UNESCO sites of Kurdistan

[Guti]

I think the Kurdish areas are one of the most unexplored areas when we talk about archaeology and so on.

[Zert]

Hey all, I haven't got much time these days, so no update, but I wanted to share with you all a little file in which I've been collecting the best pictures of Kurdistan's historical sites, as well as some of nature's beauty.

Hope you'll like it:
http://uploaded.to/file/t18y5s49

And as an extra, you guys might be interested in this site I found lately:
http://www.saradistribution.com/eighten ... urdish.htm
it has some pretty awesome authentic artworks with Kurds.

[Zhala]

Thought I might add a couple of Churches I would love to visit and will once the crazies stop bombing the crap out of Mosul. These places are visited mostly by Christian minority. While Mosul is not technically under Kurdish governmental control, many still consider it an originally Kurdish city, (as I clearly do.

St. Elijah's Monastery Dating back to the 6th Centruy.



Rabban Hormizd Monastery Dating from 640 AD

[Zert]

Nice churches, but I and many other Kurds do not consider Mosul part of Kurdistan. It's not Kurdish in terms of history, nor in demographics.

[Azamat]

@Zhala - I appreciate it if one has a liking of churches(Russian Orthodox churches are my favorite), but I would not understand why he/she would want to visit the particular ones that are managed by a group that despises us to such an extent that they find it acceptable to openly write all sorts of filthy articles and pieces about us on the internet(I need not mention which ethnic group I am talking about here). And these churches are their propaganda centres where the religious elders incite the members(including children) with anti-Kurdish hatred. Why would any Kurd want to visit them?

[unitedkurdistan]

Nice churches, but I and many other Kurds do not consider Mosul part of Kurdistan. It's not Kurdish in terms of history, nor in demographics.

Didn't the medes and babylon siege Nineveh togheter, so why should the arabs have the right to claim it. Then we shouldn't consider Hewler kurdish aswell. Just look around Mosul, all the villages are kurdish. Mosul should be half kurdish half iraqi.

[Kurdistano]

Nice churches, but I and many other Kurds do not consider Mosul part of Kurdistan. It's not Kurdish in terms of history, nor in demographics.

Well it is. historically this part was populated by majority with Kurds (yezidis and muslim) but demographics today have changed.

[Zhala]

@Zhala - I appreciate it if one has a liking of churches(Russian Orthodox churches are my favorite), but I would not understand why he/she would want to visit the particular ones that are managed by a group that despises us to such an extent that they find it acceptable to openly write all sorts of filthy articles and pieces about us on the internet(I need not mention which ethnic group I am talking about here). And these churches are their propaganda centres where the religious elders incite the members(including children) with anti-Kurdish hatred. Why would any Kurd want to visit them?

Azamat, your comment is baffling. So I shouldn't want to visit Baghdad or Karbala because Iraqi Arabs are anti Kurdish? I shouldn't visit Egypt, Jordan or Lebanon because most of those Arabs would choose their own kind over Kurds? If that was the case, Kak Azamat, then we Kurds would have a very limited list of places we could visit!

Let them write what they want. Let them say what they want. I will visit the centres for Christian faith in land that Kurds have lived in for centuries and there is nothing they can do about it! Religous elders and children do not scare me nor do they scare any Kurd.

[Zhala]

Nice churches, but I and many other Kurds do not consider Mosul part of Kurdistan. It's not Kurdish in terms of history, nor in demographics.

Well it is. historically this part was populated by majority with Kurds (yezidis and muslim) but demographics today have changed.

To explain why I consider Mosul Kurdish comes back to my knowledge of things like this:

In and around Mosul, the third-largest Iraqi city, some 70,000 Kurds have fled their homes so far this year. Many have run away after receiving an envelope with a bullet inside and a note telling them to get out in 72 hours. Others became refugees because they feared that a war between Arabs and Kurds for control of the region was not far off.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kurds-and-arabs-vie-for-control-of-mosul-417693.html 2006

And this:

An investigation in 2009 pointed out that more than 2,500 Kurds had been killed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosul

When someone tries to take something away from you, you hold on to it harder. Kurds were targeted throughout history because they were Kurds so we are naturally very patriotic. Shi'a Muslims were targeted for their religion hence they hold their religion close to themselves. The more and more Kurds in Mosul suffer adverse conditions the more convinced I am that after Kirkuk, we need to reclaim Mosul.

