Erbil

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Erbil
location
Erbil (Iraq)
Erbil
Erbil
Coordinates 36 ° 11 ′  N , 44 ° 1 ′  E Coordinates: 36 ° 11 ′  N , 44 ° 1 ′  E
Country IraqIraq Iraq
Autonomous Region Kurdistan
Governorate Erbil
Basic data
height 415  m
Residents 852,500 (2015)
prefix 40 (city), 964 (country)
Post Code 44001
mayor Firsat Sofi
The citadel of Erbil, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014
The citadel of Erbil , a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014
Statue of Mubarak Ben Ahmad Sharaf-Aldin, currently installed in Minaret Park; his main work is a four-volume work on the history of the city of Erbil
Downtown view
The Mudhafaria Minaret

Erbil (officially Kurdish ھەولێر Hewlêr or Arabic أربيل Arbil , DMG Arbīl ) is the capital and at the same time the seat of the government of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in Iraq. In addition, Erbil is the capital of the Erbil governorate of the same nameand the economic and trade center of the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The citadel of Erbil is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world; in June 2014 it was approved by the UNESCO of the status World Heritage awarded.

Favored by the stable security situation and as the location of the regional parliament, several foreign missions were opened in Erbil. Countries that have a diplomatic mission in Erbil include the USA , Russia , Iran , Great Britain , France , South Korea , Germany and China . In November 2007 the UN opened an office in Erbil. The mayor is Nihad Latif Kodscha , who lived in exile in Germany for 23 years .

etymology

Due to its immense age, the city was mentioned at an early stage in human history. As early as the third millennium BC, the Sumerians mentioned the city as Urbilum or Urbelum . This term is likely derived from the Hurrian word arbilum . In the Ur-III period the place was also called Urbilum, until the Old Babylonian period Urbel, the Assyrians called it Arbail (today Aramaic ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbela ). Other researchers attribute the name to the Akkadian arba'ū ilū ( four gods ).

In ancient Persia the city was called Arbairā . In ancient Greece, Arbelles .

Today's Kurdish name Hewlêr is probably another change of the word Arbel around various phonetic metatheses .

population

The population of Erbil has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2007, according to OCHA, the population of the city of Erbil was 808,600, the population of the Erbil district 1,115,890 and the population of the Erbil governorate 1,542,421. In 2013, the Joint Analysis Unit (JAU) of UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) assumed a population of 1,530,722 for the Erbil Governorate. For 2014, the REACH initiative by UNOSAT , ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) and IMPACT is assuming a population of 1.4 million for Erbil, even without the refugees who reached the city after the conquest of Mosul by ISIS .

More recent estimates put the governorate at up to 2 million people, but exact and reliable figures do not exist. The majority are the Kurds ; The minorities include Chaldo Assyrians , Arabs and Turkmens . In addition, numerous guest workers from Turkish companies live in the city due to the emerging housing and house construction. The city's residents are predominantly Muslim . Over 40,000 Christian Chaldo Assyrians live mainly in the suburb of Ankawa .

history

Antiquity

Erbil is one of the oldest continuously populated cities in the world. The city is estimated to be more than 8,000 years old. Already under Aššur-reš-iši I. the city was the target of Assyrian campaigns. The city has long been a religious center for the goddess Ishtar .

When Erbil was under Median rule, Kyaxares I tribes of the Sagartier from the Zagros settled here. When the Achaemenids replaced the Medes, the Medes led Phraortes a revolt against Darius I to. Darius I defeated the rebels in 521 BC And had this immortalized on the Behistun inscription . In 331 the Persian great king Dareios III was defeated. in the battle of Gaugamela not far from Arbela, the Macedonian king Alexander the great . The battle was also known as the Battle of Arbela, allegedly because the Macedonians thought Gaugamela was too insignificant (Strabo, Geographika 16, 3). After the defeat of the Persians against Alexander the Great, Erbil became part of the Seleucid Empire . In classical times the city was known by its Aramaic name, Arbela. The Greeks assumed that Arbela was founded by Arbelus , the son of Athmoneus (Strabo, Geographika 16, 3). Erbil was the capital of the Principality of Adiabene . With the victory of 141 BC Chr. Was Mithridates I of Parthia ruler of Mesopotamia. The city changed several times between Parthians and Seleucids. 88 BC Tigranes conquered Erbil and occupied Adiabene. When the Romans threatened Armenia, he offered Adiabene to the Parthians in exchange for their help against Rome.

Erbil later developed into the capital of a more or less autonomous vassal state of the Parthians. The first known king of the local dynasty was Izates , who ruled around 30 AD. His successor converted to Judaism .

