Maku

Maku (Persian: ماكو‎; also Romanized as Mākū) is a city in the West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 41,865, in 10,428 families. It is situated 22 kilometres (14 mi) from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1634 metres. The Zangmar River cuts through the city. The common languages in Maku are Azerbaijani followed by Kurdish. Maku Free Trade and Industrial Zone is Iran’s largest and the world’s second largest free trade zone and will encompass an area of 5000 square km when it will open in 2011. Maku was the capital of a Kangarli Khanate one of numerous small, semi-independent Khanates that resulted from the breakup of the Safavid empire in the 17th century. The city is well-known in...