Diana, Iraq

Diana (Arabic: ديانا‎, Syriac: ܕܝܢܐ) is a village in Erbil Governorate, northern Iraq. Diana is the capital of Soran district which has a population of approximately 125,000, of which 64% were refugees who returned to Iraq within the last ten years. The town has mushroomed from a small village in the 1990s, and is expected to increase within the next ten years by a further 50,000 people.

The name of name Diana is derived from the Kurdish word for "Christian" since it was settled initially by Assyrian Christians.

History

The town was originally inhabited by Assyrians albeit ruled by Kurdish Aghas.^[1]

The Soran District in particular has been flooded with returning refugees from Iran, where they fled between 1974 and 1989. The population grew from 27,000 in 1991, before the Kurdish uprising, to about 125,000 in the last fifteen years. Most of these returnees settled in and around Soran, unable to return to their villages which had been destroyed by the former regime’s army, or unwilling to return to locations still under threat of Turkish bombings and incursions and PKK existence there.

The Soran name basically was changed from Siddeeq to Soran, Siddeeq was a camp which was constructed in the late 70s and settled with Kurdish inhabitants from with populations in surroundign areas whom were forcefully displaced by Saddam Hussein's regime. After the uprising in 1991, siddeeq, which is an Arabic name changed to original the Kurdish name of Soran. However the city of Diyana has kept its name.

Diana is located on Hamilton Road connecting Arbil to Iran through Hajomaran (a sub-district of Choman district).

Languages

Both Sorani and Bahdini accents of Kurdish are equally common and used in the region. Persian is widely spoken along with the two accents of Kurdish because a large number of the inhabitants of the town are returnees from Iran, and a large number of them were even born and raised in Iran. Assyrians of Hawdiyaan village and Diyana speak Assyrian as their native language along with Kurdish and Arabic and have their own Syriac schools school.

Government

The current Mayor of Soran district is Kirmanj Izzat who was appointed by the Governor of Erbil.

Tourism

There are nice natural places around the city which makes people all around Iraq to come to this area the most important and famous is Alibag Water fall which on the 5,000 Dinar Iraqi bill the Jundian spring that has become a very nice place for the tourists to visit after the last renovation. the Famous and huge Bexal (Bekhal) spring which falls down from the high hill is only few miles away from the city.

References

1. ^ Hamilton, Archibald Milne (1937). Road through Kurdistan: travels in Northern Iraq. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 93. ISBN 9781850436379. http://books.google.com/books?id=bfNajoa3BtIC&pg=PA214. 

Coordinates: 35°18′N 44°50′E / 35.3°N 44.833°E / 35.3; 44.833