Dere ( ku, دێرێ) is a village in

Duhok Governorate ar, محافظة دهوك , image_skyline = Collage_of_Dohuk_Governorate.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_seal = ...

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It is located in the

Sapna valley Sapna is a town and municipality located in Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. History People have lived in the Sapna region since the earliest days. In the Middle Ages, Sapna was an im ...

Amedi District Amadiya District ( ku, قەزای ئامێدی, Qezaye Amêdî, ar-at, قضاء العمادية, qaḍāʾ al-Emadiyah) is a district of Duhok Governorate in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The administrative centre is Amadiya. Subdistricts The district ...

. Dere is the sister village of Komane. In the village, there is a church of Mar Abdisho.

Etymology

The name of the village ( syr, Dere, "monasteries" or "dwellings") has been argued to refer to the presence of the monasteries of

Mar Mar, mar or MAR may refer to: Culture * Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac * Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland * MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese * Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code * March, as an abbreviation for the third month ...

Abdisho Abdisho, ʾAbdisho, Abdishu, ʿAbd Īshūʿ, or Odisho, ( syr, ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ, ar, عبد يشوع) meaning “servant of Christ” in Syriac, is a Syriac Christian name that may refer to: * Odisho * Abdisho (died 345) (298–345), deacon a ...

and of

Mar Qardagh Mār Qardāgh ( syc, ܣܗܕܐ ܡܪܝ ܩܪܕܓ ܐܬ݂ܘܪܝܐ), was a legendary Assyrian prince who was Christian martyrs, martyred for converting to Christianity. Life Qardāgh was born to a noble family in the Sassanid Empire during the 4th c ...

History

The

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

monastery of Mar Abdisho at Dere was founded in the 4th-century AD atop a hill above the village known as Bshīsh. At one point, it was served by 42 monks who resided in nearby caves. It has been suggested that the monastery was the seat of the

metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the b ...

Abdisho of Koma in 1580. A colophon of 1586 mentions that the monastery had been damaged by a recent earthquake and subsequently restored. It was the only monastery in the region mentioned in reports in 1607 and 1610 but had probably been abandoned by 1753, in which year it was granted to the Dominican

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

under Francesco Turriani by the governor of

Amedi Amedi or Amadiya ( ku, ئامێدی, Amêdî, ; Syriac: , Amədya), is a town in the Duhok Governorate of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is built on a mesa in the broader Great Zab river valley. Etymology According to Ali ibn al-Athir, the name ...

. The Dominicans subsequently restored the monastery in 1779. The English missionary

George Percy Badger George Percy Badger (April 6 1815–February 21 1888) was an English Anglican missionary, and a scholar of oriental studies. He is mainly known for his doctrinal and historical studies about the Church of the East. Life ''George Percy Bad ...

noted the monastery was partially ruined when he first visited in 1843 but had been restored before he returned in 1850, at which time he recorded the village was inhabited by 12–18 families that were served by one functioning church as part of the Church of the East archdiocese of

Berwari Barwari ( syr, ܒܪܘܪ, ku, به‌رواری, Berwarî) is a region in the Hakkari (historical region), Hakkari mountains in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The region is inhabited by Assyrian people, Assyrians and Kurds, and was formerl ...

. Badger also attested that the monastery was revered by both Christians and Muslims. By 1913, Dere was counted amongst the thirteen villages in the Sapna valley that had joined the

Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...

. The village was inhabited by 425 Assyrians in 45 families in 1938 according to a report by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. The Iraqi census of 1957 recorded the population of Dere as 323 people. It was inhabited by 100 families in 60 households in 1961, however the population began to decline as the villagers took refuge elsewhere due to the

Iraqi–Kurdish conflict The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars and rebellions by the Kurdish people, Kurds against the central authority of Iraq during the 20th century, which began shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and las ...

. The monastery of Mar Abdisho, which had been destroyed by an Iraqi government airstrike amidst the

First Iraqi–Kurdish War The First Iraqi–Kurdish WarMichael G. Lortz. (Chapter 1, Introduction). ''The Kurdish Warrior Tradition and the Importance of the Peshmerga''. pp.39-42. (Arabic: الحرب العراقية الكردية الأولى) also known as Aylul revo ...

in 1961 and rebuilt in 1984, was destroyed alongside the village in 1987 by the Iraqi government during the

Anfal campaign The Anfal campaign; ku, شاڵاوی ئەنفال or the Kurdish genocide was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988, at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted ru ...

, forcing the remaining 70 families to flee. After the Assyrians had fled the village,

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

from Meristak and other neighbouring villages seized their land. The monastery of Mar Abdisho was rebuilt again in 1995. By 2011, the Supreme Committee of Christian Affairs had constructed 13 houses at Dere and provided an electrical generator. The village was inhabited by approximately 365 Assyrians in 2012, of whom 250 belonged to the

Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول� ...

and 115 were Chaldean Catholics. As of 2021, Dere is inhabited by 12 Assyrians in 3 families.

References

Notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * Populated places in Dohuk Province Assyrian communities in Iraq {{Iraq-geo-stub