Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar,
or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,
) is a city in the
Cizre District of
Şırnak Province in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
It is located on the river
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
by the
Syria–Turkey border
The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey ( ar, الحدود السورية التركية, translit=alhudud alsuwriat alturkia; tr, Suriye–Türkiye sınırı) is about long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea ...
and close to the
Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, ...
and the
cultural region of
Turkish Kurdistan
Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of the ...
.
The city had a population of 130,916 in 2021.
Cizre was founded as Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in the 9th century by
al-Hasan ibn Umar,
Emir of Mosul
This is a list of the rulers of the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Umayyad governors
* Muhammad ibn Marwan (ca. 685–705)
* Yusuf ibn Yahya ibn al-Hakam (ca. 685–705)
* Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik (ca. 685–705)
* Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani (719–720)
...
, on a manmade island in the Tigris. The city benefited from its situation as a river crossing and port in addition to its position at the end of an old Roman road which connected it to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, and thus became an important commercial and strategic centre in Upper Mesopotamia. By the 12th century, it had adopted an intellectual and religious role, and sizeable Christian and Jewish communities are attested. Cizre suffered in the 15th century from multiple sackings and ultimately came under the control of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
after 1515.
Under Ottoman control, Cizre stagnated and was left as a small district centre dominated by ruins by the end of the 19th century. The city's decline continued, exacerbated by the state-orchestrated destruction of its Christian population in the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
and
Assyrian genocide
The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish t ...
s in 1915, and
exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
of its Jewish population to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1951. It began to recover in the second half of the 20th century through urban redevelopment, and its population saw a massive increase as a place of refuge from 1984 onwards as many fled the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the prese ...
. At the close of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, Cizre has emerged as a battleground between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state, which inflicted significant devastation on the city to retain control.
Etymology
The various names for the city of Cizre descend from the original
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
name Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, which is derived from 'jazira' (island), "ibn" (son of), and the name Umar, thus Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar translates to 'island of Umar'. The city's alternative Arabic name Madinat al-Jazira is composed of "madinat" ('city') and 'al-Jazira' (the island), and therefore translates to 'the island city'. Cizre was known in
Syriac as Gāzartā d'Beṯ Zabdaï (island of Zabdicene), from 'gazarta' (island) and 'Beṯ Zabdaï' (Zabdicene).
History
Classical and early medieval period
Cizre is identified as the location of , a river crossing depicted on the ''
Tabula Peutingeriana'', a Roman 4th/5th century map. The river crossing lay at the end of a Roman road that connected it with
Nisibis
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
, and was part of the region of
Zabdicene. It was previously assumed by most scholars that
Bezabde was located at the same site of what would later become Cizre, but is now agreed to be at Eski Hendek, northwest of Cizre.
Cizre was originally known as Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and was founded by and named after
al-Hasan ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab al-Taghlibi (died c. 865),
Emir of Mosul
This is a list of the rulers of the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Umayyad governors
* Muhammad ibn Marwan (ca. 685–705)
* Yusuf ibn Yahya ibn al-Hakam (ca. 685–705)
* Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik (ca. 685–705)
* Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani (719–720)
...
, in the early 9th century, as recorded by
Yaqut al-Hamawi in ''Mu'jam al-Buldan''. The city was constructed in a bend in the river Tigris, and al-Hasan ibn Umar built a canal across the bend, placing the city on an island in the river, hence the city's name. Eventually, the original course of the river disappeared due to sedimentation and shifted to the canal, leaving the city on the west bank of the Tigris. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was situated to take advantage of trade routes from the direction of
Amid to the northwest,
Nisibin to the west, and Iran to the northeast. The city also functioned as a river port, and goods were transported by raft down the Tigris to Mosul and further south. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar supplanted the neighbouring city of Bezabde as its inhabitants gradually left for the new city, and was likely abandoned in the early 10th century.
Medieval Islamic scholars recorded competing theories of the founder of the city as
al-Harawi noted in ''Ziyarat'' that it was believed that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was the second city founded by
Nuh (
Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
) after the
Great Flood. This belief rests on the identification of nearby
Mount Judi as the (place of descent) of
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...
. The
shahanshah Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...
of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(180–242) was also considered a potential founder. In ''Wafayāt al-Aʿyān'',
Ibn Khallikan
Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...
reported that
Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi () was a senior provincial governor for the Umayyad Caliphate. His policies during his tenure as governor of Iraq in 738–744 deepened the Qays–Yaman rivalry and were one of the main factors in the outbreak of the civil ...
(d. 744) was considered by some to be responsible for the city's foundation, whilst he argued that Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar was the founder and namesake of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar.
The city was fortified in the 10th century at the latest. In the 10th century,
Ibn Hawqal in ''Surat al-Ard'' described Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar as an entrepôt engaged in trade with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, and the districts of
Mayyafariqin,
Arzen
Arzen (in Syriac ''Arzŏn'' or ''Arzŭn'', Armenian ''Arzn'', ''Ałzn'', Arabic ''Arzan'') was an ancient and medieval city, located on the border zone between Upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands. The site of the ancient Armenian capital ...
, and Mosul.
