Maku, Iran
Maku (, , , ) is a city in the West Azerbaijan Province, Iran and the capital of Maku County. At the 2006 census, its population was 41,865, in 10,428 families. It is situated from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1,634 metres. The Zangmar River cuts through the city. 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 5,000 square km when it was scheduled to open in 2011. Azeris are the majority while Kurds the minority of the city . History. Maku was a region of the old Armenia c. 300–800, previously known as Artaz according to Aziz Atiya's "History of Eastern Christianity". The Castle of Maku, original Shavarshan, was the center of the domains of the princely family of Amatuni. The Artazian branch of Amatuni family was ruling the Maku region of Artaz still in the XVth century and successfully defended it against Timurleng, when he besieged the castle of Maku. Maku was the capital of a Kangarli Khanate one of numerous small, semi-independent Maku Khanates that resulted from the breakup of the Safavid empire in the  18th century. Maku served as the capital of the Kurdish Jalali dynasty into the 1860s when the centralizing Qajar government in Persia/Iran removed them, appointing a governor instead. The city is well known in the history of the Baháʼí Faith for its fort where the Báb had been exiled to and imprisoned for nine months. At this fortress Mullá Husayn, the first Disciple of the Báb, arrived on Náw-Rúz of the year 1848 to see the Báb. Climate. Maku has a semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSk") owing to its location in the rain shadow of the Zagros Mountains . The city is hot and dry in the summer, and cold with little snow in the winter. Most precipitation comes from spring thunderstorms. Population. According to the 2006 census, the city has a population of 42,500. The languages in Maku are Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Persian. Tourism. Visa-free. Holders of normal passports travelling as tourists can enter Maku, Iran without a visa with maximum stay of 2 weeks (extendable) as of September 2017. Admission refused. Admission is refused to holders of passports or travel documents containing an Israeli visa or stamp or any data showing that visitor has been to  Israel or indication of any connection with the state of Israel during the last 12 months.