ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdish leaders on Thursday congratulated the people of Sulaimani on the 240th anniversary of the establishment of the city.

“Congratulations to the beloved people of the city on the 240th anniversary of the founding of Sulaimani, the city of culture, literature, resilience, and sacrifice,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani wrote in a post on X. “I wish them success.”

Sulaimani, the second largest city in the Kurdistan Region, was founded by Ibrahim Pasha, a Kurdish prince, on November 14, 1784, who named the city after his father, Sulaiman Pasha.

Sulaimani is known as the Cultural Capital of the Kurdistan Region and is recognized as a UNESCO City of Literature.

“Sulaimani is a prominent and influential name in the politics and cultural history of the Kurdistan nation,” President Barzani said, adding that Sulaimani “has always been a source of pride” to all of the Kurdistan Region.

A significant number of pioneers of Kurdish poetry, authors, and political leaders including current Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rsshid, and his predecessor Barham Salih have hailed from Sulaimani.

Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose party administratively rules the province of Sulaimani, marked the city’s anniversary, describing it as “the symbol” of Kurdish nationhood.

“We are commemorating those intellectuals, writers, and artists who brought the nickname of culture to the city of cities,” Talabani said in a post on Facebook.  “Sulaimani is in our spirits, and we are protecting it like our eyes.”

Sulaimani is situated in the eastern part of the Kurdistan Region. The city is surrounded by the Azmar, Goisha, and Qaiwan mountains in the northeast. The city is a major a tourism hub and receives a significant number of tourists every year from southern and central Iraq and beyond.

As part of events to mark the city’s founding, a tourism exhibition launched in Sulaimani on Thursday and is set to continue over the next two days.

“A total of 100 local and international tourism companies, some of which came from Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran, are taking part in the fair,” Sirwan Tofiq, marketing manager at the Kurdistan Region’s Tourism Board, told The New Region.

“The fair aims to increase coordination between the tourism companies from other countries to exchange tourist groups and draw foreign investment.” 

Sulaimani province covers 30 percent of the tourism sector of the Kurdistan Region. Every year, millions of holidaymakers visit its tourist attractions.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to announce a number of major tourism projects across Sulaimani within the framework of a masterplan to further boost the sector in the province.