In 195, Septimius Severus occupied Adiabene and was given the title Parthicus Adiabenicus . Vologaeses V recaptured Adiabene and punished King Narses for failing to help with a campaign in the east of the empire. Like the entire area, Erbil was often fought over in the Roman Parthian wars. In 216 Caracalla conquered the city. The Romans plundered royal Parthian tombs.

After the revolt of Ardashir I in 222 against the Parthians and the establishment of the Sassanid Empire , Erbil became part of the new empire for 400 years. Erbil was ruled by a governor ( Middle Persian : Mowbed). One of these governors was the Crown Prince Chosrau II. Erbil was the seat of a Metropolitan of the Church of the East . The diocese was called Ḥdhayab in Aramaic . Many Aramaic speaking Christians lived in Erbil. The Christianization of northern Mesopotamia often started from Erbil.

middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, Erbil became an important stop on the trade route between Mosul and Baghdad. After the Sassanids were defeated by the Arabs , the area became Muslim. Centuries later, Imad ad-Din Zengi conquered the city in 1131. From 1145 to 1233 Erbil was the capital of the Begteginids or Atabegs of Erbil. One of these local rulers, Muzaffar ad-Din Gökböri , left behind many social institutions such as orphanages. After 1233 the city fell to the Abbasids . In 1235 the Mongols sacked Erbil. In 1397 Timur invaded the city and destroyed it. The proportion of Christians decreased and Erbil became more and more a Muslim city. From the 16th century the Ottomans ruled Erbil and it became part of the Vilayets of Mosul. In 1731 Nadir Shah , the later ruler of Persia, besieged the city and was able to take it after long resistance. Even so, the city remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the First World War .

View of house facades on the citadel in the city center

Erbil consists of a lower town in the plain on the river and the core town on the settlement hill , in the middle of which an Ottoman fort is enthroned.

Modern times

Erbil was slightly damaged in the first Gulf War . After the withdrawal of the Iraqi military and administration in 1992, the first free Kurdish parliament was elected in Erbil. Until 1996 there were violent clashes between the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Erbil has been administered by the KDP since 1996.

The Kurdish regional parliament met for the first time on June 4, 2005, and Masud Barzani was appointed President of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Iraq on June 12, 2005 .

In August 2014 there was a first confrontation between the autonomous region of Kurdistan and the Islamic State (IS). During this confrontation, fighting broke out between the Kurdish Peshmerga troops and the Islamic State militias over the city. When the IS terrorists tried to advance 40 km from Erbil with a lightning offensive, the United States intervened immediately afterwards. Air strikes by the United States were able to stop the advance on the city promptly and effectively. Since then, the Kurds have been supported with air strikes on IS artillery positions. In the further course of the process several states formed an anti-IS alliance under the leadership of the USA in order to be able to give the Kurds further support from the air.

climate

The city has a dry subtropical climate. In the summer months between June and September, the average maximum temperature rises to 42 degrees Celsius, accompanied by strong solar radiation: Rain is extremely unlikely during this time of the year.

In winter, between December and February, the maximum temperature averages 12 to 14 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in January is around two degrees Celsius on average, but values ​​below zero degrees Celsius are not uncommon at this time of year. The annual rainfall of around 540 millimeters on average falls almost exclusively in the period from November to April.

Erbil
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
111
 
12
2
 
 
97
 
14th
4th
 
 
89
 
18th
7th
 
 
69
 
24
11
 
 
26th
 
32
17th
 
 
0
 
38
21st
 
 
0
 
42
25th
 
 
0
 
42
24
 
 
0
 
38
20th
 
 
12
 
31
15th
 
 
56
 
21st
9
 
 
80
 
14th
4th
Temperature in ° Cprecipitation in mm
Source: Climate-Data.org
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Erbil
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 12 14th 18th 24 32 38 42 42 38 31 21st 14th O 27.2
Min. Temperature (° C) 2 4th 7th 11 17th 21st 25th 24 20th 15th 9 4th O 13.3
Temperature (° C) 7th 9 12 18th 24 30th 33 33 29 23 15th 9 O 20.2
Precipitation ( mm ) 111 97 89 69 26th 0 0 0 0 12 56 80 Σ 540
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
12
2
14th
4th
18th
7th
24
11
32
17th
38
21st
42
25th
42
24
38
20th
31
15th
21st
9
14th
4th
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
111
97
89
69
26th
0
0
0
0
12
56
80
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Economy and Infrastructure

Modern Majidi Mall in Erbil

Erbil's economic position in Iraq was insignificant for decades. The reasons were Saddam Hussein's policies , the operations and massacres of the Iraqi army , as well as the consequences of the uprisings after the Second Gulf War and the subsequent civil war between the Kurdish factions. This changed suddenly with the Third Gulf War : Since terrorist attacks by Baathists and Islamists are the order of the day in other parts of Iraq , more and more companies are moving to Erbil. This has led to brisk economic activity in Erbil as well as to a strong increase in the population (2003: approx. 700,000; 2010 over 1 million; 2014 approx. 1.4 million). In November 2009, Prime Minister Barham Salih opened the new Majidi Mall. International stores and brands such as Adidas and Nike are also represented there.

