Zakho

{{Short description|City in Iraq}} {{About|a city in northern Iraq}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox settlement | official_name = Zakho | settlement_type = City | native_name = زاخۆ | other_name = Zaxo | image_skyline = {{Photomontage | photo1a = | photo2a = Pra Delal (Delal Bridge) - Zakho.jpg | photo3a = | photo2b = | spacing = 2 | size = 280 }} | image_caption = The Little Khabur flowing through Zakho | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Iraq#Iraqi Kurdistan | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Iraq | coordinates = {{coord|37|08|37.00|N|42|40|54.88|E|region:IQ|display=inline}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Iraq}} | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_type2 = Governorate | subdivision_type3 = District | subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Kurdistan Region}} | subdivision_name2 = Duhok Governorate | subdivision_name3 = Zakho District | established_title = | established_date = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = 837 |area_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cosit.gov.iq/AAS/AAS2012/section_10/1.htm|title=الوحدات الإدارية ومساحتها كما في 2009|access-date=11 September 2025|archive-date=22 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822022530/http://www.cosit.gov.iq/AAS/AAS2012/section_10/1.htm|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> | area_total_sq_mi = | area_land_km2 = | area_land_sq_mi = | area_urban_km2 = | area_urban_sq_mi = | area_metro_km2 = | area_metro_sq_mi = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 440 | elevation_ft = | population_total = 260,000<ref> {{Cite web |title=Zakho City :: University of Zakho - Zakho City |url=https://web.uoz.edu.krd/zakho-city/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=web.uoz.edu.krd}}</ref> | population_as_of = 2010 | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = | population_urban = | population_metro = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = | timezone = UTC+3 | utc_offset = | timezone_DST = not observed | utc_offset_DST = | name = }} '''Zakho''', also spelled '''Zaxo''' ({{langx|ku|زاخۆ|Zaxo or Zaco}},<ref>{{cite web |title=زاخۆ |url=http://bot.gov.krd/kurdish/duhok-province/zakho |access-date=18 December 2019 |language=ku}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Celilê Celil, Dzhalile Dzhalil |title=Jiyana rewşenbîrî û sîyasî ya Kurdan: di dawîya sedsala 19'a û destpêka sedsala 20'a da |date=1985 |page=154 |language=ku}}</ref> {{langx|syr|ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ|Zāḵō}},<ref>{{cite web |title=List of all entries |url=https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/list.php?initial=z |website=Assyrian Languages |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref> {{Langx|hy|Զախո}},<ref>{{cite news |title=ԻՐԱՔՅԱՆ ՔՈՒՐԴԻՍՏԱՆ |url=https://akunq.net/am/?p=5093 |access-date=19 December 2019 |work=Արեւմտահայաստանի եւ Արեւմտահայութեան Հարցերու Ուսումնասիրութեան Կեդրոն |date=19 October 2010 |language=hy}}</ref> {{Langx|ar|زاخو}},<ref>{{Cite web|title=زاخو {{!}} كوردستان المدهشة - الموقع الرسمي للسياحة في كوردستان|url=http://bot.gov.krd/arabic/duhok-province/zakho?&&&&page=1|access-date=2021-06-17|website=bot.gov.krd|archive-date=4 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404195506/http://bot.gov.krd/arabic/duhok-province/zakho?&&&&page=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{langx|aij|זאכו|Zāxo}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Yona Sabar|title=A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary: Dialects of Amidya, Dihok, Nerwa and Zakho|date=2002|page=156}}</ref>) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq, at the centre of the Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing. Zakho is known for its celebrations of Newroz.

The population of the town rose from about 30,000 in 1950 to 350,000 in 1992 due to Kurds fleeing from other areas of the country.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sabar|first=Y.|date=|title=Zāk̲h̲ū|url=|journal=Encyclopedia of Islam|volume=|pages=|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_8099}}</ref>

The original settlement may have been on a small island in the Little Khabur river, which flows west through the modern city to form the border between Iraq and Turkey, continuing into the Tigris. Other important rivers in the area are the Zeriza and the Seerkotik.<ref>http://www.zaxo.at/index.php?page=32 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706095721/http://www.zaxo.at/index.php?page=32 |date=2011-07-06 }} retrieved 15 May 2011</ref>

==History== {{For timeline}} Gertrude Bell, the renowned British archaeologist and Arabist who advised British governors in the region in the closing years of the British Mandate, was convinced that Zakho was the same place as the ancient town of Hasaniyeh. She also reported that one of the first Christian missionaries to the region, the Dominican friar Poldo Soldini, was buried there in 1779. His grave was still a pilgrimage destination in the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |title= Amurath to Amurath |publisher=Macmillan |last=Bell |first=Gertrude Lothian |year=1924 |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.106098 |access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref><ref name="Campanile 1953">{{cite web |title= Histoire du Kurdistan |publisher=Le Kréyé|last=Campanile|first=Giuseppe|year=1953|url= https://www.institutkurde.org/publications/etude_kurdes/pdf/Campanile.pdf |access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref>

The town is also the site of Zakho castle, of which today only the tower remains, and of Qubad Pasha castle, a hexagonal structure in Zakho cemetery.

