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Kirkuk castle…an edifice with a history of
a city underneath
1.4.2007 |
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April 1, 2007
Kirkuk, (Iraq-Kurdistan region) border, --
Kirkuk, apart from being Iraq's richest Kurdish oil
city outside Kurdistan region, is the home of a
historical castle that hosts the tombs of the
prophets Daniel and Ezra.
"The castle also includes the Red Church, which is
marked by mosaic inscriptions on its old walls, and
the mosques of Fadouli, Iryan and Hassan Bakis,"
Iyad Tareq, the Kirkuk antiquities director, said.
Tareq said the Kirkuk castle could be used as a
distinguished tourist site after some maintenance
works and certain arrangements.
The markets surrounding the castle are known since
old times as "Qaisariyas," a group of old stores
with four gates designed to resemble the four
seasons. Qaisariyas are a hallmark of Kirkuk
markets. The most prominent Qaisariya at present is
the one of al-Souq al-Kabir (Grand Market).
"In 1997 our department conducted a geological
scanning and new excavations in the castle and
unearthed a huge gate that leads to a city
underneath the historical site but the government
then prohibited opening that gate except by
archaeologists and specialists," Tareq said.
The Qaisariya market, which lies southeast of the
castle, was built as a trade center to make buying
and selling transactions easier for the people of
Kirkuk and has attracted different craftsmen and
their customers. Its stores are now occupied by
apothecaries, weavers, tailors, fabric and wool
dyers and sellers of blankets.
The Qaisariya, like any other historical buildings
in Kirkuk, is marked by its domes and marble arches,
which emblazon the market's entrance and stores.
A person interested in architectural art cannot but
be dazzled by the astronomical calculation used in
designing this market. The 360 stores in the market
signify the days of year and the 12 openings over
each store indicate the number of months in one
year.
There are 24 corridors symbolizing the hours of day.
The seven entrances of al-Qaisariya market indicate
the days of week.
One of the entrances welcomes the sun when it shines
and another bids it farewell when it sets.
"The people living near the castle are a potpourri
of Kurds, Christians and Turkomans who always lived
together in peace," Mohammed Ayden, 67, said. "Those
were the days. The castle used to be an attraction
for all visitors of Kirkuk."
The merchants in a particular trade are making their
own Qaisariya in the big market i.e. a group of
specialized stores like those selling household
appliances and another known as the "birds market,"
which witnesses a flow of customers on Fridays.
"I come on Fridays to buy and sell birds and poultry
and make some money but originally I am a collector
and seller of exotic birds," Rashid Khurshed said.
Khurshed said that the price of an exotic parrot,
for instance, reached 260,000 Iraqi dinars (200 U.S.
dollars).
The Kirkuk local council, in its regular meeting
this week, has decided to turn the Kirkuk castle
into a tourist utility and approved a budget to
conduct the necessary surveys.
Oil-rich Kirkuk, lies just south border of the
Kurdistan autonomous region (north iraq), has a
mixed population of majority Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans
and Assyrians.
Kurds stress that the city is part of the autonomous
region of Iraqi Kurdistan, noting they have been
subjected to forced relocation by the former Iraqi
regime. The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein
forced about 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry.
Kirkuk this year awaits measures to normalize the
situation there by implementing article 140 of the
constitution, which envisages the returning of Arabs
to their original areas and compensate them with 20
million Iraqi dinars and plots of lands and bringing
the relocated Kurds back to Kirkuk.
VOI
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
about 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdistani city and it lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region and
it is not under the full control of Kurdistan
Regional Government administration, its population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Turkmen.
Based on Iraq's Constitution a referendum is to be
held in late 2007 to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
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