PM Barzani to establish General Directorate of Tourism for Halabja Province

Dler S. Mohammed 2021/11/01 15:54

Halabja Province Monument, Kurdistan Region. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan Halabja General Directorate of Tourism Halabja Province Masrour Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan Region) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani decided to establish the General Directorate of Tourism for Halabja Province on Monday.

The newly-established directorate will report to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism.

Azad Tofiq, Halabja’s governor, told Kurdistan 24 that the province welcomes the prime minister’s decision, anticipating that it will lead to the development of its tourism sector

“We welcome Prime Minister Barzani’s decision to establish the General Directorate of Tourism for Halabja Province,” Tofiq told Kurdistan 24. “I would like to thank the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers for their important decision to add another important office to the administration of Halabja.”

Tofiq told Kurdistan 24 that the two main active sectors in Halabja province are agriculture and tourism.

“Creating the General Directorate of Tourism for Halabja Province will have tremendous development benefits for the province’s tourism sector,” he said, adding that it will likely “encourage investors from Sulaimani Province, and other provinces in the region, to come to Halabja and invest in its tourist sector by establishing restaurants and other tourist facilities.”

Any candidate for the position of the General Director of Halabja General Directorate of Tourism should have at least a bachelor’s degree in tourism, Tofiq said.

“As soon as we receive the written official order for creating the new directorate, we will nominate a qualified candidate who ideally should at least have a bachelor’s degree in tourism and we will send his/her name to the KRG Council of Ministers for their approval,” he said.

Halabja Province is located 215 kilometers southeast of Erbil, and 10 kilometers from Iran’s border. It became a province in 2014. Previously it was part of Sulaimani province. Today it is the Kurdistan Region’s fourth province.

On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi Air Force attacked Halabja with chemical weapons, killing 5,000 people in a single day. The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as an act of genocide on March 1, 2010.

The bombing was one of many horrific crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan by the former Saddam Hussein regime that ruled Iraq. Kurds observe the event every year by holding special ceremonies and standing in silence for five minutes on the street to pay their respects to the victims.

Halabja province is known for its annual Pomegranate Festival held every October.

In recent years, Halabja pomegranate have become increasingly popular outside the Kurdistan Region, with foreign diplomats serving in the region taking pomegranates from the region back to their countries.