Sulaymaniyah is considered the center of the Sorani Kurdish culture in Kurdistan. It is recognized officially as the cultural capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Development of Sorani as a modern literary language started in this city in the early 19th century, when many Kurdish poets such as Nal�, Piramerd, Muhamed Amin Zaki, Abdulla Goran, Muhamad Salih Dilan, Ahmad Hardi, Ibrahim Ahmad, Sherko Bekas and Bachtyar Ali published their works.
The city is known for its open, relatively liberal and tolerant society when compared to other cities of Kurdistan and Iraq.. In 2006 the Movement for Change started in Sulaymaniyah and challenged what it called the "corrupt" and "nepotistic" Kurdish Government. The movement gained massive support from the city.
The two independent newspapers Hawlati and Awena and the only independent political magazine Lvin, are published and distributed in Slemani city.
Sulaymaniyah assumes its own style of music which have borrowed from traditions of the city, Muhamad Salih Dilan is widely considered to be the greatest singer from the city and had the greatest role in developing Kurdish maqam.The city is also considered to be the birthplace of modern Kurdish music, the key figures in this field are Karwan Osman (born in 1968) who was executed by the Ba'ath regime in 1991 after in his imprisonment for one year in the Abu Ghraib prison and more academically Xal�d Re?�d.
It is the only city in Iraq that regularly celebrates world music day or F�te de la Musique. In one trip to the city a journalist working for BBC writes about Sulaymaniyah's distinct culture: "Culture is hugely important to Kurdish people, especially in Sulaymaniyah, but there is a strong pull to the west � the modernisation and consumerism � driven perhaps by the satellite televisions they have had access to since they started running their own affairs."
"And at the university, students mill around the campus, chattering with each other and doing
