- Nineveh plains
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سهل نينوى
ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ
Map of the three districts which constitute Nineveh plains overlaid over the Ninawa Governorate map.Largest city Bakhdida Official language(s) Syriac, Arabic, Kurdish Government - Governor of Hamdaniya Nisan Karromi - Governor of Tel Kef Basim Ballu - Governor of Al-Shikhan Hasu Narmu Area - Total 4,197 km2
1,620 sq miPopulation - 2003 estimate 469159 - 1987 census 281829 - Density 117/km2
303/sq miNineveh plains (Syriac: ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ; pqaˁta d'ninwĕ, Arabic: سهل نينوى; sahl naynawā, Kurdish: Deşta Neynewa) is a region in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq to the north and west of the city Mosul. The area generally consists of three districts; Tel Keppe, Al-Hamdaniya, and Al-Shikhan. The area includes the ancient Assyrian ruins of the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Dur-Sharrukin.
Contents
Population
Most of the inhabitants are Syriac-speaking Assyrians following various traditions of the Syriac Christianity. The four patriarchal churches represented are:[1]
It is considered by its Assyrian inhabitants as the original Assyrian heartland. Other inhabitants are the Yezidis, Shabaks, Turkmens, and Kurds.
The Assyrian inhabited towns and villages on the Nineveh Plain form a concentration of those belonging to Syriac Christian traditions, and since this area is the ancient home of the Assyrian empire through which the Assyrian people trace their cultural heritage, the Nineveh Plain is the area on which an effort to form an autonomous Assyrian entity has become concentrated. There have been calls by some politicians inside and outside Iraq into creating an autonomous region for Assyrian Christians in this area.[2][3]
Location
Nineveh Plain lies to the east, northeast of the city of Mosul in the Iraqi province of Ninawa. Although the actual ancient city of Nineveh is to be found in the eastern part of Mosul, on the bank of the Tigris river, the villages that are inhabited by minority religious groups that are non-Muslim lie to the east. Most of these inhabitants are Assyrian speaking Christians. The four patriarchal churches represented are the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Church of the East (both Assyrian and ancient). Other religious traditions are the Yezidi Kurds, Shabak Kurds and Muslim Kurds.
Creation of an Assyrian autonomous province
In the Transitional Administrative Law adopted in March 2004 in Baghdad, not only were provisions made for the preservation of Assyrian based culture through education and media, but a provision for an administrative unit also was accepted. Article 125 in Iraq's Constitution states that: "This Constitution shall guarantee the administrative, political, cultural, and educational rights of the various nationalities, such as Turkomen, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and all other constituents, and this shall be regulated by law."[4][5] Since the towns and villages on the Nineveh Plain form a concentration of those belonging to Syriac Christian traditions, and since this area is the ancient home of the Assyrian empire through which these people trace their cultural heritage, the Nineveh Plain is the area on which the effort to form an autonomous Assyrian entity have become concentrated.
Attacks on Christians
Main article: 2008 attacks on Christians in MosulFollowing the concerted attacks on Assyrian Christians in Iraq, especially highlighted by the Sunday, August 1, 2004 simultaneous bombing of six Churches (Baghdad and Mosul) and subsequent bombing of nearly thirty other churches throughout the country, Assyrian leadership, internally and externally, began to regard the Nineveh Plain as the location where security for Christians may be possible. Schools especially received much attention in this area and in Kurdish areas where Assyrian concentrated population lives. In addition, agriculture and medical clinics received financial help from the Assyrian diaspora.
As attacks on Christians increased in Basra, Baghdad, Ramadi and smaller towns. more families turned northward to the extended family holdings in the Nineveh Plain. This place of refuge remains under funded and gravely lacking in infrastructure to aid the internally displaced population. As attention increases on this area, a struggle also ensues between politically independent Assyrian entities (such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement) and elements in the Kurdish Regional Government for control of this area. The Kurdish Regional Government regards the possibility of absorbing the Nineveh Plain under legal provisions that would allow any area adjacent to it to exercise the option of joining the Kurdish Regional Government. Independent Assyrian political tendency is to create a region that would be directly responsible to Baghdad rather than to Arbil.
Culture
The Nineveh Plain appears to hold under its rich agricultural lands an extension of the petroleum fields tapped in 2006 by the Kurdish Regional Government in direct contract with foreign oil exploration companies. This added incentive for absorption by the KRG of the region may lead to economic conflict with Sunni Arab tribes in the Mosul region itself in which Assyrian Christians will become targets of violence and intimidation. Without Nineveh Plain autonomous administration, the indigenous Assyrian presence in its ancient homeland could well disappear.
Main Towns in Nineveh plains
See also
- Barwari
- Nahla plains
References
- ^ http://yonoforiraq.com/AboutMosul.pdf
- ^ Iraqi Christians hold critical meeting, The Kurdish Globe
- ^ Dutch MP calls for autonomous Assyrian Christian region in north Iraq, AKI
- ^ http://www.assyrianamericancoalition.org/documents/policy/AtTheTippingPoint-NPProvinceSolutionFull.pdf
- ^ http://www.iraqdemocracyproject.org/policy_alert_2.html
Coordinates: 36°37′N 43°7′E / 36.617°N 43.117°E
Nineveh plains Region in northern Iraq Main Settlements Al-Hamdaniya DistrictTel Keppe DistrictAin Sifni . Dashqotan . Qasrok . Ba'adra
Ancient Assyrian sites Religious sites Categories:
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