Slemani | city, capital city of state/province/region

 city, capital city of state/province/region

Sulaymaniyah (Arabic: Sulaymaniyah,السليمانية /Kurdish: سلێمانی) is a city in South Kurdistan. The city is surrounded by the Azmer Mountain Range, Goyija Range and the Qaiwan Range in the northeast, Baranan Mountain in the south and the Tasluja Hills in the west. The city has a semi-arid climate with very hot dry summers and cool wet winters. Silemani served as the capital of the historic Kurdish principality of Baban from 1784 to 1850.

The modern city of Sulaymaniyah was founded on 14 November 1784 by the Kurdish prince Ibrahim Pasha Baban who named it after his father Sulaiman Pasha. Because it was founded as the capital of a powerful Kurdish principality, Silemani has developed into a large city with a population of more than 1,613,397 people. It is an important economic center for northern Iraq and has been named the cultural center for Sorani-speaking Kurds continuously since 1992.

From its foundation Silemani was always a center of great poets, writers, historians, politicians, scholars and singers, such as Nalî, Mahwi, Piramerd, Muhammed Emin Zeki Bey, Taufiq Wahby, Sherko Bekas, Bachtyar Ali, Mahmud Barzanji, Mawlawi, Mawlânâ Khâlid and Mustafa Zihni Pasha.

Today Sulaimani has developed in most modern life aspects, hotels, motels, supermarkets & Malls, theatres, restaurants & Parks.
From the cultural perspective, Sulaimani is considered to be the capital of Kurdish culture, the famous old Saray situates at the center of the city, while many museums are distributed. Sulaimani Embrace several universities & Educational Institutions both Public & Private, in addition to the American University.

History:

The capital of the Kurdish Baban principality (1649–1850), before Silemani was a territory named "Qelaçiwalan". At the time of the Babani's rule there were major conflicts between the Safavid dynasty and the Ottoman Empire. Both Sultan Mahmud II and Nadir Shah were trying to gain the support of the dispersed Kurdish Emirates. This obliged Mahmud Pasha of Baban in 1781 to think about moving the center of its Emirate to another safer place. He chose Melkendî, then a village but now a district in central Silemani, to construct a number of Serahs for his political and armed units. In 1784 there was erected a number of palaces for trade called Qeyserîs and bazaars, which were also used as baths, and began inviting people from the surrounding villages and Emirates to move to the newly established city. Soon Melkendî, which was originally intended to be the city itself, instead became one of its quarters and still is today.
Silemani has since its foundation been the center of Kurdish nationalism, and it was from here that Mahmud Barzanji sparked the first rebellion against the British occupation on 22 May 1919 with the arrest of British officials. He attempted to declare an independent Kingdom of Kurdistan on 10 October 1921, issuing a statement in Silemani, then the capital of Kurdistan, to establish the Kingdom of Kurdistan.

The British occupation declared Sheikh Mahmud king in order to persuade the residents of Sulaymaniyah to stop their rebellion, but Sheikh Mahmud ruled independently from the British and wanted them out of the kingdom. As a result, in the same year he was exiled for several years to the Andaman islands in India by the British, only to return and raise another unsuccessful rebellion in 1923, centered in Silemani. In January 1926 the League of Nations gave the mandate over the territory to Iraq, with the provision for special rights for Kurds. In 1930-1931, Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji made his last unsuccessful attempt to free Kurdistan. He retreated into the mountains and later signed a peace accord with the Iraqi government and settled in the new Iraq in 1932.

The first and oldest neighborhood in the city is called Goyija, which was named after the mountain overlooking the city. Sabûnkaran was of the city's first neighborhoods; its name means "those who make soap" in Kurdish and its residents were mainly involved in the soap industry. Cûlekan, the Jewish neighborhood, was mainly inhabited by Kurdish Jews. In the 1950s, after the establishment of the state of Israel, most of its inhabitants migrated to the newly created state.

On 23 April 1982, during the Iran-Iraq War, a demonstration broke out in the city against the arrests and torture of the city's youths who were accused of planning a revolt against the ruling Arab Ba'ath regime. Following the Gulf War, a series of nationwide uprisings broke out across Iraq against the Ba'athist rule, including the 1991 uprising in Silemani, led by the Kurdish separatist parties KDP and PUK. Since its successful liberation in 1991, teh city has been administered by the Kurdish Government(KRG), being the second biggest metropolis, second to Hewler(Erbil). Silemani is the headquarters of PUK and Gorran parties.

