Silêmanî (Sulaymaniyah), the second-largest city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has a particular atmosphere that sets it apart from its sister capital Hewlêr (Erbil). People from across the region describe it as more literary, more politically charged, more given to argument and art. Whether that reputation is fair to Hewlêr is another discussion, but it tells you something real about Silêmanî and the pride its residents take in their city’s cultural life. Founded in the late eighteenth century by the Baban emirate, it is a relatively young city by Middle Eastern standards, yet it has packed a great deal of history, poetry and sorrow into its short existence.
A City That Loves Its Parks
Silêmanî is greener than many cities in the region. The wide, tree-lined boulevard known as Salim Street is a favourite place to walk in the evenings, and the city has several parks where families gather at weekends. Azadi Park, whose name means freedom in Kurdish, sits close to the centre and fills up on Fridays with picnickers, children and old men playing backgammon. The surrounding mountains are visible from much of the city, giving it a sense of being held gently in a landscape rather than dropped onto a plain. In spring, when the hills turn green and the air is still cool, the city can feel almost impossibly pleasant.
The bazaar at the heart of Silêmanî is a good place to understand how the city works. It is less ancient in its architecture than the bazaars of older cities, but it is lively and well-stocked, and the tea houses around it are places where conversations about politics, football and poetry can run on for hours. Silêmanis, as the city’s people are sometimes called, have a reputation for being opinionated, and a visit to any tea house will quickly confirm it.
The Poets of Silêmanî
Silêmanî has produced some of the most important figures in modern Kurdish literature, particularly in the Sorani dialect, which is the form of Kurdish most widely spoken and written in Southern Kurdistan and parts of Iran. The city is strongly associated with the classical Kurdish poet Nali, who lived in the early nineteenth century and whose romantic and philosophical verse is still read and memorised today. Mahwi and Salim are among the other celebrated poets connected to the city, and the tradition they represent has never really stopped.
Poetry in Silêmanî is not only a school subject or a museum exhibit. It is something people quote in conversation and post on social media. The city has long supported a literary scene of coffee-shop readings, small publishers and fierce critical debate. Kurdish writers from elsewhere in the region have often made their way to Silêmanî because it offered an audience willing to take literature seriously. That culture of reading and argument is one of the things people mean when they call it Southern Kurdistan’s city of culture.
Amna Suraka: The Red House
No visit to Silêmanî, and no honest account of the city, can pass over Amna Suraka. The name means Red Security in Kurdish, and it was the name given to the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence services in the city during the Baath party era. It was a place of detention and interrogation where many Kurdish people were held and where great suffering occurred. When Kurdish forces took control of the city in 1991, the building was captured and eventually transformed into a museum.
Today, Amna Suraka is one of the most significant memorial museums in the Middle East. It preserves the cells and corridors largely as they were found, and it documents the campaign of destruction carried out against Kurdish villages and communities during the Anfal operations of the late 1980s. A separate hall, known as the Mirror Hall, is lined with thousands of small mirrors and lights, each representing a village that was destroyed. The effect is quiet and overwhelming.
The museum handles its difficult material with care. It does not perform grief or demand a particular response. It simply shows what happened, as clearly and honestly as possible, and trusts visitors to draw their own conclusions. Many Kurds from the diaspora visit Silêmanî specifically to see it, sometimes to find records relating to family members, sometimes simply to understand a period of history they grew up hearing about in fragments.
Silêmanî on Kurdistan.fm
Silêmanî’s poets, musicians and storytellers have contributed enormously to the Kurdish cultural output you will hear on Kurdistan.fm. If the city has moved you, or if you have memories of it you would like to share, we would love to hear from you. Send us a message, request a song connected to the city, or just tell us what Silêmanî means to you.