Abu Taghlib
Fadl Allah Abu Taghlib al-Ghadanfar Uddat al-Dawla ( ar, فضل الله أبو تغلب الغضنفر عدة الدولة, Faḍl Allāh ʿAbu Taghlib al-Ghaḍanfar ʿUddat al-Dawla), usually known simply by his as Abu Taghlib, was the third H ...
,
Hamdanid Emir of Mosul, allied himself with the
Buyid
The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...
Emir
Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar of Iraq in his civil war against his cousin Emir
'Adud al-Dawla
Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw ( fa, پناه خسرو), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla ( ar, عضد الدولة, "Pillar of the bbasidDynasty") (September 24, 936 – March 26, 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 9 ...
of Fars in 977 on the condition that Bakhtiyar hand over Abu Taghlib's younger brother Hamdan, who had conspired against him. Although Abu Taghlib had secured his reign by executing his rival brother Hamdan, the alliance quickly backfired following Adud al-Dawla's victory over Abu Taghlib and Bakhtiyar at
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
in the spring of 978 as he then annexed Hamdanid territory in upper Mesopotamia, and thus Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar came under Buyid rule, forcing Abu Taghlib to go into exile. Buyid control of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was cut short by the civil war that followed the death of Adud al-Dawla in 983 as it allowed the Kurdish chief
Badh to seize Buyid territory in upper Mesopotamia in the following year, and he was acknowledged as its ruler by the claimant Emir
Samsam al-Dawla
Abu Kalijar Marzuban, also known as Samsam al-Dawla ( ar, صمصام الدولة, Ṣamṣām al-Dawla, Lion of the Dynasty; c. 963 – December 998) was the Buyid amir of Iraq (983–987), as well as Fars and Kerman (988 or 989 – 998). He w ...
. Bādh attempted to conquer Mosul in 990, and the Hamdanid brothers Abu Abdallah Husayn and Abu Tahir Ibrahim were sent by the Buyid Emir
Baha al-Dawla
Abu Nasr Firuz Kharshadh ( ar, أبو نصر فيروز خوارشاذ; died December 22, 1012), better known by his ''laqab'' of Baha al-Dawla ( ar, بهاء الدوله, Bahaʾ al-Dawla, Splendour of the State) was the Buyid amir of Iraq (988– ...
to repel the threat. The
Uqaylid
The Uqaylid dynasty () was a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096.
History
Rise ...
clan agreed to aid the brothers against Bādh in return for the cities of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, Balad, and Nisibin, and Bādh was subsequently defeated and killed. The leader of the Uqaylids,
Abu'l-Dhawwad Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab
Abu'l-Dhawwād Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab was the first Emir of Mosul from the Uqaylid dynasty, from –991/2.
Life
Muhammad and the Uqaylid dynasty belonged to the Banu Uqayl, a northern Arab tribe who were originally clients of the Hamdanid em ...
, secured control of the cities, and acknowledged Emir Baha al-Dawla as his sovereign. On Muhammad's death in 996, his brother and successor as emir,
al-Muqallad, asserted his independence, expelling the Buyid presence in the emirate, and thus ending Buyid suzerainty.
High medieval period
Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
nomads arrived in the vicinity of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in the summer of 1042, and carried out raids in
Diyar Bakr
Diyar Bakr ( ar, دِيَارُ بَكرٍ, Diyār Bakr, abode of Bakr) is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the m ...
and upper Mesopotamia. The
Marwanid
The Marwanids or Dustakids (983/990-1085, ) were a Kurdish Sunni Muslim dynasty in the Diyar Bakr region of Upper Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq/southeastern Turkey) and Armenia, centered on the city of Amid (Diyarbakır).
Territory
Th ...
emirate became a vassal of the
Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to:
* Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia
* Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities
* Seljuk (warlord) (di ...
Sultan
Tughril
Abu Talib Muhammad Tughril ibn Mika'il ( fa, ابوطالب محمد تغریل بن میکائیل), better known as Tughril (; also spelled Toghril), was a Turkmen"The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
in 1056.
In the summer of 1083, the former Marwanid vizier
Fakhr al-Dawla ibn Jahir persuaded the Seljuk Sultan
Malikshah
Jalāl al-Dawla Mu'izz al-Dunyā Wa'l-Din Abu'l-Fatḥ ibn Alp Arslān (8 August 1055 – 19 November 1092, full name: fa, ), better known by his regnal name of Malik-Shah I ( fa, ), was the third sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire from 1072 to ...
to send him with an army against the Marwanid emirate, and eventually Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, the last remaining stronghold, was captured in 1085. Although the Marwanid emirate was severely reduced, its final emir, Nasir al-Dawla Mansur, was permitted to continue to rule solely Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar under the Seljuk Sultanate from 1085 onwards. The
mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
Jikirmish
Jikirmish, also known as Jekermish, Chokurmish or Chökürmish (died in 1106), was the atabeg of Mosul from 1102 to 1106. After the death of his predecessor Kerbogha, he became the adoptive father of Imad ad-Din Zengi. Jikirmish and Sökmen of Mar ...
seized Mansur and usurped the emirate of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar on Mansur's death in January 1096.
