Shorja
Marketplace and neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq
Al-Shorja (Arabic, الشورجة) is a marketplace in Baghdad, Iraq. Located near Bab Al Sharqi market, Shorja is Baghdad's largest and oldest market. Before the Farhud or anti-Jewish pogroms of 1941, Shorja was the primary and historic Jewish quarter of Iraq. The area east of Hennouni street was Jewish complete with historic synagogues and Jewish workshops and business. In 1950 and then 1968, most of the Jewish population left Baghdad and the rest of Iraq. The neighborhood was also called "Shuriyya."
01Name
The name Shorja comes from Persian Shurchah (شورچاه) and means "salty well" because this marketplace is a landmark originally established by Persian merchants. The adjacent neighborhood of Ab-Khana (cistern/water tank) is likewise Persian, although now Arabicized into "Aba-Khana." Both of these neighborhoods are part of the Rusafa district of eastern Baghdad in the downtown area.
02History
During the U.S. occupation
Shorja was the site of several major attacks. The 12 February 2007 Baghdad bombings killed 76 people and injured 155-180. Near the marketplace on March 26, 2007, a suicide car bomber killed two people and injured five others. Snipers hidden in Shorjh's bazaar killed several people around the same time and gunfights erupted between militants and the Iraqi security forces in the area.
On 1 April 2007, American presidential candidate John McCain, in an effort to illustrate that the security situation had improved, visited the Shorja marketplace. The visit was criticized by The New York Times as giving a false indication of how secure the area was due to the weighty security forces McCain brought with him. Indiana Representative Mike Pence was also criticized for visiting the market, under large security including helicopters overhead, and saying it was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Shorja”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Baghdad Cathedral 2016, Shorja, Iraq.jpg by Aziz1005, CC BY-SA 4.0
- "Panthers" patrol, police-up after improvised explosive device blast DVIDS154229.jpg by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, Public domain
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