Kurds Should Secure Ancient Assyrian Cities to Attract Tourists

Kurds Should Secure Ancient Assyrian Cities to Attract Tourists
"Can you take us to Nimrud, or to Nineveh?" tourists who plan to come to Iraqi Kurdistan keep asking me. I have to disappoint them, because both archaeological sites are situated outside the control of the Kurdistan Region. As they are under the influence of Mosul, they are unsafe for tourists.
Foreigners run the risk of getting kidnapped for ransom or being killed in the Iraqi city, where gangs are active and Iraqi security forces have been unable to stop them.
Other main sites that used to attract tourist for their archaeological value are also off limits for foreign visitors. Babylon (Babel), Ashur, Ur and Samarra have been cut off the lists of most tour operators because of the insecure safety situation in Iraq. If foreign archaeologists work there at all, they do so under the protection of guards.
More and more, the Kurdistan Region is the safest place in Iraq. The southern Iraqi harbor city of Basra and the Shiite holy sites of Najaf and Karbala can be visited again. But to get there, other than by air, unsafe territory has to be crossed.
Tourists interested in archaeology or Iraqi heritage have no place to go. Even during Saddam Hussein's rule, many of them came to see the sites. But now the bombs, explosions and kidnappings keep them away.
The Kurdistan Region is not a real alternative as it does not have comparable sites, with Kings Sennacheribs resort at Khanis being the major one. Plans to make an archaeological park including Khanis and the remains of the aqueduct at Jerwan still remain a long time ahead.
Khanis does in no way compare to Nimrud or Nineveh for the size -- as it is so much smaller -- for the importance of the artifacts, the remains found there and for the importance of the site in history. And finally, for the way it is presented to the public: The Kurdish department of tourism has made no attempts to sell the place with an attractive, detailed story.
The Erbil citadel, which dates back some 8,000 years, does not show its age. Too little has been done to excavate the different layers and show the treasures that must be there. What is visible now mainly is no older than a hundred years and is hardly enough for lovers of archaeology.
At the same time, tourists who would like to explore the site are heavily restricted. Not only is the front entrance closed, because the gate is being rebuilt, police stop everybody from venturing outside the main road of the citadel.
At the same time, a whole group of tourists could be persuaded to spend a holiday in Kurdistan, if offered a major site to visit. Ur, Samarra and Babel are too far away, Nineveh is inside the dangerous city of Mosul, and Ashur in territory heavily infiltrated by violent gangs.
The only major archaeological site that could possibly be protected by the Kurdistan Region is Nimrud, as it is on Iraqi soil just outside disputed territory under Kurdish control. I have been told that even the Kurdish Asayish (security force) is supposed to be securing one side of the huge complex. The other side, of course, is still open on the other side to influences from Mosul and the surrounding villages.
How difficult would it be for the Kurdish government to secure the site? Or at least offer tour operators who want to bring in foreign visitors to see Nimrud the guards and security needed to make sure the trip is not a dangerous adventure?
I am afraid those working for the Kurdistan tourism department do not even know what Nimrud is, where it is and why it would attract tourists -- as I myself had to point it out on the map to some of them.
And at the same time, the tourism department is not very much aware of the demands of tourists: Officials seem to think that offering hotel accommodation is sufficient. But most visitors want to be able to see interesting sites and enjoy heritage that is more than some scattered stones that might not even have been part of Salahadin Al-Ayubi's castle.
It is a start that in some areas signs have been put up to point the traveller to the attractive spots, which are often off the main roads. But it should not stop there, as the sites themselves will not attract the amounts of tourists Kurdistan wants and deserves.
For that reason I beg of the Kurdistan government to give us Nimrud. Make the Kurdistan Region into a wanted travel destination, by securing this main Iraqi archaeological site so it can be visited safely. With the political will and vision, it can be done. And all will win, the tourists and the Kurdistan Region.