Dohuk Dam

Tuesday, 30th May 2006 by

Taking its name from the nearby city of Dohuk, also spelled Dahuk, Dohuk Dam supplies the city with drinking water and has a 45m wide Kurdistan flag painted onto the Dam. Top to bottom the flag is red, white and green with a yellow sun in the middle.

Dohuk is located in Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous political entity located in Northern Iraq, although Kurdish nationalists call this "South Kurdistan" with "North Kurdistan" being in, uh, Southeast Turkey. I'm confused.

So, despite being technically in Iraq, the people here proudly fly the flag of Kurdistan and painted it on their dam - unlike the Kurdish regions of neighbouring countries Iran, Syria, and Turkey - where flying the flag is a criminal offence.

Thanks: Rawand Nawroly & J. L. Precup