About Koya City

Koya is an ancient Kurdish city located in the north east of Iraq. Early settlement in the area can be dated back to at least 3000 BC in a village called "Pibazoak", which is just few miles away from Koya. The population of Koya is approximately over 100,000. Koya is surrounded by many villages which have affected the life style there. Generally, it is considered an agricultural area and provides green scenery through the seasons. The British provincial administrator and inspector Wallace Lyon travelled through the city in 1923 and noted that the area was a centre for tobacco. The city is located between the two lofty mountains of Bawaji and Haibat-Sultan.The main religion in Koya is Islam, however it has a noticeable percentage of Christian people, possibly as much as 10%, and there is a quarter close to the market centre called the Christian Quarter. This means that there is a religious harmony among all the religious ethnics in the city. Also, here is a village called Harmota just few kilometers from Koya whose population is mainly Christian. Moreover, a few hundred people consider themselves as descendants of Jews, as there is also a Jewish quarter in the city.

"It was with the greatest regret that I turned my back on Koi. I had grown to love the funny little out-of the-way town and its strange inhabitants. For a time their customs had almost become my customs, their likes my likes, their feuds my feuds; and it was with a sense of emptiness and depression that I found myself in the outside world again. I think my two months in Koi were the pleasantest I spent in Kurdistan". (Rupert Hay, Two Years in Kurdistan, 1921)

Historically, Koya is famous for arts, music and poetry. Koya possesses the Bawaji music team, which is a well known music team in Kurdistan region. The team was established in 1957. Abul-Wahed Haji-Agha Mustafa was the first person from the city who composed the Kurdish musical tone. Koya has been a religious, scientific, literary and educational centre. Haji Qadir Koyi (1817–1897), Malai Gawra (1876–1943) and Dldar (ey raqib poem writer /1918–1948) were three famous Koyi poets and social reformers who made a great contribution to the development of the city. They encouraged people to explore science and the realities of modern society. In 1920, Malai Gawra, who was a well-known religious figure, sent his daughter to a co-educational school in Koya to encourage people to educate their girls. Nowadays, there are tens of primary and secondary schools in addition to a university that has the capacity for more than 3000 students, and a technical institute with almost the same capacity.