Iskan
Series of cities in Iraq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iskan, Al Iskan or Al-Iskan (/ɑːlɪskɑːn/) Arabic: الإسكان, are a series of cities built and founded by the 24th prime minister of Iraq, the late Abdul-Karim Qasim. He built an Al-Iskan in each of the 18 provinces of Iraq as a bid to help implement a number of positive domestic changes that benefited Iraqi society, thus; oversaw the building of 35,000 residential units to house the poor and destitute of Iraq.[2]
Iskan
الإسكان | |
|---|---|
Housing City | |
| City of Al-Iskan in the Karbala Governorate | |
Picture of Masjid Al Rahman located within central Al-Iskan, Karbala Governorate. | |
 Interactive map of Iskan | |
| Coordinates: 32°35′23.9136″N 44°1′22.8792″E | |
| Country | Iraq |
| Governorate | Karbala |
| City | Al-Iskan |
| Created | 1959–1961 |
| Founded by | Abd al-Karim Qasim[1] |
In the 1950s and 60s, poverty and hardship were widespread across Iraq[3] and to combat this issue, Abd al-Karim Qasim built these cities to house the poor and homeless of Iraq meaning that all the residents of Al-Iskan in each governorate come from an impoverished and deprived background, due to this – these cities are seen as rough neighbourhoods where kidnapping, murder and other major crimes are rife compared to other areas of Iraq.[4][5]