Mahabad

Mahabad (also Sablax , Kurdish: Mehabad, Persian: ساوجبلاغ ,سابلاخ, مهاباد ) is a city in northwestern Iran with an estimated population of 168,328 inhabitants in 2006. The city lies south of Lake Urmia in a narrow valley 1,300 metres above sea level, in West Azarbaijan Province. The name of 'Mahabad' (mah+abad) is the Persian translation of the ancient Mannaean name meaning place of moon, which is also a cognate with the Kurdish word mang. Mannaeans were a branch of Hurrians (Khurrites), a northern Mesopotamian people. It was referred to in the Turkic languages as 'Savoj-bolaq', or 'Sablakh', which means "Cold-spring water".
The population of Mahabad is predominantly Kurdish.