adminlatest catwalk fashions and stroll freely through an amusement park without fear of bombs.
Arbil lies in the heart of the semi-autonomous Kurdish area, a safe haven for Iraqis seeking fun and a break from the almost daily attacks that still hit most of the country more than eight years after the US-led invasion.
The province’s capital city, also called Arbil, boasts a top designer-label shopping experience in one of its many malls and is home to the Citadel, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.
“It’s like an independent Iraq,” said Ahmed, who lives in Tikrit, the home town of former dictator Saddam Hussein who was toppled by the 2003 invasion.
“Other parts of Iraq have no electricity, no water. Just bombs,” she added, while sitting with her husband and daughter at the foot of the Citadel, enjoying a cool spray from one of the many lit-up fountains dotted around the area. Her 14-year-old daughter, Rasan, agrees.
“It’s much better here. We are more free, we can walk, go anywhere. In Tikrit, my day involves going from school to home, studying and then sleeping,” she said.
“Here I like to shop and go to the amusement park.”
The Kurdish region has been virtually autonomous for 20 years and was little affected by the country’s most recent war. Foreign investment has been steady, allowing for the development of chic shopping malls, five-star hotels, fitness centres and even an indoor ice-skating rink.
Over the three-day Eid ul-Fitr festival last week, 152 000 people visited the Kurdish region, of whom 99 000 went to the province of Arbil, according to Mawlawi Jabbar, director-general of tourism in Iraqi Kurdistan. – Reuters.
Online Reporter