ANYWAY! Kak Zert, I thank you for an excellent thread and I will not be offended at all if you would like me to remove the Church post I don't want to ruin your thread with Mosul/Kurd debate, lets just celebrate Kurdish glory. I am trying to find a picture of quite a large Church just outside Koya that I pass all the time on the way to Hewler. I am told that the location is historical but I think the Church has been renovated....I will find out more.

[Zhala]

Found out information about that Church just outside Koya. Called Mar Bena 'Monastery', it was decimated by Sadam and was they are rebuilding it according to its original features. Whenever I pass it, it looks huge, but I can only find pictures of a small dinky little Church hut. So I guess they have taken the renovation seriously and gone back a few decades to recapture it's previous grandeur. Here is a link to the web page with a picture of the Church and other fascinating historical sites around Koya: http://joestrippin.blogspot.com/2011/11/charmed-by-koya.html The article is written by a very sweet tourist.

Mar Bena Church




Something else I found whilst researching was a Zoroastrian fire temple discovered recently (2006) in Dohuk. The picture doesn't flatter but it is incredibly old and it goes to show that there is a fountain of historical sites that are just waiting to be discovered in Kurdistan.

Zoroastrian Temple

[Azamat]

@Zhala - I was actually referring to Assyrians. Iraqi Arabs are just a political nuisance; there is no authentic, deep hatred coming from them. Honestly, I have no issues with Arabs abroad. Most of them couldn't care less for our presence and our cause. That is definitely not the case with the other mentioned group though.

[unitedkurdistan]

Incase the pics doesn't show up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR8fUAkfJRA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE1AsJs1lgo&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

This tomb of great Cyaxares can't become more kurdish, it's a cave

[Zhala]

I'm aware you were referring to Assyrians. Iraqi Arabs are more than just a political nuisance, throughout the past century they have proved to be criminals, murderers and abusers of human rights.

[Zert]

PART 4B
RELIGIOUS SITES: CONTINUED

Last time I talked about the famed Pool of the Sacred Fish, a symbol for Abrahmic faiths; and Girê Navokê, a complex which was possibly used as a temple by Neolithic peoples. Today I would like to continue, so, without further ado:

5. Lalish (Nineveh Region)

The Yezidis, an ethnically Kurdish (though, not everyone would agree on us) group with a unique religion, number about 1 million in the world. A poor people, they have had to endure severe massacres and oppression, often even by other Kurds. There's one place though, which they can proudly claim as theirs, and only theirs, and that place is Lalish.

Situated in a valley, Lalish is a small town near Mosul. Here many tombs of holy men and historical buildings remain, built in the uniquely Yezidi style. As such, it's a pilgrimage sites for all Yezidis; every Yezidi is expected to visit Lalish at least once. Present in and on the buildings is symbolism of the faith, such as snakes and coloured ribbons (a visitor has to tie his/her own ribbon, and untie that of another visitor to solve his/her problems).

Although Yezidis like to claim that Lalish is as old as humanity itself, these temples were probably at one time mosques or churches, and were 'converted' around the 10th century AD; with structures increasingly built after the arrival of the religion's reformer, Sheikh Adi.







6. The Temple of Anahita (Kangavar, Kirmasan)

Another trace of ancient religiosity can be found near Kirmasan. There, the ruins of an ancient temple, believed to have been built for the reverance of the Goddess Anahita can be found.

Anahita was an Iranic Goddess, present in Zoroastrianism. She was regarded as one of the most important divinities, and seems to have been especially popular in Western Iran. She symbolised Water, Wisdom, Health and Fertility.

Of the temple itself not much remains; although grand in surface, the structure and columns have broken down. Though from what remains archaeologists have deducted that it was probably originally built in the Parthian period, and then renovated in the Sassanid Period; in a style heavily inspired by that of the Hellenistic (Greek) culture.

[Welato_21]

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Malabadi-bridge.JPG]