Bahzani

Bahzani (Kurdish: به‌حزانی ,Bahzanê,[1][2] Arabic: بحزاني), literally from the Syriac words meaning "House of treasure," is a town located in the Al-Hamdaniya District of the Ninawa Governorate in northern Iraq.

Bahzani
Mosul
Bahzani within Northern Iraq
Mar Georges Syriac Orthodox Church in Bahzani.
Christmas in Bahzani.

Population

Bahzani's residents are mostly Yazidis and Assyrians.[3] The Yazidis in Bahzani and its twin village Bashiqa speak Arabic as their mother language.[4]

History

Bahzani is official Iraqi territory but is claimed by the Kurdistan Region since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. According to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, a referendum should decide whether it should continue to be managed by the central government or the KRG. The status of the city is still not fully understood. According to Human Rights Watch, UNHCR and other human rights organizations the townspeople are forced and threatened with violence if they should not vote for inclusion of the city in the Kurdistan Region.[5][6][7]

The town's residents all fled for Iraqi Kurdistan following the invasion of the town by ISIS in August 2014. In late 2016 it was liberated along with its twin village Bashiqa. Many of its displaced residents have now returned and have rebuilt its Yazidi temples and its church.

Yazidi holy sites
See also: List of Yazidi holy places and List of Yazidi saints

Bahzani has numerous Yazidi shrines, including:[8]

  • Shrine of Ebû Rîsh
  • Shrine of Sheikh Bako. The shrine is accompanied by a spring with a fig tree, which is visited by pilgrims with fevers. Pilgrims fasten small bits of their clothes on the tree and feed the fish in the spring.
  • Shrine of Sitt Hebîbe, also known as Marta Hebîbta ("the Beloved Lady"; the wife of Sheikh Muhemmed). She also has a shrine near Bashiqa.
  • Shrine of Mes'ûd
  • Shrine of Dayka Jakan

See also

References
  1. "Dengê Kurdistan". dengekurdistan.nu. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. "وه‌زاره‌تی پێشمه‌رگه‌ ورده‌كاری كۆنترۆڵكردنه‌وه‌ی باشیك و به‌حزانی روونده‌كاته‌وه‌". Kurdistan24 (in Kurdish). 9 November 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. "Nineveh's Christians are vanishing, lack basic services: Church leaders". Rûdaw. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  4. electricpulp.com. "YAZIDIS i. GENERAL – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  5. "Iraq's Disputed Territories" (PDF). United States Institute of Peace.
  6. "On Vulnerable Ground" (PDF). Human Rights Watch (HRW).
  7. "UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION NEEDS OF IRAQI ASYLUM-SEEKERS" (PDF). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
  8. Kreyenbroek, Philip (1995). Yezidism: its background, observances, and textual tradition. Lewiston NY: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-9004-3. OCLC 31377794.


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