Jasan Cave located in the South part of Kurdistan is 50 kilometers west of Suleimani City. This cave is located in the Surdash region, on the way of Sulaimani-Dukan, behind Kani Khan village on the down skirts of "Nabi Agha" heights and the mountain chains of "Sara" in a valley of high mountains and there is a beautiful waterfall near it.
In this region of Kurdistan which was an important site of the Southern part of the Kurdistan revolution in the second half of the 20th century, a famous cave and a destroyed village have been left. The Kurds look forward to the history of this cave with respect.
In recent years, the village has housed about 300 families but later it was destroyed by the Ba'ath government.
Jasana Cave used to be a normal, safe, and comfortable place. However, with the change in the political situation at that time, the mission, name, and reputation of the cave changed and it created a valuable history.
About the Cave:
The entrance to the cave is triangle shaped. The cave is about 40 meters long and 9 meters wide and the base of the cave is 7 meters high. The inside part of the cave is made of two sub-parts. The front part is a room and the back part is a smaller room.
Now the cave has become a tourist attraction and some of the tourists who visit the area for mountaineering spend the night in the cave and consider it as an achievement.
The Importance of Jasana Cave from Sheikh Mahmoud Hafid Revolution to the New Revolution
After the attack of the British Army in 1923, Sheikh Mahmoud made Jasana cave a shelter, set up a printing press, and published the first newspaper named "Bangi Haq" here.
On February 3, 1923, British forces warned Sheikh Mahmoud, the King of Kurdistan to surrender and make an agreement with the British otherwise they would bombard Suleimani. Sheikh Mahmoud did not surrender so he asked the people to move to that area in order not to die during the bombarding. The enemy forces had martyred some citizens during two bombarding operations. Sheikh Mahmoud made the people move to Jasana and take refuge in the cave so they would be protected from the attacks.
On March 28, 1923, the first issue of the "Bangi Haq" newspaper was published for the first time it was the first Kurdish revolutionary newspaper and it is considered to be the first newspaper that was about the Kurdish revolution and its contemporary history. The editor-in-chief of this newspaper was the prominent figure, intellectual, and journalist, Ahmad Khwaja.
This newspaper is considered as the first official organ of the Kurdish Liberation Movement in modern history and reveals the civilized face of Sheikh Mahmoud's movement.
Half a century after Sheikh Mahmoud's revolution and during the new revolution in the Southern part of Kurdistan, Jasana Cave was of great importance to Peshmerga. This cave was an important shelter for Peshmerga forces during the Ba'ath regime in the Surdash, Doukan, and Piramagroun mountain chains.
Amending the road to Jasana Cave:
The Italian "UPP" organization in coordination with a supervisory committee of the Suleimani General Directorate of Tourism has built the stairs from the road to the cave as a sign of guidance and beautify the appearance of the cave and facilitating traffic for tourists with natural stones of the area.
This cave was of particular importance in the last century and during the revolutionary period of the Southern part of Kurdistan but as an ancient cave in that area perhaps if it is studied in detail historically, many interesting things can be found in the ancient history of this cave.
