The Citadel of Erbil; or in Kurdish "Qelay Hewlêr"

On Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, our band of expats boarded a bus to go to the center of Erbil.  Our goal was to tour the Citadel.   It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world. There is evidence that people have inhabited this site for 8000 years.  Many conquerors have come and gone.  But of particular note is the Mongol conquest in 1259 after a six month seige.  The Mongols appointed a Christian governor to the town and there was an influx of Jacobites, who were allowed to build a church. Persecutions of Christians started however in 1289, leading up to the massacre of all Christians in both the lower town and the citadel town in 1310.  Therefore the area we visited was a place of martyrdom for many, many people. 

North gate entrance at the top of the citadel.  Kathy on left in yellow top.

View from north gate looking out over Erbil towards Ankawa.

Some of the restored buildings.

Winding path to the east side of the Citadel where the nobility and royalty lived.

Ruins of dwellings.

More single family dwellings.

We finally reach the ruins of the nobility.

View from a Citadel window, looking east out over the Qaysari Market ( bazaar ).

From the courtyard of a wealthy person's home.  All of the following photos are of another wealthy person's home.  The murals on the walls are incredible.  The attention to detail, including the ceilings, showed that the owners had been a family of great wealth.

Look at the remains of this brick wall.  Very interesting way to lay brick.

View of another courtyard in the rizty part of the Citadel.

After our visit to the Citadel, we descended to street level to do some shopping at the Qaysari Market.  I did not take many photos.  I seemed to draw a great deal of attention to myself whenever I pulled out my camera inside the bazaar.  Therefore, I have provided an excellent link that someone has created with superb pictures of the bazaar.  I hope you take the time to look at them.  The photographer has truly captured the essence and the reality of the bazaar.

Photos of the Qaysari Market

jw

3rd Road Trip-To Zakho & the Turkish Border

On Saturday, July 28, 2012 our band of explorers headed east from Zakho.  Our first destination was the village of Bersawa.  We went to the church of St. George.  People in this part of the world have a great devotion to St. George as there are many churches named in his honor.  Since it was Saturday morning, religion classes for children were in progress.  They knew we were coming to visit and all the classes had prepared a song to sing for us as we went from classroom to classroom.

The kids singing and doing hand motions for the song.  Michael Schaad knew the song and hand motions too, so he joined in, delighting all the kids.

Our group of travellers posed in the church courtyard in front of a large statue of St. George slaying the dragon.  The nun in the picture runs the school at the church.  The elder gentleman in the front row, below the horse's tail, was born in Bersawa.  His English was very good and he told us many stories.  After our visit to the church, we walked around the village a bit.  The elder gentleman took us to the site of his ancestral home.  Below follows pictures of what remains of that home.

During the early years of Saddam's regime, he had to deal with Kurdish rebels throughout Kurdistan.  The boyhood home of our host was a large two story structure that was being used as a hospital by the rebel forces.  The ruins that you see in the pictures are what remains after it was bombed by Saddam's air force.

After touring the village, we went to Father's home ( the priest in blue ) for some air conditioning and some refreshments.  He answered any questions that we had.  He is a married priest with four children.  He use to be a civil engineer in Bagdad.  He is in the north due to violence against Christians in Bagdad.  He has done a great deal for the people of the village and surrounding area.

After our visit to Bersawa, we went to a smaller village to see the church.  The people depended on agriculture to sustain theirselves.  Their roots in the village and their ties to the land go back many, many generations.

 A view of the area around the village.

As the church was named after Saint Abraham, this is the mural above the altar.

Then it was off to the mountains for lunch.

 We drove along a valley road for some time.  The mountains on both sides of the valley were quite remarkable.

We arrived to a spot where there was a shallow stream flowing with cold water.  Much to our surprise, the church community of Zakho had arranged for us to have a picnic, Kurdistan style.  That meant that the table and chairs were placed in the water.  We were obliged to take off our socks and shoes in order to enjoy the feast that had been prepared for us.

It was the first time in weeks for me to experience the sensation of cold and refreshing water!

The food was so good that I couldn't get my subjects to stop eating in order to smile for the camera.

After lunch, we packed up and headed back to Ankawa.  We had a four hour bus trip ahead of us and did not arrive until 9:30 p.m. that evening.  Our visit to Zakho and beyond gave each of us a greater appreciation for the faith that has been handed down to us by previous generations.  Our hope and prayer is that we continue to be strong in the faith so that their sacrifices were not in vain.

 jw

3rd Road Trip-To Zakho & the Syrian Border

Today is August 3, 2012.  Ankawa is situated near the eastern edge of the Arabia Standard Time Zone. The next eastern time zone is the Iran Standard Time zone.  Daylight Saving time is not observed here.  Thus the official sunrise was 5:13 a.m.; from my apartment window, I observed that the sun peaked over the mountain at 5:28 a.m.  81° was the temp. at sunrise, 113° the predicted high for today.  Highs and lows are predicted to be the same for the next 10 days.  High temps. are about 6° hotter than North Texas, low temps are about the same. 

