 In what has to be one of the surest signs that a return to normalcy is on the agenda for Northern Iraqis, Kurdish businessman Malashin Barzani, a member of Northern Iraqi leader Mesud Barzani's clan, has purchased the formerly Istanbul-based amusement park "Tatilya."
| Kurdistan becomes more normal every day ... |
Barzani's purchase of Tatilya was for 1.1 million dollars, and adds yet one more level of intricacy to the growing infrastructure of the Northern Iraqi region, which now boasts universities, ministry buildings, customs offices, and a parliament. And thus Tatilya, billed for years as being the largest amusement park in Europe under one roof, is now located in Erbil.
| I'm waiting for them to sponsor a Madonna concert ... |
The parts and pieces of Tatilya were packaged up in enormous containers and sent to Northern Iraq a few weeks ago, where they are being put back together on a plot of land right next to a luxurious housing compound in the Ankava district of Erbil. The amusement park, which had been known as Turkey's own "mini-Disneyland" by many, had been closed down since April, 2006. |