Population

In 1820, only 26 years after the creation of the city, a British man named Rech visited the city and estimated that its population was more than ten thousand, containing 2,144 families of which 2,000 were Muslim, 130 Jewish, and 14 Christian. Ottoman documents from 1907 suggest that there were 8,702 Muslim and 360 non-Muslim residents living in the city at that time. The Peshkawtin newspaper which was distributed in Silemani in 1920 estimated its population to be around ten thousand. According to Iraqi government documents, by 1947 the number of residents(in the province) had increased to 23,475; by 1998 to 548,747, and in 2009 to 2,000,000.
The Assyrian community in the city is relatively new and has been smalland there are several Assyrian churches in the city.

Economy

The Silemani Governorate has much fertile land such as the Sharazur and Bitwen plains which are considered two of the most fertile plains in the Middle East. Historically, Sulaymaniyah was mainly agricultural and one of the major suppliers of wheat and other agricultural products. Its role declined due to the policies of Saddam Hussein aimed at reducing the city's economic potential as it was a center of the Kurdish revolution. Since 2003 Iraq has seen a huge economic boom. Silemani's economy today relies on tourism, agriculture and a number of small factories, most of which are involved in the building trade.

Education

Public education is free from primary school until graduation from university. The University of Silemani was opened in 1968 with instruction in Kurdish, Arabic, and English. It has faculties in engineering, agriculture, the arts, science, and medicine. It is the largest university in South Kurdistan.
A new University of Silemani was established in 1991, teaching in Kurdish, English and Arabic. And the second new university is Silemani Polytechnic University was established in 2012, teaching in Kurdish, English and Arabic.
In 2007 The American University of Iraq – Silemani,(AUI-S) was a new addition to the American universities in the Middle East, holding its first classes in October 2007. Instruction is in English only.
The Kurdistan University of Science and Technology (KUST) - Silemani was established and licensed by the Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research in Kurdistan Region Government, by the official letter no. 17867/7 on 18 October 2009. KUST is a private university governed by a Board of Trustees and run by an Administration Council.

Culture

Silemani is considered the center of the Sorani Kurdish culture in Kurdistan. It is recognized officially as the cultural capital of South Kurdistan. Development of Sorani as a modern literary language started in this city in the early 19th century, when many Kurdish poets such as Nalî, Piramerd, Muhamed Amin Zaki, Abdulla Goran, Muhamad Salih Dilan, Ahmad Hardi, Ibrahim Ahmad, Sherko Bekas, and Bachtyar Ali published their works.
The city is known for its open, relatively liberal and tolerant society when compared to other cities of Kurdistan. In 2006 the Movement for Change started in Sulaymaniyah and challenged what it called the "corrupt" and "nepotistic" Kurdish Government. The movement gained massive support from the city.
The two independent newspapers Hawlati and Awena and the two independent political magazines Lvin and Shock, are published and distributed in Sulaymaniyah city.
Silemani assumes its own style of music which have borrowed from traditions of the city, Muhamad Salih Dilan is widely considered to be the greatest singer from the city and had the greatest role in developing Kurdish maqam. The city is also considered to be the birthplace of modern Kurdish music, There are a number of musical groups formed since 1950, including band Mawlawi (supervised by the artist Qadir Dylan), the band Sulaymaniyah, the band Sulaymaniyah University, the band Sulaymaniyah Girls, led by the Silemani Orchestra artist Anwar qaradaghi after the 1991 uprising.
Silemani is the only city in South Kurdistan that regularly celebrates world music day or Fête de la Musique. In one trip to the city, a journalist working for the BBC wrote about Sulaymaniyah's distinct culture: "Culture is hugely important to the Kurdish people, especially in Sulaymaniyah, but there is a strong pull to the west--modernisation and consumerism--driven perhaps by the satellite televisions they have had access to since they started running their own affairs...And at the university, students mill around the campus, chattering with each other and doing some last-minute cramming for their exams. The war only stopped lectures for a few weeks. There are probably more women than men and they are happy to air their views to anyone who asks