A view of the city of Dohuk. It stretches all the way to the foothills of the mountains.

A view of the first Chaldean Catholic church that we visited on Friday, 7/27/2012.  This one is in Dohuk.

We visited many churches on this roadtrip.  The pastors always greeted us with warmth and hospitality.  Their stories were very similar.  After the fall of Sadam, Christians in southern Iraq became targets of terrorists.  Kidnappings for ransom money were common tactics employed against the Christians.  This is due to the fact that many were owners of successfull businesses.  To secure safety for their families, they fled the country to places like Australia, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.
Those without the means to leave Iraq fled north to Kurdistan.  Most arrived with whatever they could wear and pack into a suitcase.  Unemployment is high among the Christian communities.  The overall Christian population is about half of what it was 10 years ago.  Smaller congregations mean smaller resources to draw upon from the local communities.
 International aid has become increasingly important.  However, aid is not always able to be used.  One story told was how a grant and a license was secured for a church to build a community center.  A contractor with a front end loader was contacted to begin the project.  He arrived at the site to start.  He inquired as to what the construction project was.  Upon being told that it was for the Church, he packed up his equipment and left, as he was not a Christian.  According to him, his faith would not allow him to work for the Church.  The center has yet to be constructed, as there are no Christians who own the needed equipment.

Aview of Zakho, looking northwest.  The mountains are in Turkey.  The river in the foreground is the Khabur.  From just east of Zakho, and through the center of town, the Khabur snakes its way west, along the Iraqi/Turkish border until it merges with the Tigress River near Syria.  Zakho is a major trade city with Turkey.  Trucks hauling freight are everywhere and clog the roads.  Rail service for hauling freight and passengers is severely limited, although the Iraqis have strategic plans in place to change that situation.

This is a view of Cudi Mountain in Turkey.  Zakho, Iraq is in the foreground.  Cudi Mountain is in Sernak province in southeastern Turkey.  Sernak derives its name from "Sehr-i Nuh" which translates to City of Noah.  In this part of the world, many believe that Cudi Mountain is where Noah's Ark finally came to rest on dry ground.
After arriving in Zakho, we had lunch at the chancellory with a priest who is acting in an administrative capacity.  He shared with us many of the hardships and fears that the local Christian community of Zakho have, especially after the December 2011 riots in Zakho that were directed at Christian businesses. 
After lunch we drove west towards the Syrian border where we stopped along the way to visit a small church in a farming community.  Then it was off towards the village of Fayah Khabur.

Descending from a pass towards Fayah Khabur.  Tigress River in center of photo, with Syria beyond.

Kathy standing on a church balcony, looking west, with the Syrian village of Khanik behind her on the opposite bank of the Tigress River.

Same balcony, camera pointed towards the northwest.  The church is situated on a large bend of the Tigress River.

Close up of Syrian village of Khanik.

Another view of the Tigress from an eastern bank, just below the church.  Soon we left to return to Zakho for dinner along the bank of the Khabur River near the famous Delal bridge.



The Delal bridge, in the center of Zakho, was built during the Roman era. There are several legends associated with this bridge.  Dinner was at 9:30 p.m., then it was off to the hotel for much needed rest.  Tomorrow would bring another day of visiting the area around Zakho with several unexpected surprises.


 

2nd Kurdistan Road Trip - Part V

In the last post, I ended it with the visit to the Prophet Nahum's tomb, which was in an old and abandoned synagogue in Alqosh.  From there we returned to the retreat center for dinner and rest. 

This is a setting sun backlighting an outside wall of the retreat center.

The retreat center had a small chapel in the basement of the building.  However, basement does not quite capture the essence of the chapel - it was more like a cave chapel.

From a balcony of the retreat center - looking north out over the village of Alqosh.  How many satellite dishes can you count?

Looking east out over Alqosh with the Ninevah plain beyond the village limits.  Note the standard rooftop water storage tanks.

Looking southeast over Alqosh, with the Ninevah plain beyond and the city of Mosul off in the distance, just over the horizon.

Another look of the rooftops of Alqosh.  Alqosh is a fairly large village.  Some of the villages that we would visit the following weekend near Zakho are not much more than a few farming families who dwell in close proximity to each other.

This is a zoom of the previous picture, focusing on a hilltop cemetary.  There is also a wall around the cemetary.  All of the cemetaries that I have seen in Iraq are situated on a hill or high spot in the landscape.

The next day we visited more monasteries and old churches.  They are similar in design and structure as those that I have previously posted.  The sense that one gets from visiting all of these ancient places is that there once was a time when the faith of the fathers was contagious and world changing.  Incredible sacrifices were made to bring the Light of Christ into a hostile and inhospitable environment.  I wonder if we have become too immersed in the times that we find ourselves, that we have forgotten what it might cost to "go and make disciples", to truly get so out of our comfort zones that we can no longer see them anymore.  I wonder?

Your brother in Christ,

Joe