[Ibn al-Athir, p. 286] In late 1096, Jikirmish set out to relieve
Kerbogha's siege of Mosul following a request for aid from the Uqaylid emir
Ali ibn Sharaf al-Dawla
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
of Mosul, but was defeated by Kerbogha's brother Altuntash, and submitted to him as a vassal.
Jikirmish was forced to aid in the ultimately successful siege against his former ally, and thus came under the suzerainty of Kerbogha as Emir of Mosul.
Kerbogha died in 1102, and Sultan
Barkiyaruq appointed Jikirmish as his replacement as emir. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was thereafter directly ruled over by a string of Seljuk emirs of Mosul until the appointment of Zengi.
Emir
Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi
Qasīm al-Dawla Sayf al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Āqsunqur al-Bursuqī (), also known as Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Aqsonqor il-Bursuqi, Aksunkur al-Bursuki, Aksungur or al-Borsoki, was the atabeg of Mosul from 1113–1114 and again from 1124–1126.
Accessi ...
of Mosul was murdered by
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
in 1126, and was succeeded by his son Mas'ud. He died after several months, and his younger brother became emir with the mamluk Jawali serving as
atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...
(regent). Jawali sent envoys to Sultan
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
to receive official recognition for al-Bursuqi's son as emir of Mosul, but the envoys bribed the vizier Anu Shurwan to recommend
Imad al-Din Zengi
Imad al-Din Zengi ( ar, عماد الدین زنكي; – 14 September 1146), also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkmen atabeg, who ruled Mosul, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Edessa. He was the namesake of the Zengid dy ...
be appointed as emir of Mosul instead. The sultan appointed Zengi as emir in the autumn of 1127, but he had to secure the emirate by force as forces loyal to al-Bursuqi's son resisted Zengi, and retained control of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. After taking Mosul, Zengi marched north and besieged Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar; in an attack, he ferried soldiers across the river whilst others swam to the city, and eventually the city surrendered. Later, an
Artuqid coalition of Da'ud of
Hisn Kayfa,
Timurtash
Ala ud-Din Timurtash (died 1328; also Temürtaš or Timür-Tash, tr, Demirtaş Noyan) was a member of the Chupanid family who dominated politics in the final years of the Ilkhanate.
Early life
He was born to Chupan as his second son . Timurtas ...
of
Mardin
Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...
, and Ilaldi of Amid threatened Zengi's realm in 1130 whilst he campaigned in the vicinity of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
in Syria, forcing him to return and defeat them at
Dara
Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also known ...
. After the battle, Da'ud marched on Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and pillaged its surroundings, thus Zengi advanced to counter him, and Da'ud withdrew to the mountains.
The ''dozdar'' (governor of the citadel) of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, Thiqat al-Din Hasan, was reported to have sexually harassed soldiers' wives whilst their husbands were on campaign, and thus Zengi sent his ''
hajib
A ''hajib'' or ''hadjib'' ( ar, الحاجب, al-ḥājib, to block, the prevent someone from entering somewhere; It is a word "hajb" meaning to cover, to hide. It means "the person who prevents a person from entering a place, the doorman". The ...
'' (chamberlain) al-Yaghsiyani to handle the situation. To avoid a rebellion, al-Yaghsiyani told Hasan he was promoted to ''dozdar'' of Aleppo, so he arranged to leave the city, but was arrested, castrated, and crucified by al-Yaghsiyani upon leaving the citadel. The Jewish scholar
Abraham ibn Ezra visited the city in November 1142. On Zengi's death in 1146, his eldest son
Sayf al-Din Ghazi I
Saif ad-Din Ghazi I (died 1149) was the Emir of Mosul from 1146 to 1149, who fought in the Second Crusade. He was the eldest son of Imad al-Din Zengi of Mosul, and the elder brother of Nur ad-Din.
Regaining control
In 1146 Imad al-Din Zengi w ...
received the emirate of Mosul, including Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and Izz al-Dīn Abū Bakr al-Dubaysī was appointed as the city's governor. The city was transferred to
Qutb al-Din Mawdud
Qutb al-Din Mawdud (died 6 September 1170) was the Zengid Emir of Mosul from 1149 to 1169. He was the son of Imad al-Din Zengi and brother and successor of Sayf al-Din Ghazi I.
Biography
At the death of Zengi, his possessions were divided betwee ...
on his seizure of the emirate of Mosul after his elder brother Sayf al-Din's death in November 1149.
The
Grand Mosque
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.*
*
*
*
*
*
*
...
of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was constructed in 1155. After Qutb al-Din's death in September 1170, Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was inherited by his son and successor
Sayf al-Din Ghazi II as emir of Mosul.
Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian ( ar, ميخائيل السرياني, Mīkhaʾēl el Sūryani:),( syc, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died 1199 AD, also known as Michael the Great ( syr, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܪܰܒ݁ܳܐ, ...
recorded that a
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
monastery was confiscated and the city's bishop Basilius was imprisoned in 1173. Upon the death of Sayf al-Din Ghazi in 1180, Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was granted as an
iqta' to his son Mu'izz al-Din Sanjar Shah within the emirate of Mosul, however, in late 1183, Sanjar Shah recognised
Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
as his suzerain, thus becoming a vassal of the
Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt, and effectively forming an autonomous principality. Sanjar Shah continued to mint coins in his own name, and copper
dirham
The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass.
