian ruins. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917.Bell and T. E...
was convinced that Zakho was same place as the ancient town of Hasaniyeh. She also reported that the first Christian missionary to the region, the Dominican monk Poldo Soldini, was buried there in 1779. His grave was still a pilgrimage destination in the 1950s.
The Jews of Zakho
Zakho was formerly known for its synagogues and large, ancient Jewish community and was known as "The Jerusalem of Kurdistan". The Jews spoke the
AramaicAramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship...
of their ancestors. The banks of the nearby Habor River are mentioned in the Bible as one of the places to which the Israelites were exiled (1 Chronicles, 5:26, 2 Kings 17:6, 2 Kings 18:11).
There were serious attacks on the Jews in 1891, when one of the synagogues was burnt down. The troubles intensified in 1892, with heavy taxes being imposed, outbreaks of looting and Jews being arrested, tortured and ransomed. Jews from Zakho were among the first to emigrate to Palestine after 1920. Most of the others relocated to Israel in the 1950s.
While the Jews of Zakhu were among the least literate in the Jewish diaspora, they had a unique and rich oral tradition, known for its legends, epics and ballads, whose heroes came from both Jewish and Muslim traditions.
The Chaldeans of Zakho
Zakho is the seat of a diocese of the
Chaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon ( ,Syriac ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full...
.
It corresponds to the ancient Diocese of Malta, formerly a suffragan of
AdiabeneAdiabene was an ancient Assyrian semi-independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela . Its rulers converted to Judaism in the 1st Century....
or
ArbelaArbil is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and is the third-largest city in Iraq after Baghdad and Mosul. The city lies eighty kilometres east of Mosul...
. Some Nestorian bishops are mentioned from the fifth to the seventh century (Chabot, "Synodicon orientale", 676). It was reunited with the dioceses of Akra and Amadia until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the province was divided into three dioceses: Amadia, Zakho, and Akra-Zehbar. The diocese comprises 3500 Catholics, ten resident priests, five religious of the Congregation of St. Hormisdas, fifteen parishes or stations, twenty churches and chapels, and one primary school.
Recent history
Zakho has served as a checkpoint for many decades. It is a major market place with its goods and merchandise serving not only the Kurdish controlled area, but most of north and middle Iraq. Writing in 1818, Campanile described the town as a great trading centre, famous for its gallnuts as well as rice, oil, sesame, wax, lentils and many fruits.
Due to its strategic location and the abundance of job opportunities, Zakho has attracted many workers and job seekers from different parts of
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
and even from
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.
Trade with Turkey is now the major element of the economy.
Oil-drilling began in 2005.
Etymology
There are several theories concerning the derivation of the name "Zahko". Some Aramaic sources maintain that the name comes from the Aramaic "Zakhota" (victory), after the battle fought between the Romans and the Persians near the city, which resulted in a Roman victory.
Another version maintains that the name comes from the Kurdish words "Zey- Khowin" ("river of blood"), possibly referring to the same battle.
A third opinion attributes the name to the Kurdish "Zey" (river) and "Khowak" (a curved place which blocks the water).
Landmarks
One of Zakho's famous landmarks is the
Delal BridgeDelal or Pira Delal also Pirdí Delal , informally known also as Pira Berî , is an ancient bridge in the town of Zakho, Northern Iraq.The bridge is 114 metres long and 15.5 metres high.-Etymology:...
. The bridge is made with large stones which not only adds to the aesthetic value of the bridge, but also makes it a source of many theories as to how it was built. (the stones are very large and there was no machinery available at that time).
Zakho castle lies in the city centre on the western of Khabir river. It served as the governor's house in the reign of the
Badinan EmirateBadinan or Bahdinan, was one of the more powerful and enduring Kurdish principalities. It was founded by Baha-al-Din originally from Şemzînan area in Hakkari in sometime between 13th or 14th century CE. The capital of this emirate was Amedi for a long time.It was centered in the town of Amadiya in...
and was extended by prince Ali Khan. It was built on the ruins of an older castle. Today, only the tower remains.
Qubad Pasha castle, situated in Zakho cemetery, is hexagonal in shape, with six windows and an entrance gate.
Population displacements
Zafaranlu: a Kurmanj tribe of this name was forcibly relocated by the
Safavid dynastyThe Safavids were one of the ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Iranian empires since the Islamic conquest of Persia and established the Ithnāˤashari school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the...
from Zakho to the Iranian provinces of
AzerbaijanWest Azerbaijan or West Azarbaijan is one of the 30 provinces of Iran...
,
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
,
VaraminVarāmin is a city located in the south of Tehran Province, Iran. It is the capital of Varamin County.It has a population of 176,000. Varamin has an extensive history...
, Xorasan, Gilan and
Amarlu- Political geography :A district of Rudbar township in Gilan province of Iran. Jirindih is its center.- Tribes :There have been two important Kurdish tribes in Gilan province: Rišvand and 'Amârlu . According to Rabino, the Rišvand formed part of the Bâbân tribe of Solaymâniya and were moved to...
.
Many
AssyriansThe Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent, their homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Western...
living in the
diasporaA diaspora is any movement of a population sharing common ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.Diasporic cultural development often assumes a different course from...
, notably from American cities such as Detroit, San Diego,Phoenix and Seattle, trace their origins to Zahko.
In 2007, the UNHCR reported that there were still 10,000
internally displaced personInternally displaced persons are people forced to flee their homes but who, unlike refugees, remain within their country's borders. At the end of 2006 estimates of t4.5 million in some 52 countries. The region with the largest IDP population is Africa with some 11.8 million in 21...
s in the Zakho district as a result of the
Iraq warThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
.
Safe Haven
In 1991 Zakho was the centre of the
safe havenSafe haven may refer to:* Safe haven law, for the decriminalization of leaving unharmed infants with statutorily designated private persons so that the child becomes a ward of the state* Safe harbor...
established by the British and the Americans in
Operation Provide ComfortOperation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations by the United States and some of its Gulf War allies, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurds fleeing their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and deliver humanitarian aid to them.-Operation...
to protect the Iraqi Kurds from being massacred by
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
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 a ghost city.
Military bases
When the American Army closed its military base in Zakho in 1996, it evacuated several thousand Kurds who had had connections for the base and who feared reprisals. Many of them were given asylum in the USA. According to McDowall, this constituted a sudden and brutal brain-drain, with Zakho losing many of its most highly educated and highly citizens.
In 2008 it was reported that the Turkish army maintained four bases in the Zakho district, under an agreement concluded with the Iraqi government in the 1990s.
External links