Urmia

Urmia is one of the large cities in the East part of Kurdistan and Iran. It is the center of Urmia Province, too. This city is 1332 meters above sea level and it is located at the side of the Pirdie Sour River or the city river. Urmia Lake is at the east of this city. This city is surrounded by "Sir, Panja Ali, Kamar Zard, Girda Sar and Mullah Ali" mountains. In fact, Urmia is located between the lake and these mountain ranges on its west that look like a wall for the city.

Urmia has always been a strategic place. It had eight gates which were controlled by the army. These gates included: Balo or Salmas, Topraq Qala, Souiq Bolaq or Hazaran or Gazouran, Bazar Bash, Arik, Yourdsha, and Nochrino.

The name of Urmia

The word Urmia is made of two parts; "Ur" means city and "Mia" means water which is an Assyrian word meaning the city near water. According to "Richard Nelson Frey" the word Urmia comes from "Urartou" origins. Urartus were ruling in this city once. During the Pahlavi era, the name of this city changed to "Rezaeiyeh" due to Reza Khan's stay in this city as the commander of the army for some time.

Berdouk Castle

This castle is one of the most significant historical monuments of Urmia Province and it is located 6 kilometers from Berdouk village and 96 kilometers from Urmia city.

The historical monuments of "Berdouk" village in the Soma and Biradost region in Urmia are one of the most important historical monuments in Kurdistan. "Berdouk" castle is located in a mountainous area near the border of East and North parts of Kurdistan. This castle dates back to the Safavid era which was built by "Taqi Sultan bin Nazar Baig bin Ghazi".

This castle is consisted of: "the ruins of a mosque, a tomb, and several separated structures, the castle building and a yard as a field for defending the castle, cistern and a three-floor building in the middle, and a watch tower".

This castle's mosque is known as "Qala Mir" and the architecture of this structure is very special.

About 27 meters down the mosque, there is another building with a flight of stairs. There is a dome arch in this building. There is an altar inside this building made of black stones.

The large castle across from the mosque is located in the middle of the mountain peaks and heights. In order to reach this castle, there is only one way which is on a very steep and dangerous road. In the middle of the castle, the ruins of several structures can be seen and only one of them is preserved rather well that was used as the cistern of the castle.

In addition to all these, in the north part of the castle, there is a large building's ruins at the top of the highest peak of the mountains that used to be a watch tower for the castle. From that tower, all the surrounding areas including Soma and Biradost plains from the east, Berdouk Valley, and Turkey plains from the west can be seen.

Conclusion

Urmia Province in the East part of Kurdistan possesses many natural and historical tourist spots and the historical castle of Berdouk is one of these significant places with thousands of visitors annually. It is important to know that while we can visit these natural or historical monuments and places, we need to be cautious in protecting these places because this is our duty to keep them safe for our future generations.