Duhok

Duhok or Dahuk is the capital of the Duhok Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan. The city is encircled by mountains along the Tigris river. Duhok has a growing tourist industry. Its population has increased rapidly since the 1990s, as the rural population moved to the cities after villages were destroyed by the Iraqi army. The University of Duhok, founded in 1992, is a renowned center for teaching and research. The city of Duhok is populated by Kurds and Assyrians. Duhok has been a center for many refugees since 2014 as the Kurdistan Regional Government was the only governorate in Iraq to take in Iraqi and Syrian refugees.

Duhok Governorate contains many mosques and historical shrines and tombs built during the Ayyubid period and historical sites from the Guti Medes, and still exist in the present, including the Great Duhok Mosque, the Azadi Mosque, the Saladin Salah Din Al - Ayoubi Mosque and the Great Mosque in Aqrah. It also has historical churches such as the Mar Odisho Church in the village of Dooreh located in the Amadiya District, the Church of Mart Shmoni and the Church of Sultana Mahdokht which was established in 325 AD in the village of Araden.