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."<ref>Mordcechai Zaken, Jewish Subjects and their Tribal Vhieftains in Kurdistan, 2007: 33-35.</ref> 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."

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{{who|date=April 2020}} described the town as a great trading centre, famous for its gallnuts as well as rice, oil, sesame, wax, lentils and many fruits.<ref name="Campanile 1953" />

During the Crimean War, the strain on Ottoman military resources allowed Yezdanshir Beg, nephew of the Kurdish ruler Bedirkhan Beg, to launch a major rebellion in the region. In November 1854, he seized Jezira b. Omar, killed local Ottoman administrators, and extended his control toward Zakho. In early 1855, the Ottoman commander Helmy Pasha organized a relief force that included 2,000 Yazidi horsemen under the Mir Hussein Beg of the Sheikhan principality, who according to Hormuzd Rassam recognized Yezdanshir as a more dangerous enemy than the Ottoman governor who had recently deposed him. Yezdanshir was known for his openly hostile views toward Yazidis; the American missionary Henry Lobdell recorded hearing him declare that he wished to drink the blood of every Yazidi, Jew, and Christian he encountered. At Redwan, a British vice-consular source reported an eyewitness account of Yezdanshir personally killing between twenty-five and thirty Yazidis, having offered a bounty for live Yazidis to execute.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Guest |first=John S. |url=https://books.google.de/books/about/The_Yezidis.html?id=0gumEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y |title=The Yezidis: A Study in Survival |date=2023-01-27 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-81750-8 |pages=112-114, 116 |language=en}}</ref>

Hussein Beg led his forces against the rebels outside Zakho, defeated them, and entered the town without resistance, formally capturing it "in the name of His Majesty the Sultan". For this service, Hussein Beg was received in audience by the sultan and awarded the title of ''kapi çuhadari'' (keeper of the official gate).<ref name=":0" />

=== Recent history === thumb|Joint forces headquarters in Zakho, 1993 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,45a5199f2,45a519d32,4a697dee1e,0.html|title=KDP Flexes Muscles in Dohuk|date=2009-07-21|publisher=Institute for War and Peace Reporting|access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref> Oil drilling began in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.institutkurde.org/en/info/foreign-oil-deal-renews-debate-on-kurd-autonomy--1134220944.html|title=Foreign oil deal renews debate on Kurd autonomy|date=2005-12-09|publisher=USA Today|access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref>

====Islamic history==== In Islamic history it is perhaps best remembered as the location of the Battle of the Zab between the Umayyads and the Abbasids.

The river forms the approximate political boundary of Kurdistan Regional Government area of Iraq today. Its sister, the Little (or Lower) Zab rises in north-western part of Kurdistan province Iran, in the north of Piranshahr city and flows south-west through Iraq to join the Tigris north of the town of Baiji. The Dukan Dam straddles the Little Zab some 150 miles upstream from its confluence with the Tigris River. Constructed between 1954 and 1959, the dam has a total discharge capability of 4,300 cms. The power station, constructed in 1979, holds five water turbines and provides 400 MW of electrical energy.

In 1991, Zakho was occupied by the British and the Americans during the Gulf War in "Operation Provide Comfort", to provide support to the Kurdish rebellion against the Iraqi government. Most of the inhabitants of the city had fled to the mountains. In the following years, the city came under the control of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region and many of its Kurdish citizens began to return to the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA254123&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604210725/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA254123&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|title=Operation Provide Comfort: a model for future operations|last=Cavanaugh|first=John P.|year=1992|publisher=School of advanced military studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas|access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref>

The 27 February 1995 Zakho bombing 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgDi9qFT41oC&q=a+modern+history+of+the+kurds|title=A modern history of the Kurds|last=McDowall|first=David|publisher=Tauris|year=2004|isbn=9781850434160|access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref>

