Al-Shorja (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, الشورجة) is a marketplace in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Located near Bab Al Sharqi market, Shorja is Baghdad's largest and oldest market. Before the

Farhud The () was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941 (coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot), immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War. The riots oc ...

or anti-Jewish

pogroms A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century attacks on Jews i ...

of 1941, Shorja was the primary and historic Jewish quarter of Iraq. The area east of Hennouni street was Jewish complete with historic

synagogues A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

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."

Name

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.

History

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 John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

, in an effort to illustrate that the security situation had improved, visited the Shorja marketplace. The visit was criticized by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

as giving a false indication of how secure the area was due to the weighty security forces McCain brought with him.

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Representative

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

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."

Landmarks

References

External links