Farhad Kamel Kareem, right, rides the merry-go-round with his daughter Eva, 3, on Oct. 14 in the Dream City amusement park in Dahuk, in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. (Photo by James Palmer)

DAHUK, Iraq — Along the foothills of a towering mountain range, Ali Sadi Hussein spreads a blanket under a cluster of pines while his family carries containers of rice and lamb and a large flask of tea. The sound of water cascading down a stream accompanies them on the walk from their car.

About 30 miles away, Ahmad Ashad casually pushes his 5-month-old son in a stroller through the pristine aisles of a sprawling department store as he eyeballs flat-screen televisions, gleaming kitchen appliances and $2,000 massage chairs that neatly line the floors.

Later that evening, Farhad Kamel Kareem whooshes along on a merry-go-round with his three young daughters in an amusement park filled with flickering lights and music.

"We're here on holiday," says Kareem, a 32-year-old barber, after he gets off the ride and steadies his 3-year-old daughter, Eva, on a bobbing wooden horse. "I enjoy this park because I know whenever I come here I can watch my children laugh."

Welcome to a place many Iraqis refer to as "the other Iraq."

Far from the sectarian-motivated killings and misery of Baghdad, this is the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Semi-autonomous since the conclusion of the 1991 Gulf War, Kurdistan has enjoyed modest development and prosperity since then as the rest of Iraq suffers through international sanctions and war.

Now, parts of this region have been turned upside down as Kurdish separatist groups battle Turkish troops in southern Turkey. The fighting has all but crippled areas along the border — even as the Kurdistan regional government keeps promoting the area as a tourist destination to spur foreign investment.

For the better part of a decade, "the other Iraq" has been attracting middle- and upper-class citizens from all ethnic and religious backgrounds in the country. They come here to enjoy the scenic alpine valleys, newly built hotels and shopping centers. It's their way of escaping the chaos of so many other parts of the country.

Dahuk, one of three districts making up Kurdistan, is the primary tourist destination for Iraqis who visit. It features attractions and resorts situated more than 4,000 feet above sea level, ruins dating to 600 B.C., and caves hollowed from craggy mountainsides. It's located about 55 miles south of the most dangerous areas along the Turkish border.

The region's greatest draws, according to visitors, simply may be the open spaces, fresh air and tranquillity.

"I love this place because it's silent," said Sarmad Sulayman, a 32-year-old civil engineer from Mosul, who in October was visiting the Anishka resort for the third time this year. "You can enjoy the beautiful views and meet with your friends."

Located about 260 miles north of Baghdad, Dahuk still draws buses packed with tourists from the capital who are willing to risk hazardous highways to enjoy this placid countryside.

"Everything is natural here," said Mustafa Aish, 26, a civil engineer from Baghdad, who signed on to a six-day tour of the district with a group of friends. "It's very expensive, but this is something different for us and it makes us very happy."

Alkaswa Ghanin, who works as a guide for her family's Alkasawa Tour Company, said the spring, summer and fall months usually generate an average of five buses filled with at least 20 Iraqis. The visitors pay $140 per person round-trip.

"It takes 13 hours to get here because we go out of the way to avoid the hot areas," said the 27-year-old Ghanin. "The people in Baghdad like to travel outside of Baghdad despite the costs and the dangers."

Those who prefer the comforts of urban life flock to Dahuk City, the capital of the district. A bustling metropolis of 900,000, the city is home to the recently built Mazi complex, which contains a hotel with 52 suites running between $60 to $220 per night, and an amusement park.

But the crown jewel of the complex is the Mazi Supermarket, a two-story upscale Wal-Mart-type store that sells Sharp refrigerators for $975, Sony camcorders for $450, Tefal rice cookers for $240, Braun hair dryers for $85 and a soft ice cream machine for $8,750.

For most Iraqis, like Ashad, the prices are far out of reach.

"We can't afford to buy anything," said Ashad, a 30-year-old manager of a granite company. "We're just here to look."

Established in May 2006, Kurdistan's tourism ministry believes its abundant but mostly undeveloped natural resources also can attract visitors from outside Iraq.

The ministry is studying ways to develop possible tourist sites in each of Kurdistan's three provinces totaling 31,000 square miles — nearly the size of South Carolina. They also are closely studying the advertising models Turkey and Greece use to appeal to foreign sightseers.

Numrud B. Youkhana, Kurdistan's minister of tourism, said the government's plan is to entice residents from Arab Gulf states with casinos and nightclubs. Youkhana envisions something comparable to those in Monte Carlo, while also lobbying Europeans with the region's cultural and religious attractions.

Still, Youkhana tempered his enthusiasm and acknowledged "there is a lot of work ahead of us." He predicted it will take at least five years to catalyze the region's tourism industry.

The Kurdish government's ambitious designs are increasingly clouded by their gradual movement toward absolute sovereignty, a passionate effort that is straining relations with Iraq's central government in Baghdad.

The largest contention between the two governments is over oil revenues. Iraq has the word's fourth-largest oil reserves, and Kurdistan contains a substantial amount of that bounty.

During the past two months, the Kurdish regional government has approved four production contracts with international oil companies while authorizing the construction of two refineries in the region. This move has infuriated officials in Baghdad who want to centralize profits from the country's oil revenues.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan's foreign neighbors along their common borders are growing increasingly hostile.

From the east, Iran mounted a monthlong shelling campaign from August to September on a string of small farming villages, possibly in retaliation for the arrest of Iranian nationals last summer by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

Along the northern border, Turkey is positioning its military for a potential incursion into Kurdistan to cut down one of the Kurdish separatist forces operating in the area — the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Turkey accuses the guerrilla force of killing dozens of its soldiers in recent weeks in a bid to gain a foothold in southern Turkey.

And the region has not been completely immune to terrorist attacks. On May 9, a truck bomb detonated in front of the interior ministry in Erbil, the political capital of Kurdistan, killing more than a dozen people and injuring scores more.

These events may be causing foreign investors to reconsider sinking their money into Kurdistan despite incentives such as a tax waiver for 10 years and land leases below market rates for the first 25 years.

According to the London-based Kurdistan Development Corp., foreign investors have pledged $5 billion toward building and development in the region but only 20 percent has actually been spent so far.

One of the most lucrative projects to date — construction of a $55 million, 205-room five-star hotel in Erbil — still has not broken ground.

Though the deal was announced in September, Kurdistan's tourism minister Youkhana is anxious. "I don't know what they're waiting for," he said, referring to the pair of Lebanese firms financing the hotel.

Despite that hesitation, Kurdistan remains the preferred leisure and relaxation site among Iraqis.

Amer Naim, a 55-year-old shop owner from Mosul who brought his children and grandchildren to the Mazi complex earlier this fall, summed it up: "I just like to be in this place."

TOMORROW: A threat from Iran.

About the author.

(Many interviews for this report were conducted through a translator. James Palmer wrote this article for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. He can be contacted at j_palmer(at)stratosnet.com.)