In 2008 it was reported that the Turkish Armed Forces maintained four bases in Zakho District, under an agreement concluded with the Iraqi government in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2462785|title=Iraqi Kurdish Paper Says Turkish Military Bases Inside Kurdistan Region|date=2008-08-01|publisher=iStockAnalyst|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004135848/http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2462785|archive-date=2011-10-04|access-date=2009-09-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The 2011 Dohuk riots, which targeted Yazidi- and Assyrian-owned businesses, were sparked by Kurdish Muslim clerics in the town.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/03/world/meast/iraq-kurdistan-attack/|title=Kurdish leader: Clerics 'instigated ... acts of sabotage,' wounding 25|last=Tawfeeq|first=Mohammed|date=3 December 2011|newspaper=CNN|access-date=4 December 2011}}</ref>

====Christianity==== {{see also|Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiyah and Zaku}} [[File:Zakho 2011 (1).jpg|thumb|St. George Chaldean Cathedral in Zakho.]] 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.{{cn|date=June 2021}} The Armenians of Zakho established their community after the Armenian genocide, with the first Armenian church in the city being established in 1923.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maryam Alazra church –Zakho – Kesta |url=https://www.ishtartv.com/en/viewarticle,35632.html |website=www.ishtartv.com}}</ref>

====Judaism==== {{see also|Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Zakho}} Zakho was formerly known for its synagogues and a large, ancient Jewish community. In the middle of the 19th century, Zakho became the chief spiritual center for the Jews of Kurdistan, and many sources refer to it as yerušalayim de-kurdistan 'the Jerusalem of Kurdistan.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aloni |first=Oz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HReEAAAQBAJ |title=The Neo-Aramaic Oral Heritage of the Jews of Zakho |date=2022 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-80064-304-8 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sabar |first=Yona |title="Zakho," |url=https://www.academia.edu/39766613 |journal=In Norman A. Stillman, Ed., Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Vol. 4 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 659-661 |pages=660 |quote=Travelers and local rabbis referred to Zakho as the 'Jerusalem of Kurdistan.' }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gavish |first=Haya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVdmAkMtgUUC |title=Unwitting Zionists: The Jewish Community of Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan |date=2010 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-3366-2 |pages=44 |language=en |quote=In many sources, Zakho is called "Jerusalem of Kurdistan," and in one of them even "Jerusalem of the Diaspora." According to Rabbi Haviv 'Alwan, Zakho was called "Jerusalem of Kurdistan" because Jews living in villages at a walking distance of three or four days from the city had to come there to be ordained as a rabbi, a shohet (ritual slaughterer), or a mohel (a person authorized to perform a circumcision).}}</ref>

The banks of the nearby Khabur River are mentioned in the Bible as one of the places to which the Israelites were exiled (1 Chronicles, 5:26,<ref>{{Cite web |title=BibleHub {{!}} I Chronicles 5:26 |url=https://biblehub.com/1_chronicles/5-26.htm |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=BibleHub.com}}</ref> 2 Kings 17:6,<ref>{{Cite web |title=II Kings 17:6 |url=https://biblehub.com/2_kings/17-6.htm |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Biblehub.com}}</ref> 2 Kings 18:11<ref>{{Cite web |title=II Kings 18:11 |url=https://biblehub.com/2_kings/18-11.htm |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Biblehub.com}}</ref>).

The Jews spoke the Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Zakho and were also fluent in Kurmanji, the language spoken by non-Jewish Kurds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unwitting Zionists: The Jewish Community of Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan p.48|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2009|last=Gavish|first=Haya|url=http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|access-date=2009-09-06|archive-date=17 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217065036/http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{see also|Zakho pogrom}} Kurdish society was primarily a tribal one. The Jews of Zakho bore arms like Kurdish Muslims.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unwitting Zionists: The Jewish Community of Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan p.28|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2009|last=Gavish|first=Haya|url=http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|access-date=2009-09-06|archive-date=17 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217065036/http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unwitting Zionists: The Jewish Community of Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2009|last=Gavish|first=Haya|url=http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|access-date=2009-09-06|archive-date=17 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217065036/http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/937/Unwitting-Zionists|url-status=dead}}</ref> While the Jews of Zakho were among the least literate in the diaspora, they had a unique and rich oral tradition, known for its legends, epics and ballads, whose heroes came from both Jewish and Muslim traditions.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Changes in the oral tradition among the jews of kurdistan |publisher=Contemporary Jewry - Springer Netherlands|date=2008-10-09 |last=Shai|first=Donna |journal=Contemporary Jewry|volume=5|pages=2–10|doi=10.1007/BF02965657|s2cid=143952535|url= https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02965657 |access-date=2009-09-06|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Climate== Zakho has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (''Csa'' in the Köppen climate classification) with very hot, dry summers, and cool wet winters.