Unit of mass
The dirham was a un ...
s were minted at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1203/1204.
Sanjar Shah ruled until his murder by his son Ghazi in 1208, and was succeeded by his son
Mu'izz al-Din Mahmud
Mu'izz al-Din Mahmud was the Zengid Emir of the Jazira 1208–1241. He was successor of Imad al-Din Zengi II.
See also
* Zengid dynasty
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upp ...
. Mahmud successfully maintained Zengid control over Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar with the marriage of his son Al-Malik al-Mas'ud Shahanshah to the daughter of
Badr al-Din Lu'lu', who had overthrown the Zengids at Mosul, and usurped power for himself in 1233. The Grand Mosque of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was renovated during Mahmud's reign. In the early 13th century, the city's fort and madrasa are attested by Ibn al-Athir in ''Al-Tārīkh al-bāhir fī al-Dawlah al-Atābakīyah bi-al-Mawṣil'', and its mosque by Ibn Khallikan in ''Wafayāt al-Aʿyān''. According to the Arab scholar
Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad
Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad al-Halabi (1217–1285) ( ar, عز الدين بن شدّاد) was an Arab scholar and official for the Ayyubids from Aleppo.
Biography
'Izz al-Din Muhammad b. 'Ali ibn Shaddad al-Halabi, often quoted simply as Ibn Shaddad ...
, the
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
demanded 100,000
dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
s in tribute from the ruler of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1251. The end of the Zengid dynasty was heralded by the death of Mahmud in 1251, as Badr al-Din Lu'lu' had Mahmud's successor Al-Malik al-Mas'ud Shahanshah killed soon after, and assumed control of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar.
Late medieval period
Badr al-Din Lu'lu' acknowledged Mongol suzerainty to secure his realm as early as 1252, and minted coins in the name of
Great Khan Möngke Khan
Möngke ( mn, ' / Мөнх '; ; 11 January 1209 – 11 August 1259) was the fourth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, ruling from 1 July 1251, to 11 August 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms ...
in 1255 at the latest. He is also known to have had a mosque built at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. Badr al-Din became subject to the Mongol
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
on
Hulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of West ...
's assumption of the title ''
Ilkhan
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
'' (subject khan) in 1256. Badr al-Din Lu'lu' died in July/August 1259, and his realm was divided between his sons, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was bequeathed to his son al-Malik Al-Mujahid Sayf al-Din Ishaq. The sons of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' chafed under Mongol rule and soon all had rebelled and travelled to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
seeking military assistance as al-Muzaffar Ala al-Din Ali left
Sinjar in 1260, al-Salih Rukn al-Din Ismail left Mosul in June 1261, and finally Ishaq fled Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar for Egypt shortly afterwards. Prior to his flight, Ishaq extorted 700 dinars from the city's Christians, and news of his impending escape pushed the populace to riot against his decision to leave the city to the wrath of the Mongols.
[Bar Hebraeus XI, 518]
In Ishaq's absence, 'Izz ad-Din 'Aibag, Emir of
Amadiya, seized the city, and an attack by Abd Allah, Emir of
Mayyafariqin, was repelled.
Baibars
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
,
Sultan of Egypt
Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally i ...
, refused to provide an army to the sons of Badr al-Din against the Mongols, but they were permitted to accompany Caliph
Al-Mustansir on his campaign to reconquer Baghdad from the Mongols. The three brothers marched with the caliph's campaign until they split at
Al-Rahba
Al-Rahba (/ALA-LC: ''al-Raḥba'', sometimes spelled ''Raḥabah''), also known as Qal'at al-Rahba, which translates as the "Citadel of al-Rahba", is a medieval Arab fortress on the west bank of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the city of Maya ...
, and travelled to Sinjar, where Ali and Ishaq briefly remained whilst Ismail continued onwards to Mosul. However, the two brothers abandoned Sinjar and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar to the Mongols, and returned to Egypt upon learning of the caliph's death and defeat in November. Mosul was sacked and Ismail was killed by a Mongol army, after a siege from November to July/August 1262. After the sack of Mosul, the Mongol army led by Samdaghu besieged Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar until the summer of 1263; the siege was lifted and the city spared when 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 ...
bishop Henan Isho claimed to have knowledge of
chrysopoeia
In alchemy, the term chrysopoeia (from Greek , ', "gold-making") refers to the artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead. A related term is argyropoeia (, ', "silver-making"), referring ...
, and offered to render his services.
[Bar Hebraeus XI, 520] Jemal ad-Din Gulbag was appointed to govern Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, but he was later executed for conspiring with the city's former ruler Ishaq, and was replaced by Henan Isho,
who was also executed in 1268, following accusations of impropriety.
In the second half of the 13th century, Mongol gold, silver, and copper coins were minted at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and production there increased after Khan
Ghazan
Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of A ...
