Mandali (, ) is a town in

Balad Ruz District Balad Ruz District () is a district of Diyala Governorate, Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, th ...

Diyala Governorate Diyala Governorate ( ) or Diyala Province is a Governorates of Iraq, governorate in northeastern Iraq. Provincial Government *Governor: Muthanna al-Tamimi *Deputy Governor: Mohammed Jassim al-Jubouri Council Geography Diyala Governorate ...

in Iraq, near the Iranian border. The town has a Feyli

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

majority, as well as significant

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and Turkmen communities. Mandali is

disputed Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an oppo ...

between the federal government of Iraq and

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

, and experienced

Arabization Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociology, sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arabs, Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic, Arabic language, Arab cultu ...

during the

Saddam Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vi ...

era.

History

The former name of Mandali was Bendink which was the capital of the Kurdish principality Bani Ammz. Kurds constituted 50% of the population in 1947 and the majority continued throughout the 1950s. About 4,000 Kurdish families were deported or fled the town after the collapse of the Kurdish movement in 1975. During September 1980 of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, the town and other nearby villages were attacked by Iranian forces. The population of the town was 25,656 in 1977 but decreased to 8,092 in 1987. A republican

decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

established Baladruz District in 1987 which Mandali was attached to. In 1987, Mandali district was abolished by the Ba'athist government and the area added to the

. On 12 March 2023, the district was re-established by the

Iraqi government The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as a democratic, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branche ...

. The ministry of planning said that they aim of this was to restore life to neglected districts. It also argued, that the decision to abolish the district was initially issued to hurt the local

Feyli Kurds Feylis (), also known as Feyli Kurds, is a Kurdish tribe based in the borderlands between Iraq and Iran. They speak Feyli (also known as "Ilami" or "Southern Kurdish Feyli") which is classified as a sub-dialect of Southern Kurdish, but is comm ...

Muhsin Al-Mandalawi Mohsen Ali Akbar Namdar Nazar Al-Mandalawi (born 26 July 1968) is a businessman, billionaire, politician and a deputy in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, in the October 10, 2021, election session, and his votes numbered 5,385 votes in the fi ...

, deputy speaker of the

Parliament of Iraq The Council of Representatives is the '' de facto'' unicameral legislature of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghda ...

at the time and a Feyli Kurd, who is seen as the mastermind behind the re-establishment of the district, nominated Farid Talib Ibrahim, also a Feyli, for the post of the mayor. This triggered protests from Sunni and Shia Arab tribes from the area, who criticized that Ibrahim, who worked as a lawyer in Baghdad, wasn't established in the community of the city. However, there were no Turkmen or Kurdish tribes present at the tribal meeting that organized the protest.

Cultural and economic significance of date cultivation

Mandali is known for its

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and

dates Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activit ...

. There are two traditional date variants from the city, "Black Cloves" and "Golden Black", who have become internationally known for their unique taste. The numerous palm orchards of Mandali are surrounded by historic mud walls, some of which date back 200 years. Besides the harvest of the date cloves, the dried leaves of the palm trees are also used to produce mats, baskets, brooms and components for houses. The cultivation of date palms has only recently been revived. During the Ba'athist period, the area was hit by war and faced mass displacement, water scarcity, burning of orchards and neglect. This essentially halted the date production for over three decades. In the 2000s the tradition was revived and infused with modern agricultural practices. By 2010, the orchards yielded a 70% increase in date harvest compared to previous years.

Border trade

Being located in the vicinity of the Soumar border marketplace, in the Iranian

Kermanshah province Kermanshah province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, bordering Iraq. Its capital is the city of Kermanshah. According to a 2014 segmentation by the Ministry of Interior (Iran), Ministry of Interior, it is the center of Regions of Iran ...

, there are commercial exchanges with Iran.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Diyala Province Iran–Iraq border crossings Kurdish settlements in Iraq Turkmen communities in Iraq

History

Cultural and economic significance of date cultivation

Border trade

See also

References