Mahabad

Mahabad (Persian: مهاباد‎, Kurdish: مەھاباد; also Romanized as Mahābād and Mehābād; formerly known as Sāūjbulāgh) is a city in and the capital of Mahabad County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 133,324, in 31,000 families. The city's population is predominantly Kurdish, with the city lying south of Lake Urmia in a narrow valley 1,300 metres above sea level in Iranian Kurdistan, a part northwestern Iran. The town was founded in Safavid period and its first name was Savoujbolagh, Savoujbolagh is a Turkic word meaning cold spring, later in Qajarid period, the town was called Savoujbolagh Mokri, meaning Savoujbolagh of the Mukri tribe, due to the residence of the Mukri tribe in the town and this was...