's (r. 1295-1304) reforms. It was later attested that the vizier
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani had planned to construct a canal from the Tigris by the city. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was visited by the Moroccan scholar
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
in 1327, and he noted the city's mosque, bazaar, and three gates. In 1326/1327, the city was granted as a fief to a Turkman chief, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar remained under his control until the disintegration of the Ilkhanate in 1335, soon after which it was seized by the
Bohtan clan in 1336/1337 with the aid of al-Ashraf,
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
Emir of Hisn Kayfa. In the 1330s,
Hamdallah Mustawfi
Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and ...
in ''Nuzhat Al Qulub'' reported that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar had an annual revenue of 170,200 dinars. The emirate of Hisn Kayfa had aimed to control Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar through the Bohtan clan in providing military assistance to its capture and the marriage of a daughter to Izz ed-Din, Emir of Bohtan, but this was unsuccessful as the Bohtan emirate developed the city and consolidated their rule, and eventually the emir of Hisn Kayfa attempted to take Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar by force in 1384/1385, but was repelled.
The emirate of Bohtan submitted to the
Timurid Empire in 1400, after
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
sacked Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in retribution for the emir having seized one of his baggage convoys. As punishment for the emir's refusal to participate in Timur's campaign in Iraq, the city was sacked by Timur's son
Miran Shah.
Early modern period
Uzun Hasan
Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan ( اوزون حسن; fa, اوزون حسن; 1423 – January 6, 1478; where ''uzun'' means "tall" in Oghuz Turkic) was a ruler of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. Ha ...
usurped leadership of the
Aq Qoyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu ( az, Ağqoyunlular , ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (Wh ...
from his elder brother Jahangir in a coup at Amid in 1452, and set about expanding his realm by seizing Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1456, whilst the emir of Bohtan withdrew into the mountains. Rebellion and civil war followed the death of Uzun Hasan in 1478, and the emir of Bohtan retook Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1495/1496.
Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar came under
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
suzerainty in the first decade of the 16th century, but after the Ottoman victory at the
battle of Chaldiran over Shah
Ismail I in 1514, Sultan
Selim I
Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite last ...
sent
Idris Bitlisi
Idris Bitlisi ( 18 January 1457 – 15 November 1520), sometimes spelled Idris Bidlisi, Idris-i Bitlisi, or Idris-i Bidlisi ("Idris of Bitlis"), and fully ''Mevlana Hakimeddin İdris Mevlana Hüsameddin Ali-ül Bitlisi'', was an Ottoman Kurdish ...
to the city and he successfully convinced the emir of
Bohtan to submit to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. The emirate of Bohtan was incorporated into the empire as a ''hükûmet'' (autonomous territory), and was assigned to the ''
eyalet
Eyalets ( Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, , English: State), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were a primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire.
From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government ...
'' (province) of
Diyarbekir upon its formation in 1515. Sayyid Ahmad ruled in 1535.
Christian families from
Erbil
Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000.
Hu ...
found refuge and settled in Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1566. In the mid-17th century,
Evliya Çelebi visited Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar en route from Mosul to Hisn Kayfa, and noted the city possessed four
muftis and a ''
naqib al-ashraf'', and its ''
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
s'' (judges) received a daily salary of 300 ''
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
s''. In the late 17th century, Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar is mentioned by
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in ''Les Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier'' as a location on the route to
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
.
Late modern period
The
Egyptian invasion of Syria in 1831-1832 allowed Mohammed Pasha Mir Kôr, Emir of
Soran, to expand his realm, and he seized Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1833. The Ottoman response to Mir Kôr was delayed by the war with Egypt until 1836, in which year Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was retaken by an army led by
Reşid Mehmed Pasha. Reşid deposed Saif al-Din Shir, Emir of Bohtan and ''
mütesellim
''Mütesellim'' or ''mutesellim'' was an Ottoman gubernatorial title used to describe mainly the head of a ''nahiye'', but also other positions within the Ottoman hierarchy, depending on the context. Mostly this title was used for civil governor ...
'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and he was replaced by
Bedir Khan Beg. In 1838, an Ottoman army was sent to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar during the campaign to suppress the rebellion of Abdul Agha and Khan Mahmud in the vicinity of
Lake Van
Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
. The German adviser
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Helmuth is both a masculine German given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name;
*Helmuth Theodor Bossert (1889–1961), German art historian, philologist and archaeologist
*Helmuth Duckadam (born 1959), Romanian forme ...
accompanied the Ottoman army and reported back to the Ottoman government from Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in June 1838. Bedir Khan reportedly established a munitions and arms factory at the city.
In 1842, as part of the centralisation policies of the
Tanzimat
The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...
reforms, the ''
kaza
A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough')
* bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза
* el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also ()
* lad, kaza
, ...
'' (district) of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was attached to the ''eyalet'' of
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
, whilst the ''kaza'' of Bohtan, which constituted the remainder of the emirate, remained within the ''eyalet'' of Diyarbekir, thus administratively dividing the emirate, and provoking Bedir Khan. The administrative reform aimed to increase Ottoman state revenue, but left the previously loyal emir disgruntled with the Ottoman state. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was visited by the American missionary
Asahel Grant on 13 June 1843. Bedir Khan's
1843 and 1846 massacres in Hakkari A series of massacres in Hakkari in the years 1843 and 1846 of Assyrians were carried out by the Kurdish emirs of Bohtan and Hakkari, Bedr Khan Bey, Nurullah. The massacres resulted in the killing of more than 10,000 Assyrians and the captivity of ...
led the British and French governments to demand his removal from power, and he was subsequently summoned to Constantinople, but Bedir Khan refused, and an Ottoman army was sent against him. The emir defeated the Ottoman army, and he declared the independence of the Emirate of Bohtan. Bedir Khan's success was brief as a large Ottoman army led by Osman Pasha, with
Omar Pasha and Sabri Pasha, marched against him, and his relative
Yezdanşêr defected and allowed for the Ottoman occupation of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. The Ottoman government unsuccessfully encouraged Bedir Khan to surrender, and the ''
vali'' (governor) of Diyarbekir wrote to the
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
sheikhs İbrahim, Salih, and Azrail at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar to mediate in June 1847. Although Bedir Khan retook Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, the emir was forced to withdraw and surrendered on 29 July.