Fruit and vegetable stand in the Erbils Bazaar

Erbil has taken over functions that Amman previously had in Jordan, e.g. B. as a trade fair location and as a location for large conferences. Since February 2010 there is a German business office that helps German companies.

air traffic

Great Mosque of Erbil

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Erbil Airport was converted from a military base into an airport for civil aviation. The airport opened on July 7, 2005 and now offers scheduled flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East . In 2014, 1,566,000 passengers used the airport. Compared to the previous year, the number of passengers has increased by 31%. After the independence referendum of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan on September 25, 2017, Iraq closed the airport to international flights. Humanitarian, military and diplomatic flights were exempt from the ban. In March 2018 international flights to and from Erbil were allowed again.

Erbil International Airport

Major projects

Green belt

The Green Belt in Erbil is a sub-project of the Erbil Master Plan, the implementation of which has been planned since 2007 and has been approved since 2012. It is an artificial green area and is to be created with a circumference of 80 km around the city. It should consist mainly of agricultural land and afforested forests. The main aim of the project is to minimize the effects of sandstorms and to slow down the creeping desertification and, in the best case, to end it. Further goals are an end to the urban sprawl in Erbil in order to avoid high infrastructure costs, and a competitive regional agricultural sector with stronger local marketing of the cultivated products. In addition, tourism is to be expanded here with incentives for investment. Furthermore, the Green Belt should serve as a local recreation area and have a long-term positive effect on the city's climate.

Downtown Erbil

In 2013, Emaar Properties , the largest real estate company in the United Arab Emirates , announced the construction and planning of Downtown Erbil based on the model of Downtown Dubai. Emaar Properties is known for major upper-class projects such as Downtown Dubai and Burj Khalifa . Downtown Erbil is, at 3 billion US dollars in costs, the most expensive major project in the entire Kurdistan region to date. The future city center, with an area of ​​541,000 m², is to be used for apartments, hotels and a shopping center.

Gulan Street

Furthermore, wide ring roads are being laid out to stimulate further urban development. The focus of today's urban development is Gulan Street , five years ago a country road and bypass around Erbil. It leads from the main Erbil-Mosul about 6 kilometers to the main road Erbil- shaqlawa and is now marked by various residential areas, shopping malls and skyscrapers. The now fourth ring road is named after Qazi Mohammed , the first President of the Republic of Mahabad ; the area around this street has already been largely released for development.

Erbil master plan

Until the beginning of 2009, the Iraqi state had no legal basis for creating a legal framework for orderly urban planning, for example for the preparation of zoning plans or development plans. Due to the outstanding importance of Erbil for the Kurdish region, the administration decided on a development and land use plan that is designed to run until 2034. A new shopping center called Nistiman Mall is still under construction. It is to serve as a replacement for the shabby Scheikalah market district of the former city center. Most of the old city center will be demolished in favor of green spaces. The old citadel has already been evacuated and converted into an open-air museum. This first phase of the development plan should be completed by 2014.

The master plan includes:

education

There are many international educational institutions in Erbil, including US, British, French and German schools and universities. The oldest university in the city and also in the autonomous region of Kurdistan is Salahaddin University . It was founded in Sulaimaniyya in 1968 and was named University of Sulaimani. In 1981 the Iraqi regime relocated it to Erbil and renamed it Salahaddin University due to the city's massive Kurdish resistance against Saddam Hussein. It has been based in Erbil since 1981 and is the most visited university in the Kurdistan region. In addition to Salahaddin University, there are other universities in Erbil, including the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr , which was founded in 2006 and specializes in health sciences, and Hawler Medical University .

In September 2010 a German school was opened in Erbil, initially with five classes as well as a kindergarten and preschool.

Attractions

Restored house facades on the south side of the citadel

The most famous attraction of the city is the citadel of Erbil , which received the status of a world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2014 . It is over 8,000 years old and is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world. Assyrians , Akkadians , Babylonians and Greeks lived in this settlement before . The city-famous, traditional Qaysari Bazar is located at the southern entrance of the citadel  . This bazaar was founded in the fourteenth century when the city began to expand. Since then, souvenirs, gold jewelry,  textiles and homemade food have been traded in the bazaar  .