{{Weather box |width = auto |location = Zakho |metric first = Yes |single line = Yes |Jan high C = 10.2 |Feb high C = 12.2 |Mar high C = 16.5 |Apr high C = 21.8 |May high C = 29.1 |Jun high C = 36.2 |Jul high C = 40.4 |Aug high C = 40.0 |Sep high C = 35.7 |Oct high C = 27.9 |Nov high C = 19.4 |Dec high C = 12.3 |year high C = |Jan low C = 1.9 |Feb low C = 3.1 |Mar low C = 6.1 |Apr low C = 10.1 |May low C = 15.0 |Jun low C = 20.1 |Jul low C = 23.7 |Aug low C = 23.2 |Sep low C = 19.2 |Oct low C = 13.7 |Nov low C = 8.4 |Dec low C = 3.9 |year low C = |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 144 |Feb precipitation mm = 136 |Mar precipitation mm = 129 |Apr precipitation mm = 109 |May precipitation mm = 43 |Jun precipitation mm = 0 |Jul precipitation mm = 0 |Aug precipitation mm = 0 |Sep precipitation mm = 1 |Oct precipitation mm = 27 |Nov precipitation mm = 83 |Dec precipitation mm = 127 |year precipitation mm = |humidity colour=green |source 1 = <ref>{{cite web | url = https://en.climate-data.org/location/934497/ | publisher = Climate-Data |title = CLIMATE: ZAKHO |access-date = 21 January 2017}}</ref> |date= 2017 }}

==Landmarks== thumbnail|Delal Bridge|280px One of Zakho's famous landmarks is the Delal Bridge, made of stone.

Zakho Castle lies in the city centre on the western bank of the Khabur. 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. thumb|Sharansh waterfall The Qubad Pasha Castle, in Zakho's cemetery, is hexagonal, with six windows and an entrance gate.<ref name=kurdawary>{{cite web |title = Zaxo |publisher = Kurdawary |year = 2004 |url = http://www.geocities.com/kurdawarypictures/zaxo.htm |access-date = 2009-09-06 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091025204329/http://geocities.com/kurdawarypictures/zaxo.htm |archive-date = October 25, 2009 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

== Population displacements == 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.<ref>{{cite web |title= GOVERNORATE ASSESSMENT REPORT: DAHUK GOVERNORATE |publisher=UNHCR |date=September 2007 |url= http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/471f4c9ba.pdf |access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref>

== Sports == Zakho Football Club (Zakho FC) was founded in 1987. The sports club plays in the Iraq Stars League, where only the top 20 Iraqi football clubs play. Zakho FC has its own stadium with a capacity of 20,000 seats. thumbnail|Football Stadium of Zakho Zakho Basketball Club (Zakho SC) won the Kurdistan Basketball Super Cup and beat Duhok SC in Erbil.<ref>[http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/35414131C83363E6262B94DC0300AD09/Zakho-wins-Kurdistan-basketball-Super-Cup.html "Zakho wins Kurdistan basketball Super Cup] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307172438/http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/35414131C83363E6262B94DC0300AD09/Zakho-wins-Kurdistan-basketball-Super-Cup.html |date=2014-03-07 }}," ''Kurdish Globe'', retrieved 2014-01-30</ref>

==Notable people==

* Saleh Yousefi (1918-1981), poet and politician *Yona Sabar (b. 1938), Jewish scholar *Yitzhak Mordechai (b. 1944), Israeli former general and politician *Louis Raphaël I Sako (b. 1948), Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon *Andraos Abouna (1949-2010), Chaldean Catholic bishop *Walid Yunis Ahmad (?), television journalist *Erdewan Zaxoyî (1957–1986), Kurdish singer *Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i, islamist militant *Eyaz Zaxoyî (1960–1986), Kurdish singer *Chiya Hamid Sharif (b. 1975), politician *Shirin Hassani Ramazan (b. 1980), politician *Barzan Tilli-Choli (b. 1982) Iraqi-Kurdish gangster *Kassem Taher Saleh (b. 1993), politician *Dadvan Yousuf (b. 2000), Kurdish entrepreture

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * {{Cite book|last=Chabot|first=Jean-Baptiste|author-link=Jean-Baptiste Chabot|title=Synodicon orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens|year=1902|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie Nationale|url=https://archive.org/download/ChabotSynodiconOrientale/chabot%20synodicon%20orientale.pdf}}

==External links== * [https://archive.today/20130103232446/http://www.iraqimage.com/pages/browse/Zakho.html Iraq Image - Zakho Satellite Observation]

Category:Zakho Category:District capitals of Iraq Category:Assyrian communities in Iraq Category:Cities in Iraqi Kurdistan Category:Populated places in Dohuk Province Category:Kurdish settlements in Iraq Category:Historic Jewish communities in Iraq Category:Yazidi communities in Iraq