As a consequence of Bedir Khan's rebellion, the emirate of Bohtan was dissolved and Yezdanşêr succeeded him as ''mütesellim'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. Also, the
''eyalet'' of Kurdistan was formed on 5 December 1847, and included the ''kazas'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan. Yezdanşêr met with Lieutenant Colonel (later General)
Fenwick Williams
General Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet (4 December 180026 July 1883) was a Nova Scotian military leader for the British during the Victorian era.
Williams is remembered for his defence of the town of Kars during the Crimean War. He ...
at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1849 whilst he participated as the British representative in a commission to settle the Ottoman-Iranian border. Yezdanşêr was soon replaced by the ''
kaymakam
Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...
'' Mustafa Pasha, sent away to Constantinople in March 1849, and forbidden from returning to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. In 1852, the ''iane-i umumiye'' (temporary tax) was introduced, and the ''kaza'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was expected to provide 23,140
piastre
The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venice, Venetian traders in the ...
s. During the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, in 1854, Yezdanşêr was ordered to recruit soldiers for the war, and 900 Kurds were recruited from Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan. Yezdanşêr claimed to be maltreated by local officials and revolted in November, with Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar under his control. He offered to surrender in January 1855 on the condition that he received the ''kazas'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan, but this was rejected. An Ottoman army consisting of a regiment of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and a battery of six guns was ordered to march on Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in February. In March, Yezdanşêr accepted terms offered by General Williams, the British military commissioner with the Ottoman Anatolian army, and surrendered.
In 1867, the ''eyalet'' of Kurdistan was dissolved and replaced by the
Diyarbekir Vilayet, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar became the seat of a ''kaza'' in the ''
sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησι ...
'' of Mardin. The ''kaza'' was subdivided into nine ''
nahiyes'', and possessed 210 villages. Osman, son of Bedir Khan, seized Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1878 after his escape from captivity at Constantinople using demobilised Kurdish veterans of the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and proclaimed himself as emir. The rebellion endured for eight months until it was quelled by an Ottoman army led by Shevket Bey. The city was visited by the German scholar
Eduard Sachau in 1880. In the late 19th century, the French geographer
Vital Cuinet
Vital-Casimir Cuinet, commonly known as Vital Cuinet (December 19, 1833 in Longeville – September 6, 1896 in Constantinople (now Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code ...
recorded in ''La Turquie d'Asie'' the city's five
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
s, one-hundred and six shops, ten cafés, and a vaulted
bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
. At the inception of the ''
Hamidiye'' cavalry corps in 1891, Mustafa, ''
agha'' (chief) of the local
Miran
Miran may refer to:
Places
*Miran (Xinjiang), an ancient oasis town in Ruoqiang County, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, southeastern Xinjiang, western China
*Miran fort, a ruined defensive structure built by the Tibetan Empire, located in ...
clan, enrolled and was made a commander with the rank of
paşa
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...
, hereafter known as Mustafa Paşa. Throughout the 1890s, Mustafa Paşa exploited his position to seize goods from merchants and plunder Christian villages in the district. In 1892, Mustafa Paşa converted a mosque at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar into a barracks for his soldiers.
The appointment of Mehmed Enis Paşa as ''vali'' of Diyarbekir on 4 October 1895 was quickly followed by
massacres of Christians throughout the province, and in mid-November an Ottoman army repelled an attempt by Mustafa Paşa to enter the city and slaughter its Christian inhabitants. Mustafa Paşa subsequently complained to Enis Paşa, and the officer in charge of the regiment was summoned to Diyarbekir. Later, the British and French vice-consuls at Diyarbekir, Cecil Marsham Hallward and Gustave Meyrier, respectively, suspected that Enis Paşa was responsible for the massacres in the province. In 1897, the British diplomat
Telford Waugh
Sir (Alexander) Telford Waugh (22 October 1865 – 7 January 1950) was a British diplomat who experienced at first hand the final days of the Ottoman Empire.Obituary in ''The Times'', ''Sir Telford Waugh, Last Days of the Ottoman Empire'', 11 Ja ...
reported that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was used as a place of exile by the Ottoman Empire as he noted the presence of Albanians deported there, and that the city's governor Faris, ''agha'' of the Şammar clan, had been exiled there after his fall from grace.
