Aqrah

Aqrah (Kurdish Akrê, ئاکرێ; Syriac: ܥܩܪܐ‎ ʻAqra, from the Syriac for "barren" in reference to the land) is a city and district in Iraqi Kurdistan which is located in the Dohuk Governorate since 1991. The total area of the district is 6418 km².

The city's cathedral is the episcopal see of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Aqra, an Eastern Catholic diocese, suffragan to the Chaldean Patriarch of Antioch.

District and government

The district of Aqrah was formed in 1877 by the Ottoman Empire and the city of Aqrah became the center of the district. Before 1991 the large district of Aqrah was part of Ninawa Governorate, but after the Kurdish Uprising in 1991, Aqrah district became a part of Dohuk Governorate.

Population

The population is mainly Kurds, but with an Assyrian minority.

Notable natives

Defend International President Widad Akrawi, the Kurdish film director, Hiner Saleem, and the Iraqi Ambassador to Austria, Tariq Aqrawi, were born in this city. Former Israeli General Yitzhak Mordechai was also born in Akre,. Hoshear Zebari the former Iraqi Foreign minister was born in Akre in 1953.