Personalities

  • Ibn Challikān (1211–1282), Arab biographer and Islamic legal scholar
  • Muhammad al-Khatib Erbili
  • Dawan Koye
  • Aram Hawleri
  • Dashti (1909–1957)
  • Abdullah Ismail Ahmad (* 1927), Kurdish politician of the Progressive Kurds Movement or the Kurdish Revolutionary Party
  • Safwat Jarah (1935–2010), actor and director
  • Muhammed Aref (1937–2009), artist
  • Abdulla Paschew (* 1946), poet
  • Rasul Bezar Gardi, singer
  • Mishko, singer
  • Fuad Ahmed Tabib, singer
  • Homer Dizayee, singer
  • Nihad Latif Kodscha (* 1957 or 1958), former mayor of the city
  • Ahmad an-Naqschbandi (* 1930), Kurdish politician and head of government of the Kurdish Autonomous Region (1977–1980)

Town twinning

See also

Web links

Commons : Erbil  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b http://www.citypopulation.de/Iraq-Cities.html Retrieved on 2015.
  2. Malte Herwig about a new Iraq - which begins in the Kurdish city of Erbil. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. Retrieved February 3, 2014 .
  3. ^ Sites in Iraq, Japan, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia inscribed on the World Heritage List. UNESCO press release of June 21, 2014, accessed on August 30, 2014
  4. Germany extends a hand to Iraq. Press release from the Federal Foreign Office
  5. Frank-Walter Steinmeier makes the Kurds proud. In: Die Welt , February 18, 2009
  6. ^ William J. Hamblin : Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC . Routledge , 2006, ISBN 0-415-25589-9 , pp. 111 ( online ).
  7. ^ Geoffrey Khan : A grammar of neo-Aramaic: the dialect of the Jews of Arbel, Part 1, Volume 47 . BRILL, 1999, ISBN 978-90-04-11510-1 , pp. 2 ( online ).
  8. I. Gershevitc, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1985 to 964 pages, s p. 37
  9. HF Russell: Shalmaneser's campaign to Urartu in 856 BC and the historical geography of Eastern Anatolia according to the Assyrian sources . In: Anatolian Studies 34, 1984, pp. 171-201.
  10. Iranica: Arbela. Iranicaonline.org , accessed May 21, 2012 .
  11. ^ The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names (3rd Ed), Oxford University, 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-175139-4 .
  12. Erbil Governorate Profile July 2009. (PDF) Retrieved October 28, 2010 (English).
  13. Erbil Governorate Profile 2013. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 31, 2015 ; accessed on July 31, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iau-iraq.org
  14. Czech archaeologists uncover Stone Age tools in Erbil (Hewler), Iraq. Radio Prague , March 17, 2010, accessed December 8, 2010 .
  15. Blitz offensive near Erbil. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung. Retrieved November 22, 2014 .
  16. Obama orders air strikes against extremists in Northern Iraq. In: Tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved November 22, 2014 .
  17. The jihadists' lightning advance caused the USA to attack. In: Zeit Online. Retrieved November 22, 2014 .
  18. ^ Lower Ground Floor. (No longer available online.) In: majidimall.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016 ; accessed on January 21, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / majidimall.com
  19. Birgit Svensson: Waiting for normality. In: welt.de , May 2, 2010 (print edition page 86)
  20. About EIA - Welcome Message. In: erbilairport.com. Erbil International Airport, accessed December 9, 2015 .
  21. EIA sees continued growth despite challenging aviation and economic environment. In: erbilairport.com. Erbil International Airport, February 8, 2015, accessed December 9, 2015 .
  22. Baghdad is 'abusing its authority' with flight ban: Erbil airport chief . In: Rudaw . ( rudaw.net [accessed August 20, 2018]).
  23. Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Erbil Airport in Sleeping Beauty | DW | 09/29/2017. Retrieved August 20, 2018 .
  24. Reuters Editorial: Iraq PM Abadi orders reopening of Kurdish airports for ... In: US ( reuters.com [accessed August 20, 2018]).
  25. a b Kurdistan Review Special Edition. Opportunities Unlimited. Invest in Group, 2014, accessed February 3, 2016 .
  26. Ari Mamshae: "Green belt" to aid Erbil's natural barriers to sand storms. In: Kurdish Globe. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015 ; Retrieved February 8, 2015 .
  27. Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hawlergov.org
  28. the EMAAR company website
  29. Emaar launches $ 3bn "Erbil Downtown" project
  30. Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / momt.krg.org
  31. http://www.investingroup.org/interview/92/
  32. ^ Universities in the Kurdistan Region. In: cabinet.gov.krd. Retrieved January 25, 2015 .
  33. A German School in Iraq. Communication from the Federal Foreign Office, accessed on September 22, 2010 .
  34. ^ Ulrich Leidholdt: Opening of the first German school in Iraq. (MP3) Deutschlandfunk, September 16, 2010, accessed on September 22, 2010 .
  35. ^ Revitalization of the Erbil Citadel in Iraq. In: unesco.org. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), accessed December 21, 2015 .
  36. Qaysari Bazaar. In: erbillifestyle.com. November 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2015 .