Early 20th century
Mustafa Paşa feuded with ''agha'' Muhammad Aghayê Sor, and in 1900 the ''kaymakam'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar intervened to aid the Tayan clan, Mustafa Paşa's allies, against Aghayê Sor. Several months later, Mustafa Paşa had twenty villages in the district loyal to his rival destroyed, and Aghayê Sor wrote to the Brigadier General Bahaeddin Paşa seeking protection. Bahaeddin Paşa travelled to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar to conduct an inquiry, but was imprisoned there for five days by Mustafa Paşa, and the two rivals continued to attack each other's territories until Mustafa Paşa was assassinated on Aghayê Sor's orders in 1902. Within the ''kaza'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, in 1909, there were 1500 households, 1000 of which possessed over 50
dönüms. As late as 1910, the Miran clan annually migrated from their winter pastures in the plain of Mosul to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in the spring to trade and pay taxes, and then across the Tigris to summer grazing grounds at the source of the river
Botan. The British scholar
Gertrude Bell visited the city in May 1910.
In 1915, amidst the ongoing genocide of
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
and
Assyrians perpetrated by the Ottoman government and local Kurds, Aziz Feyzi and Zülfü Bey carried out preparations to destroy the Christian population of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar on orders from
Mehmed Reshid, ''vali'' of Diyarbekir. From 29 April to 12 May, the officials toured the district and incited the Kurds against the Christians; Halil Sâmi, ''kaymakam'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar since 31 March 1913, was replaced by Kemal Bey on 2 May 1915 due to his refusal to support the plans for genocide. At this time, two ''redif'' (reserve) battalions were stationed in the city. Julius Behnam, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Gazarta, fled to
Azakh upon hearing of the commencement of massacres in the province in July. Christians in rural areas of the district were massacred over several days from 8 August onwards, and several Jacobite and 15 Chaldean Catholic villages were destroyed.
On the night of 28 August,
Flavianus Michael Malke
Flavianos Michael Melke ( syr, ܦܠܒܝܐܢܘܣ ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܡܠܟܝ, ), born Ya'Qūb Melkī; (1858 – 29 August 1915) was an Eastern Catholic prelate of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem of an Syriac background. He became the Syrian Catholic eparc ...
, Syriac Catholic Bishop of Gazarta, and
Philippe-Jacques Abraham
Philippe-Jacques Abraham ( syr, ܐܒܪܗܡ ܦܝܠܝܦܘܣ ܝܥܩܘܒ) (Orahim Pillipus Yaqub) (January 3, 1848 – August 28, 1915) was an ethnic Assyrian bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
He was born in Telkef in 1848. He joined the ...
, Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Gazarta, were killed. On 29 August, Aziz Feyzi, Ahmed Hilmi, Mufti of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and Ömer, ''agha'' of the Reman clan, coordinated the arrest, torture, and execution of all Armenian men and a number of Assyrians in Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. The men's bodies were dumped in the Tigris, and, two days later, the children were abducted into Muslim households, and most women were raped and killed, and their bodies were also thrown into the river. Walter Holstein, German vice-consul at Mosul, reported the massacre to the German embassy at
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
on 9 September, and the German ambassador
Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg informed the German
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
on 11 September that the massacre had resulted in the death of 4750
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
(2500
Gregorians, 1250
Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and 1000
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
) and 350
Assyrians (250
Chaldeans and 100 Jacobites). After the massacre, eleven churches and three chapels were confiscated. 200 Armenians from
Erzurum were exterminated near Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar by General
Halil Kut
Halil Kut (1881 – 20 August 1957) was an Ottoman Turkish military commander and politician. He served in the Ottoman army during World War I, notably taking part in the military campaigns against Russia in the Caucasus and the British in Me ...
on 22 September. Kemal Bey continued in the office of ''kaymakam'' until 3 November 1915.
In the aftermath of Ottoman defeat in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
,
Ali İhsan Sâbis
Ali İhsan Sâbis (1882 – 9 December 1957) was the commander for the Sixth Army of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. After the war he was exiled to Malta by the British occupation forces. After returning to Turkey, he was appointed to t ...
, commander of the Ottoman
Sixth Army, was reported to have recruited and armed Kurds at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in February 1919 in an effort to prevent British occupation. After the murder of Captain Alfred Christopher Pearson,
assistant political officer at
Zakho, by Kurds on 4 April 1919, the occupation of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was considered to ensure the security of
British Iraq, but ultimately dismissed. Ahmed Hilmi, Mufti of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, was ordered to be arrested in May 1919 for his role in the massacre in 1915 as part of the
Turkish courts-martial of 1919–1920
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
, but he evaded arrest as he was under the protection of local Kurdish clans.
Appeals from Kurds to the British government to create an independent Kurdish state spurred the appointment of
Nihat Anılmış
Nihat Anılmış (1876 in Filibe (Plovdiv) – May 31, 1954 in Istanbul) was an officer of the Ottoman Army (1861–1922), Ottoman Army and a general of the Turkish Army.
See also
*List of high-ranking commanders of the Turkish War of Independen ...
as commander at Cizre in June 1920 with instructions from the
Prime Minister of Turkey
The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of ...
Mustafa Kemal to establish local government and secure control of local Kurds by inciting them to engage in armed clashes against British and French forces, thus preventing good relations. Local Kurdish notables complained to the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...
of alleged illegal activity by Nihat Anılmış, and although it was decided no action was to be taken in July 1922, he was transferred away from Cizre in early September.
