Eker

Eker (Arabic:العكر‎) is an area in Bahrain, located near the villages of Nuwaidrat, Ma'ameer and the island of Sitra.

It is divided into 2 regions: East Eker and West Eker, with Shias making up the majority of the latter's population. West Eker is the only former Sitra Municipality village to have survived the late 1910s-1920s smallpox epidemic which rid Sitra Island and its vicinity of most of its native population which then mainly consisted of Shia Bahrainis. West Eker has also historically been the only former Sitra Municipality village with a predominantly Shia Bahraini population, however, recent gentrification, modernization, and de-segregation efforts by the Bahraini government of the eastern portions of the Central Governorate has allowed many shia Bahrainis to relocate to such areas, with a number of them reclaiming their ancestral possessions and lands especially in Nuwaidrat and Nabih Saleh.