Iraq North / Sever

North Iraq

The first time I visited North Iraq was in 1974 on the way back from India.

The second time, it was before the war (with Iran). It is the part, (especially area Kirkuk – Erbil – Mosul) known as “Kurdistan” (and for some “Wild Kurdistan”) since it is inhabited mostly by Kurds.

There were a lot of conflicts between them and the Iraqi government. I was visiting that part in a few occasions. I saw a lot of armed Kurds: guns, cartridge belts etc. It reminded me of images of Chetniks from history books in the school at that time. I heard that they used to kidnap some Europeans but, I didn’t have a problem. Actually, during all my time in Iraq, I felt somehow safe, except not taking in consideration Iranian attacks.

Later, I went through the same area a number of times (I had building sites in Kirkuk and Mosul). Since the beginning of the war (with Iran), the problems with Kurds escalated. The government introduced curfew in Kirkuk, Erbil and Mosul. They introduced checkpoints with bunkers at the entrances of the cities and heavily armed guards were controlling entries and exits from the cities. Nobody was allowed entry or exit into the cities during the night. Traveling between cities during the day was allowed only with military escort.

In North Iraq I was most interested in Mosul (because of Nineveh and Khorsabad), Hatra and Samara because of the spiral ziggurat (which is actually a minaret of the great mosque).

Severni Irak

Severni Irak sam prvo obisao kao student na povratku iz Indije.

Drugi put sam tamo isao pre pocetka ratova. To je deo, pogotovu potez Kirkuk -Erbil - Mosul, poznat kao Kurdistan ( po nekima “Divlji Kurdistan”) obzirom da je naseljen uglavnom Kurdima. Bilo je dosta problema i sukoba vlasti sa njima. Te delove sam u to vreme obilazio mojim kolima. Vidjali smo naoruzane Kurde; puske, redenici preko grudi I sl. To me je podsecalo na fotografije cetnika iz udzbenika istorije iz osnovne skole. Cuo sam o nekim kidnapovanjima stranaca od strane Kurda ali ja nisam imao problema. Ustvari, sve vreme boravaka u Iraku ja sam se nekako osecao sigurnim, normalno, ne uzimajuci u obzir napade Iranaca.

Kasnije sam zbog posla nebrojano puta putovao tim delovima. Kada je poceo rat sa Iranom, problemi sa Kurdima su bili jos I veci. Vlasti su uvele policijski cas od veceri do jutarnjih sati u Kirkuku, Erbilu I Mosulu. Napravili su bunkere I uveli dobro naourzane straze na ulascima u grad. Izlazak I ulazak u gradove je u to vreme bio zabranjen. Kretanje izmedju gradova u toku dana je bilo dozvoljeno samo uz vojnu pratnju. Obicno bi se cekalo da se skupi odredjeni broj vozila pa bi vojna pratnja stitila konvoj. Ja nisam imao problema.

U severnom Iranu, najvise su me interesovala 3 mesta: Mosul, zbog starih gradova Ninive I Korsabada, Hatra I Samara zbog spiralnog zigurata (sto je usvari minaret).

Nineveh

Mentioned in the Book of Jonah
Established before 1800BC
From 14^thBC century capital of the Assyrian empire
Most prosperous period 7^th century BC
…palace without rival…” 503 x 242m
Till recently HQ of Islamic State
Can’t see much
Saddam began rebuilding the city

The relics of Nineveh and Khorsabad are mostly kept in museums in USA, England, France and Germany.

Saddam began rebuilding the city as he was doing with most of the ancient cities.

After Saddam was killed (by Americans), Mosul became the HQ of the Islamic State. Who knows what is left of Nineveh since then?

Niniva (Nineveh)

Grad je osnovan pre 18 veka pre nove ere
Pominje se u Bibliji (Book of Jonah)
Od 14 veka pre nove ere postaje glavni grad Asirijske imperije
Najnapredniji period je bio u 7 veku pre nove ere
U to vreme palata je smatrana najvecom na svetu 503m x 242m
Ostaci Ninive

U vreme kada sam ga ja posecivao tih godina, ostali su samo temelji. Onda je Sadam poceo da ga obnavlja (kao uostalom I vecinu starih gradova)

Inace, figure iz Ninive, Khorsabada I osalih mesta cuvaju se u muzejima u Americi, Engleskoj, Francuskoj I Nemackoj. Skoro nista nije ostalo na licu mesta.

Posle ubistva Sadama, Mosul je postao glavno utociste ISIS-a I pitanje je sta je ostalo od starih zidina Ninive.