Zakho


Zakho is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey border. The city has a population of 410,000.
The original settlement may have been on a small island in the Little Khabur river, which flows through the modern city. The Khabur flows west from Zakho to form the border between Iraq and Turkey, continuing into the Tigris. The most important rivers in the area are the Zeriza, Seerkotik and the aforementioned Little Khabur.
In July 2010, Zakho became the seat of the University of Zakho, one of only eleven public universities in the Kurdistan Region.

Etymology

The derivation of the name "Zakho" is from the Aramaic word zāḵū, after the battle fought between the Romans and the Persians near the city, which resulted in a Roman victory.

History

According to an oral tradition transmitted by a Jewish 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 of Shamdin 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.” Zakho was known to the ancient Greeks. In 1844, the traveller William 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 of Xenophon."
Gertrude Bell 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 friar Poldo Soldini, was buried there in 1779. His grave was still a pilgrimage destination in the 1950s.
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 described the town as a great trading centre, famous for its gallnuts as well as rice, oil, sesame, wax, lentils and many fruits.

Recent history

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 from Syria and Turkey. Trade with Turkey is now the major element of the economy. Oil drilling began in 2005.
In 1991, Zakho was the centre of the :wikt:safe haven|haven established by the British and the Americans in Operation Provide Comfort to protect the Iraqi Kurds from being massacred by Saddam 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 a ghost city.
On 27 February 1995, a car bomb killed over 50 people. When the U.S. Army closed its military base in Zakho in 1996, they evacuated several thousand Kurds who had connections to the base and who feared reprisals. Many of them were given asylum in the USA. According to David McDowall, this constituted a sudden brain drain, with Zakho losing many of its most educated citizens.
In 2008 it was reported that the Turkish Army maintained four bases in Zakho District, under an agreement concluded with the Iraqi Government in the 1990s.
The 2011 Dohuk riots, which targeted Assyrian-owned businesses, were sparked by Muslim clerics in the town.

Demographics

Assyrians

have lived in Zakho since at least the 5th century, with some Assyrian bishops being mentioned from the fifth to the seventh century, which indicates its long history. Additionally, the city was the center of a large Chaldean Catholic diocese up until the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was divided into three dioceses: Amadia, Zakho, and Akra-Zehbar. The historic diocese of Zakho corresponded with the ancient Diocese of Malta, formerly a suffragan of Arbela, and it had many Chaldean Catholic villages and parishes in the mountains to the north of the city. However, the diocese was recently merged back into the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiya in 2013 due to becoming vacant after the death of its bishop in 2010. Prior to merging with Amadiya, the diocese comprised 3500 Assyrian Catholics, ten resident priests, fifteen parishes or stations, twenty churches and chapels, and one primary school. In regards to the city of Zakho itself, there is a large Assyrian population. The Assyrians of Zakho are primarily Chaldean Catholic Christians and have a large church which lies in the center of the city and which once functioned as the Cathedral of the Diocese, in addition to a smaller church as well.

Armenians

The Armenians of Zakho established their community after the Armenian Genocide, with the first Armenian church in the city being established in 1923. Some of the Armenians of Zakho left in 1932 to found the village of Avzrog Miri in the plains west of the city of Simele.

Jews

Zakho was formerly known for its synagogues and large, ancient Jewish community and was known as "The Jerusalem of Kurdistan." The banks of the nearby Khabur River are mentioned in the Bible as one of the places to which the Israelites were exiled.
The Jews spoke the Aramaic of their ancestors and were also fluent in Kurmanji, the language spoken by non-Jewish Kurds.
Kurdish society was primarily a tribal one. Jews of Zakho bore arms like Kurdish Muslims. 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. While the Jews of Zakho were among the least literate in the disapora, they had a unique and rich oral tradition, known for its legends, epics and ballads, whose heroes came from both Jewish and Muslim traditions.

Climate

Zakho has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with very hot and dry summers, and cool winters with high rainfall.

Landmarks

One of Zakho's famous landmarks is the Delal Bridge, which was made with large stones.
The Zakho Castle lies in the city centre on the western bank of Khabur river. It served as the governor's house in the reign of the Badinan 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.

Population displacements

Many Assyrians living in the diaspora, notably in American cities Chicago, Detroit, San Diego, Houston, and Phoenix, trace their origins to Zakho.
In 2007, the UNHCR reported that there were still 10,000 internally displaced persons in the Zakho district as a result of the Iraq War.

Sports

was founded in 1987. The sports club plays in the Iraqi 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 won the Kurdistan Basketball Super Cup and beat Duhok SC in Erbil.