Sami Abdul Rahman Park: Erbil's Green Heart
- Dala Sarkis
- Jun 7
- 4 min read
Introduction
Sami Abdul Rahman Park is the great green heart of Erbil — a vast and beautiful public park, the largest in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, spread across hundreds of acres on the western side of the capital. With its lakes and fountains, rose gardens, tree-lined avenues, playgrounds, and memorials, it is a beloved oasis where the people of the city come to walk, picnic, and rest. Yet its tranquillity carries a deeper meaning, for the land it occupies was once a military base of the former regime, and the park is named for a Kurdish leader who gave his life to the cause. It is a place where green peace has been made to grow from a hard past.
A vast green oasis of lakes and gardens raised on the ground of a former military base, this park is a symbol of renewal in the Kurdish capital. This profile looks at the park, its making, and its meaning.
Key Takeaways
• Sami Abdul Rahman Park is the largest park in the Kurdistan Region.
• It lies on the western side of Erbil, facing the Kurdish parliament.
• The land was formerly a military base of the Ba’athist regime.
• It is named for Sami Abdul Rahman, a Kurdish leader killed in 2004.
• It has lakes, gardens, monuments, and is a beloved public space.
Quick Facts
Name: Sami Abdul Rahman Park (Parka Samî Ebdulrehman)
Type: Public urban park
Country / Region: Kurdistan Region, Iraq (Başur)
City: Erbil (Hewlêr)
Area: Around 200 hectares
Former Use: Regime military base (until 1991)
Named For: Sami Abdul Rahman, KRG Deputy PM
Features: Two lakes, rose garden, Martyrs Monument
Contents
Where Is the Park?
Sami Abdul Rahman Park lies on the western side of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, along the broad avenue known as Sixty Metre Street, directly opposite the buildings of the Kurdistan parliament and council of ministers. It is a short way from the ancient heart of the city, where the great Citadel of Erbil rises above the old town. Where memorials such as Amna Suraka in Slemani preserve the memory of the regime’s cruelty, this park turns ground once held by that regime to peaceful and public use.
From Military Base to Park
For much of the twentieth century, the land on which the park stands was a military base — in the later years the site of one of the regime’s army installations on the western edge of Erbil. The heavy military presence there is said to have distorted the natural growth of the city for decades. After the Kurdistan Region gained its autonomy in the 1990s, the regional government reserved a great parcel of this former military land and resolved to transform it into a public garden. The conversion of ground once given to war and control into a place of greenery and family life is the heart of the park’s story.
The Name It Bears
The park is named for Sami Abdul Rahman, a prominent Kurdish politician who served as a deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government and who personally oversaw the early stages of the park’s creation. In 2004 he was killed, along with many others, in a terrorist bombing in Erbil during the Eid festivities — one of the attacks that struck the Kurdish leadership in those years. The park was named in his memory, and it carries a Martyrs Monument and the inscription “Freedom is not free,” binding the green space to the sacrifices made for the region’s hard-won peace.
Lakes, Gardens, and Memorials
Today the park is a sprawling and carefully designed landscape of some two hundred hectares. It holds two artificial lakes graced with fountains, where visitors can take boats, along with a fragrant rose garden, broad tree-lined walkways, children’s playgrounds, a running track, restaurants, and an amphitheatre. It is home to a public library and to the city’s Martyrs Monument, and it serves as the finish line for the Erbil Marathon. Like all the parks of Kurdistan, it is open to all without charge, a democratic green space at the centre of the capital.
The Park Today
Today Sami Abdul Rahman Park is the most beloved green space in Erbil, drawing thousands of visitors daily — families on picnics, walkers and runners, children at play, and people simply resting amid the gardens and water. It has become a symbol of the modern flourishing of the Kurdish capital and of the renewal of a land long burdened by conflict. A green oasis raised on hard ground and named for one who gave his life, the park stands as a quiet but powerful emblem of the resilience and hope of the Kurdish people.
Timeline
until 1991 — The land serves as a regime military base on Erbil’s edge.
mid-1990s — The regional government begins transforming it into a park.
2004 — Sami Abdul Rahman is killed in a bombing; the park bears his name.
2000s — The park is completed with lakes, gardens, and monuments.
today — It is the largest and most beloved park in the Kurdistan Region.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Sami Abdul Rahman Park?
It is the largest public park in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a vast green space of lakes, gardens, and monuments on the western side of Erbil, built on the site of a former military base.
Where is it?
It lies on Sixty Metre Street on the western side of Erbil (Hewlêr), opposite the buildings of the Kurdistan parliament.
Who was Sami Abdul Rahman?
He was a Kurdish politician and deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government who oversaw the park’s creation and was killed in a bombing in Erbil in 2004; the park is named in his memory.
What was the site before?
The land was a military base of the former regime until the early 1990s, before being reserved and transformed into a public park.
Related People, Places, and Topics
Kurdish renewal · the Martyrs Monument · the modern capital · Erbil · the Citadel of Erbil · Amna Suraka.
References and Further Reading
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