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Selected article 1

Portal:Kurdistan/Selected article/1

Erbil, known as Hewlêr, is the largest city and capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It is located 88 kilometres (55 miles) east of Mosul and has a permanent population of approximately 1.5 million as of 2013.

Urban life at Erbil (Hewlêr) can be dated back to at least 6000 BC, and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At the heart of the city is the ancient Citadel of Arbil. In the early part of the 3rd millennium BC, the Hurrians from Asia Minor were the first to establish Urbilum and expand their rule to parts of northern Mesopotamia. The city became an integral part of Assyria from the 25th century BC to the 7th century BC, but after it lost its independence at the end of the 7th century BC, both Assyria and the city of Erbil were under the rule of many regional powers in turn, including the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians and Greeks. Following the Arab Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia, the Arabs dissolved Assyria (then known as Assuristan/Athura) as a geo-political entity in the mid-7th century AD, and during medieval times the city came to be ruled by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks.

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Sanandaj is the capital of Kurdish culture and Kurdistan Province at Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 373,987. Sanandaj is the twenty-third largest city in Iran. Until the 17th century it was only a small village, when the governor of the region, Suleyman Khan Ardalan, built (or renovated) a fortress there, known as "Sena Dezh", which gave the town its Persian name. Some sources date the origin of the fortress to the period of Abbasid rule (750–1258).

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Sulaymaniyah or Slemany, is a city in Southern Kurdistan (Kurdistan of Iraq) and the capital of Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Sulaymaniyah is surrounded by the Azmer 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. Sulaymaniyah 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, Sulaymaniyah has developed into a large city with a population of more than 1,500,000 people. It is an important economic center for northern Iraq and has been named the cultural center for Sorani-speaking Kurds.

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Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the Tigris River, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province and with a population of about 1.6 million, it is the second largest city in Turkey's south-eastern Anatolia region, after Gaziantep.

Diyarbakir is also a major cultural and economic center in Turkey and as such has been a focal point for conflict between Turkey's government and its Kurdish population.

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The Kurdistan Regional Government is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurdish region of Northern Iraq referred to as Iraqi Kurdistan, South Kurdistan, or sometimes simply Kurdistan. It consists of a unicameral parliament with 111 seats known as the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament.

The cabinet is selected by the majority party or list who also select the prime minister of the Kurdistan region. The president of Kurdistan is directly elected by the electorate of the region and is the head of the cabinet and chief of state who delegates executive powers to the cabinet. The prime minister is traditionally the head of the legislative body but also shares executive powers with the president. The president of Kurdistan is also the commander-in-chief of the Peshmerga Armed Forces. Parliament creates and passes laws by a majority vote, and the president has the power to veto any bill.

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The Flag of Kurdistan first appeared during the Kurdish independence movement from the Ottoman Empire. The Kurdish flag with the Red, Yellow, Green and White with sun disk of 21 rays is currently used as the official flag of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in Iraq, which is under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government. The flag is banned in Turkey, Iran and Syria.

The main characteristic of the flag is the blazing golden sun emblem at the center, supposedly representing wisdom in Zoroastrianism and Yezidi religion. The sun disk of the emblem has 21 rays, equal in size and shape. The number 21 holds importance in the ancient Yazdani religious traditions of the Kurds.

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Jews of Kurdistan (Hebrew: יהודי כורדיסטן, romanized: Yehudei Kurdistan; Kurdish: Kurdên cihû ,کوردە جووەکان, lit. 'Kurdish Jews') are the ancient Eastern Jewish communities, inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan roughly covering parts of northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. Until their immigration to Israel in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. The Jews of Kurdistan largely spoke Aramaic and Kurdish dialects, in particular the Kurmanji dialect in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is an Iraqi-Kurdish political party in Iraqi Kurdistan. The PUK was founded on May 22, 1975, by coordination between Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Ali Askari, Fuad Masum, Adil Murad, and Abdul Razaq Faily. Talabani, a former student leader, lawyer, journalist and resistance leader, has been the Secretary General of the PUK since its founding in 1975. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, and democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq. Fuad Masum is the current president of Iraq. The current Deputy Secretary General is Kosrat Rasul Ali.

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Peshmerga are the largely improvised military forces of Iraqi Kurdistan. The overall formal head of the peshmerga is the President of Iraqi Kurdistan. The peshmerga force itself is largely divided and controlled separately by the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, although both pledge allegiance to the Kurdistan Regional Government. Efforts are under way to gather the entire force under the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.

Because the Iraqi Army is forbidden by law from entering Iraqi Kurdistan, the Peshmerga along with other Kurdish security subsidiaries are responsible for the security of the Kurdish Region. These subsidiaries include Asayish (official intelligence agency), Parastin u Zanyarî (assisting intelligence agency) and the Zeravani (military police).

In 2003 during the Iraq War, the peshmerga are said to have played a key role in the mission to capture Saddam Hussein. In 2004 peshmerga forces captured al-Qaeda key figure Hassan Ghul who revealed the identity of Osama Bin Laden's messenger, which eventually led to Operation Neptune Spear and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

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Kirkuk is a city in the north of Iraq, 236 kilometres (147 mi) north of, Baghdad, and 83 kilometres (52 miles) south of Erbil. It is the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.

Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an enormously diverse population, which has moreover experienced dramatic demographic changes in the course of the twentieth century. The city has been multilingual for centuries, and the development of distinct ethnic groups was a process that took place over the course of Kirkuk's urbanization in the twentieth century. Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians and Arabs lay conflicting claims to this zone, and all have their historical accounts and memories to buttress their claims.

The city sits on the site of the ancient Hurrian southern capital of Arrapha, which sits near the Khasa River on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement (Kirkuk Citadel). It became known as Arrapha under the domination of the Hurrians—pre-Aryan peoples. The city reached great importance again under the later, but short-lived Assyrians in the 10th and 11th centuries BC. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires—the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Babylonia, and Media—which controlled the city at various times.

Selected article 11

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Kermanshah is the largest Kurdish speaking city in Iran. this city is located 525 kilometres (326 miles) from Tehran in the western part of Iran. According to the 2011 census, its population is 851,405. People mostly speak Southern Kurdish. Kermanshah has a moderate and mountainous climate.