Shamezdin
Shamezdin (Syriac: ܫܡܙܕܢ), also known as Nochiya (Kurdish: Navçiya or Nêwçiya; Syriac: ܢܘܿܟܼܝܼܐ ), is a Assyrian region in southeast Turkey. It is in Hakkari province on the southern side of the Sat Dagh mountain range which separates Shamezdin from Gewar. To the east of Shamezdin are the lands of Tergawar and Margawar which lie just across the Persian border. To the northwest are the ancestral tribal lands of Jilu and Baz.
Nochiya is a Kurdish word meaning "Between the Mountains". In the old days this region used to be called Rustaqa, meaning "black mountains", which picturesquely describes the dark forests of Sat Dagh.
History
The Villages
Nochiya contained both Assyrian and Kurdish villages and according to Qasha Yousip D’Kalaita. The Assyrian villages were Neri, Mar Isho, Bet Diwe, Shabatan, Tis, Halana, Dariyan, De Rayi and Deri Bend. There was also some sixteen Nochiyayeh villages that were scattered in the fertile plain of Gewar, and among them were; Diza, Karmil, Kirdiwar, Gagawran, Kirzallan, Shwawoota, Mannunan, Bashirga, Ein D’Kandil, and Darawa.
The People
The Assyrian inhabitants of Shamezdin are most commonly called Nochiyayeh. The people of Nochiya were simple farmers, they owned cattle and grew food, but were particularly known for their fine tobacco.
They were greatly oppressed by their Kurdish neighbors. In June 1896, Mar Goriel, Assyrian Church bishop in Urmia, along with an Archdeacon, two priests, three deacons, and others, fourteen persons in all, were murdered brutally on orders of a certain Kurdish Sheikh Sadik.
The group was returning from a visit to Mar Yousip Khnanisho. This Kurd would confiscate Assyrian property at will, and would prevent the Metropolitan from visiting the Patriarch in Qochanis.
An Englishman visiting the land in the late 1800's noted that "There is perhaps no Assyrian district where simple piety and loyal devotion to the church of their fathers is more beautifully seen than Nochiya". Prayers and fasting were strictly observed in the villages.
Metropolitan Mar Ishaq lived in the monastery of Mar Isho which contained a church, a house, and the school of deacons. He taught in the school and was helped by his father and uncle. The main subjects were Aramaic and church liturgy.
Result of War
During the First World War the people of Shamezdin fled to Urmia. In 1918 Metropolitan Mar Yousip Khnanisho consecrated Mar Polus Shimon, as Patriarch of the Assyrian Church after the murder of Mar Benyamin Shimon, at the hands of the Kurdish leader Simko in Koni Shahar. Mar Ishaq died during the trip from Hamadan to Baquba in 1918 and was buried in Kermanshah.
Following the Baquba Refugee Camps, most of the Nochiyayeh Assyrians settled in the village of Simele near Dohuk in northern Iraq while a small group stayed in Gailani Camp in Baghdad. In 1928 they moved to Dashti Harir in Arbil province and established the following five villages: Harir, Batas, Darbandoki, Qalata and Hinari.
These villages were under following Mukhtars (village head) respectively: Zaro, Breemo, Lazar, and Khidero. The first four villages named had the following churches and priests respectively: Mar Youkhana served by Qasha Youil, Mar Yonan served by qasha Akhiqar, Mar Qaryaqos served by Qasha Benyamin, Mar Youkhana served by Qasha Youil. A further three Assyrian households lived in the village of Cubau, and half of the population of the Kurdish village of Al-Mandan was Assyrian.
When part of the Assyrian nation migrated to Syria following the tragic events of 1933, a group from Nochiya established the village of Tel Faitha on the banks of the Khabur River. They built the church of Mar Qaryaqos which was served by Qasha Oraham. At one time Chitto Bado was the Mukhtar of the village.
In nearby Rawanduz, the people of Shamezdin established a further three villages, namely, Diyana, Hawdiyan and Seerishmi. This group was the Diocese of bishop Mar Philipos Youkhana, who was ordained in Baghdad on April 19, 1953 by Metropolitan Mar Yousip Khnanisho. The latter lived in the village of Harir. Bishop Mar Youkhana served in the church of Mar Gewargis in Diyana and the church of Mar Awrahim in Hawdiyan. Toma was the Mukhtar of the first village and Rehana of the second one.
Changes did not come to Nochiyayeh until the Kurds started their rebellion in northern Iraq in the 1960’s. Many Assyrians then moved to the big cities and later on they became part of the great migration to the west.
Famous Nochiyayeh
Artists
- Albert Oscar Baba - American Folklore Singer
- Enwia Shomon - Australian Folklore Singer
- Oaner Nissan - American Folklore Singer
- Ogin Bet Samo - American Folklore Singer
Political Officials
- Dr. Emmanuel Kamber - Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA)
- Fawzi Toma Hariri - Son of the late Franso Hariri; a member of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) Executive Committee and a Assyrian Representative in the Iraqi National Congress
- Franso Harriri - Former governor of Arbil, Iraq
- Kristo Yalda Torkhan - Former Director of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Central TV Station & Media
- Nineb Hariri - Director of Christian Affairs in the Kurdistan Regional Government
- Praidoun Darmo - Deputy Secretary General Assyrian Universal Alliance (London)
- Romeo Nissan Hakkari - Secretary General of the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) in Iraq
- Sargis Aghajan Mamando - Deputy Prime Minister of Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Chief Financial Officer
- Shimmun Khammo - Former head of Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) in United States
- Yatron Darmo - Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) member in London
Spiritual Leaders
- Archdeacon Younan Younan - Archdeacon of the London Parish in England
- Mar Dinkha IV - Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East
- Mar Emmanuel Emmanuel - Bishop of the Diocese in Canada
- Mar Yousip Khnanisho - The late, Metropolitan of Iraq and is by many considered a Saint
- Revrand Stephen Yalda Turkhan - Father of St. Mary Parish in England
- Revrand Shlimon Hesiqial - Father of St. George's (Mar Gewargis) Cathedral in Chicago, IL
- Revrand Younan Marwan - Father of the Toronto Parish in Canada
See also
- Assyrian Church of the East
- Assyrian Church of the East's Holy Synod
- Assyrian People
- Assyrian Language
- List of Assyrian villages
References
- Assyrian Church of the East
- Assyrians of Shamizdin - By Solomon (Sawa) Solomon – Nineveh Magazine, 1st ~ 2nd quarter 1997, vol. 20, no. 1& 2.
- Zinda Magazine