ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of Daray Mar, an ancient village in the Hawraman region of southeastern Sulaimani, are returning to rebuild their community after decades of displacement. Forced to leave multiple times since the mid-1970s due to conflict and climate-driven water shortages, residents are now working to restore the village as both a livable settlement and a potential tourism destination.
“This is our water and our soil. A person without their own water and soil has no home, no identity, and no faith,” Affan Osman Daramary, a local resident, told Rudaw.
“Even if we cannot return to live here with our entire families, we should still make our village a symbol of culture for both this side and the other side of Hawraman,” he added.
The locals are now collectively carving stones to build pathway stones to facilitate movement through the village’s narrow and rugged terrain.
Spanning both sides of the Zagros Mountains, Hawraman is divided between western Iran’s Kurdish majority region, Rojhelat, and the Kurdistan Region.
Iraq in March 1975 signed the Algiers Agreement with Iran, renouncing part of its control over the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the country’s south. In exchange, Tehran ceased its support to Kurdish rebel groups in the Kurdistan Region.
Consequently, Iraqi forces created a several-kilometer-wide security zone along the Iran-Iraq border to prevent Kurdish fighters from accessing the area, marking the first displacement faced by the residents of Daray Mar in modern history.
After the March 1991 Kurdish uprising and the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from the area, the residents of Daray Mar returned to their land, only to be displaced again nearly five years later when hardline Islamist groups took control of Hawraman. This triggered a conflict with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), with the involvement of US forces, which lasted until the early 2000s.
Following the ouster of Saddam Hussein-led Baath regime in 2003, water shortages linked to climate change gradually forced the remaining villagers to leave, and Daray Mar became increasingly deserted.
However, the wet season this year has facilitated the villagers’ return. Residents are now building runoff channels to manage spring water that has been released due to heavy rainfall.
Sardar Qadir, a local resident, told Rudaw, “There are two main things we need: first, electricity; and second, a proper road. If the government supports us with these two needs and stands beside us, we can manage the rest of the work ourselves.”
He noted that tourist visits this year have increased compared to previous years, stating, “We have tourists on a daily basis.”