Middle East - Anthony Ham [186]
History
Mosul dates back to at least 6000 BC. Around 700 BC, Assyrian kings Sennacherib and later his grandson Ashurbanipal built Ninevah – on the east bank of the Tigris River across from present-day Mosul – into one of the great cities of the ancient world. The epic Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian King Darius in 331 BC, is believed to have been fought somewhere east of Mosul. The city later became an important trade city because of its position on the caravan route from India and Persia to the Mediterranean. Mosul’s chief export was cotton; the word ‘muslin’ is derived from its name.
Mosul was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century but began to revive under the Ottomans. The British occupied the city after WWI. Since the 2003 war, Mosul has been a hotbed of insurgency activity in northern Iraq. In July 2003, Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a gun battle here with US forces. Despite several major coalition military operations, Mosul remains plagued by violence.
Sights
Mosul was once known as the ‘Pearl of the North’ for its great marble buildings like Mosul House. The ruins of Nineveh are located on the eastern bank of the Tigris. The Mosul Museum once housed a large collection of artefacts from Ninevah and Nimrud until looters ransacked it in 2003. The Mosque of Nebi Yunus, believed to be the burial place of Jonah, attracts Muslim and Christian pilgrims.
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IRAQI KURDISTAN
Leave your misconceptions behind and discover one of the newest travel destinations in the Middle East – Iraqi Kurdistan. The region’s slogan, ‘The Other Iraq’, could not be more fitting. This is the Iraq you don’t see in the news. It’s a safe and tranquil oasis with happening cities, soaring mountains and warm, welcoming people. It’s a surreal kind of place, where Americans receive a liberators’ welcome and former US president George W Bush Jnr is considered a national hero.
Iraqi Kurdistan is technically part of Iraq, but it might as well be a separate country. It has its own prime minister and parliament, its own passport stamps, its own languages and culture and its own army – the Peshmerga, meaning ‘those who face death’. The red, white and green Kurdish flag, with its blazing yellow sun in the centre, seems to flutter from every building, car and hill top.
The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government administers the Iraqi provinces of Dohuk, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and a few northern bits of Ninawa and Tamim. The region has enjoyed de facto autonomy since 1991, when the US military established a no-flight zone to protect the long-oppressed Kurds from Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime. The status was formalised in 2005 when the new Iraqi Constitution recognised Iraqi Kurdish sovereignty.
For early visitors to Iraqi Kurdistan, it’s a chance to witness nation building first-hand. In the cosmopolitan cities of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, cranes outnumber minarets as a construction boom gives rise to new luxury hotels, museums, shiny malls and tourist resorts. Iraqi Kurdistan’s real attraction is its stunning natural beauty: snowcapped mountains, deep canyons, gorgeous waterfalls and raging rivers, all just waiting to be explored.
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ZAKHO
062 / pop 90,000
Sooner or later, everyone ends up in Zakho. This hustling, bustling border town is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Ibrahim Khalil Border, the main crossing point between Turkey and Iraq. Zakho is just 20km from Silopi, Turkey, so overland travellers to Iraqi Kurdistan inevitable start or end their journey here. Like many border towns around the world, trade is the lifeblood of the local economy. At any given time, hundreds of trucks line up on either size of the border, waiting to ply their trade. Zakho is pleasant but there is little of interest for tourists.
Orientation & Information
The main road through town is Bederkhan St, also called Sehid Salih Yousifi St, where you’ll find dozens of hotels, restaurants, pharmacies,