Sabunkaran: The Hawramistown in Sulaymaniyah

Variety 12:34 PM - 2021-03-03

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Sabunkaran is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sulaymaniyah city. It is located at the center of the city and nowadays the neighborhood is known as the Hawramistown of Sulaymaniyah similar to the Chinatown in New York.

 

Hawramis are people who are originally from Hawraman, which is a renowned border town located within Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Region, and from the Kurdistan Region's side, it is near Halabja city.

 

Many Hawramis work and have shops in the Sabunkaran neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, where you can find original Hawrami products from food to Kurdish clothes and many more.

 

Tahsin Hawrami, whose been a shop owner in Sabunkaran for over 30 years, sells Klash (Kurdish shoes), Shall ( a type of Kurdish clothes), and Hawrami products. 

 

Tahsin told PUKmedia: "In old times, Sabunkaran was a market for handicrafts and since then, the Hawramis have brought their works to this market to sell."

 

"After 1988 (The year that Halabja was bombarded with chemical weapons by the Baath regime), Hawramis and Halabjayis (the people of Halabja) have come to Sulaymaniyah and resided in Sabunkaran and opened shops to sell their products and nowadays most of the shop owners of this neighborhood are Hawramis and most of the other shops sell Hawrami products," he said.

 

Many people visit this neighborhood every day, especially Hawramis who live outside Sulaymaniyah city, as they come to visit their families and relatives here.

 

Tahsin says that one of the things that make this neighborhood different is that when a Hawrami or a Halabjayi dies, his/her name will stay hanged for days for his relatives who visit the area so that they know of the news.

 

Another shop owner, Kaiwan Hawrami, told PUKmedia that he has been working in this neighborhood for 20 years.

 

Kaiwan said: "In the 70s, Haji Mustafa Haji Qadir had opened a hotel in Sabunkaran for those who had visited Sulaymaniyah from Halabja and Hawraman."

 

"Haji Mustafa had always told his customers: Don't go to pay two rents!, he meant don't go and pay for the hotel and pay for cars too as Sabunkaran was the city center and war near the Baazar (market) so they did not need cars for transportation," Kaiwan added.

 

The neighborhood is a place for Hawramis and Halabjayis to gather and meet up in the city.

 

Haji Sabiq Tawelayi, another Hawrami shop owner, says: "This place has become the place to gather the Hawrmanis."

 

"There are a few shop owners who are Soranis ( Sulaymaniyah's speaking dialect), but even they have learned to speak in Hawrmani and even sell Hawrami products."

 

 

 

PUKmedia