Saqqez city is one of the most historical cities in Kurdistan and the world located in the east of the Great Kurdistan. This ancient city has been a source of history and culture for a long time and as time has passed, these two sides have shown themselves within the city. Nowadays, the title of "The Jewel of the History of Kurdistan" has become the symbol of this city.
Saqqez has four main regions including: "Nawand, Ziviyeh, Imam, and Sarshiw" each of which cover smaller regions, villages, and towns.
According to the latest census conducted in 2021, the population of this city is about 182 thousand and the total population of the area is about 237 thousand who speak in Sorani dialect of Kurdish and belong to the Sunni branch of Islam religion.
The location of Saqqez on a range of hills and mountains and its closeness to the Zagros Mountain ranges, its 1476 meters height from the sea level has made this city to have a cold climate with cold and freezing winters and cool summers.
A river that passes through the city and divides it into two parts gives the city a special and breathtaking view that originates from the Wazana mountains of the Zagros Mountain ranges.
The history of Saqqez traces back to three thousand and five hundred years ago. Some archeologists, however, believe that this history goes back to seven thousand years ago but until now the historical monuments found in Saqqez and the different regions around it have confirmed the three thousand years history of this city.
This long and valuable history of Saqqez, which remains in the framework of monuments, castles, buildings, and old neighborhoods today, along with the beautiful nature and scenery of the region, has attracted tourists and archaeologists from all over the world.
Obviously, due to being a historical city, most of the tourist spots of this city are historical ones including: "Ziviyeh Castle, Karaftou Cave, Two Minaret Mosque, Sheikh Mazhar Mosque, Torjan Mosque, Sheikh Hassan Mawlanaw Mosque, Haj Saleh Public Bathroom, and Tajawanchi Caravanserai" are a part of the most important historical monuments of Saqqez.
In these places and dozens of other places and areas belonging to Saqqez, collections of treasure, monuments, historical materials, and tools of gold, silver, mugs, pottery, etc. have been found which are kept in various museums of the world for tourists to see them.
As the name of this city suggests, this city was the capital of the Sakkas, known as "Sakz" or "Sakzi" and for hundreds of years it was the capital of these tribes and later it became the capital of the Medes and formerly the capital of Mannais.
In the time of the Mannais, the name of the city was "Izerta" and later "Iskit", but later the Sakkas changed it and it did not change a lot after that.
Obviously, the reason for this is that the Sakkas did not fight with the Medes after "Howakhshatara" came to power as the Medes king and they blended with the Medes peacefully.
Roman Gershman, the well-known French-Ukrainian archeologist says: that the Sakkas made a part of Kurdistan their capital city which now is one of the oldest cities in the world with its three thousand years of history.
After the advent of Islam and the collapse of the Sassanids Empire and the establishment of the Lords' authority in Kurdistan, Klol Bag, the famous Ardalan Khan took over Saqqez in 620 Hijri and this city fell under the control of the Ardalans, although later Saqqez remained less under the rule of Ardalans. Since this city was located on the border of the Ottoman and Persian Empires, now and then one of these governments assigned a ruler for this city. During the Qajar dynasty, Naser al-Din Shah ended the authority of the Ardalans in Saqqez although even after this, some of the Ardalan Khans remained in Saqqez and the surrounding areas of the city.
In modern history, the people of Saqqez have been active in the struggles and revolutions of the Kurdish people in Kurdistan and even made many sacrifices. The city of Saqqez also played a significant role in the Great Simko Shakak revolution and his struggle for liberation in 1979 against the monarchy and the 40-year struggle against the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
More recently, the "Woman, Life, Freedom" revolution of 2022 which is one of the greatest revolutions in Iran began in the city of Saqqez and captured the whole country of Iran and drew worldwide reactions.
For this occasion, one of the newest titles of Saqqez is the city of Woman, Life, Freedom, which joined the other nicknames of this city such as "the historical city of Kurdistan, the city of the flowers, the city of Erfan, and Literature, the city of wrestling and the capital of Kurdish theater, …".
Perhaps this revolutionary sentiment of the city has made the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, like the monarchy authority, not pay enough attention to the development of this city and that one of the most historical cities of the world does not even have a museum inside its thousands of years of wealth, treasure and equipment decorate Tehran and other cities of the world's museums.
