Sami Abdulrahman Park
The largest and best-loved green space in Erbil, Sami Abdulrahman Park spreads over former military land transformed into lawns, lakes and tree-lined walkways. Named after a prominent Kurdish statesman, it is where families picnic, friends jog and the whole city comes to relax, especially in the cool of the evening.
2 stops to discover
- 1
Freedom Is Not Free
This monument remembers the victims of the 2004 Erbil bombings, the same attack that killed the man this park is named for: Sami Abdulrahman, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, who died on 1 February 2004 at the age of 71. Its inscription reads simply, 'Freedom is not free.'
- 2
The Lakes and Rose Garden
Spread across about 200 hectares, two lakes and a dedicated rose garden form the recreational heart of the park, where families stroll, picnic and boat. It is a deliberate contrast to the site's grim former life: this land was once Saddam Hussein's 5th Corps military base, reclaimed from 1998 and opened to the public around 2000 as a symbol of renewal.
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