Amidst the
partition of the Ottoman Empire, Cizre was allocated to become part of 'the specifically French zone of interests' as per the
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres (french: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy, as well ...
of 10 August 1920. However, Turkey concentrated a significant number of forces at Cizre in January 1923 to bolster the Turkish position at the
Lausanne Conference of 1922–23
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, and the city itself was retained by Turkey, but part of the district was transferred to
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
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 ...
. In response to
Kurdish revolts in the 1920s, the Turkish government aimed to
Turkify
Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...
the population of eastern Turkey, but Christians were deemed unsuitable, and thus attempted to eradicate those who had survived the genocide. In this effort, 257 Syriac Orthodox men from
Azakh and neighbouring villages were imprisoned by the government at Cizre in 1926, where they were beaten and denied food.
Late 20th century and contemporary period
Cizre received electricity and running water in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, the infrastructure of the city was developed as a new
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, municipal buildings, and new roads were constructed and streets were widened, and amenities such as a public park named after
Atatürk and a cinema were built.
Roughly 60 people were detained and tortured for 20 days by Turkish police after the killing of two Turkish policemen in Cizre on 13 January 1989.
The economy of Cizre was severely disrupted by the eruption of the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
as trade with Iraq was embargoed and the border was closed, resulting in the closure of 90% of shops in the city. Kurdish militants clashed with Turkish security forces in Cizre on 18 June 1991, and five Turkish soldiers and one militant were killed, according to official reports, however
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
reported the death of one civilian also.
On 21 March 1992, a pro-PKK demonstration to celebrate
Nowruz in contravention of a state ban was dispersed by Turkish soldiers, and led to violence as Kurdish militants retaliated, resulting in the death of 26-30 people. Properties in Cizre were damaged by Turkish soldiers in two shootouts against PKK militants in August and September 1993, and three militants were killed.
Riots
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...
erupted in Cizre in October 2014 in response to the Turkish government's decision to prohibit Kurds from travelling to Syria to participate in the
Syrian Civil War.
It is claimed that 17 Kurds from Cizre fought and died in the
Siege of Kobanî
The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî (also known as Kobanê or Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, in the ''de facto'' ...
.
The
YDG-H
The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement ( ku, Tevgera Ciwanen Welatparêzên Şoreşger, tr, Yurtsever Devrimci Gençlik Hareket, YDG-H) was the urban, militant youth wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from 2006-2015. Trained by more ...
, the militant youth wing of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK), subsequently erected blockades, ditches, and armed checkpoints, and carried out patrols in several neighbourhoods to block the movement of Turkish police.
A
military operation
A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...
was launched by the
Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...
to reestablish control over the city on 4 September 2015, and a curfew was imposed.
An estimated 70 YDG-H militants responded with rocket-propelled and grenade attacks on Turkish soldiers.
In the operation, the Turkish
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
claimed 32 PKK militants and 1 civilian had been killed, whereas the
HDP argued 21 civilians were killed.
On 10 September, a group of 30 HDP MPs led by leader
Selahattin Demirtaş were denied entry to the city by the police.
The curfew was briefly relaxed on 11 September, but was reimposed after two days.
On 14 December 2015, Turkish military operations resumed in Cizre, and the
curfew was renewed. The military operation continued until 11 February, but the curfew was maintained until 2 March. During the clashes between 24 July 2015 and 30 June 2016 at Cizre, the Turkish Armed Forces claimed 674 PKK militants were killed or captured, and 24 military and police officers were killed. The
Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects
The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects ( tr, Türk Mühendis ve Mimar Odaları Birliği, TMMOB for short) is a confederation of all chambers of architects and engineers in Turkey. The union was "established in 1954 by the Law 7 ...
reported that four neighbourhoods were completely destroyed, with 1200 buildings severely damaged and approximately 10,000 buildings damaged, and c. 110,000 people fled the district.
The Turkish government announced plans in April 2016 to rebuild damaged 2700 houses in a project estimated to cost 4 billion
Turkish lira
The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred ''kuruş''.
History
Ottoman lira (1844–1923)
The lira, along with t ...
. The Turkish physician Dr Şebnem Korur Fincanci was arrested and imprisoned on charges of involvement in the propaganda of terrorism by the Turkish government on 20 June 2016 as a consequence of her report on conditions in Cizre after the end of the curfew in March 2016; she was later acquitted in July 2019.
On 26 August 2016, 11 policemen were killed and 78 people were injured by a
car bomb
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.
Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
at a police checkpoint planted by the PKK, and the nearby riot police headquarters was severely damaged. The Turkish government banned journalists and independent observers from entering the city to report on the attack.
Ecclesiastical history
East Syriac
At the city's foundation in the early 9th century, it was included in the
diocese of Qardu, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Nisibis in 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 ...
. In c. 900, the diocese of Bezabde was moved and renamed to Gazarta (Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in Syriac), and partially assumed the territory of the diocese of Qardu, which was also moved and renamed to its new seat Tamanon, having previously been based at Penek. Tamanon declined and at some point after the mention of its last bishop in 1265, its diocese was subsumed into the diocese of Gazarta.
Eliya was archbishop of Gazarta and Amid in 1504. Gazarta was a prominent centre of manuscript production, and most surviving east Syriac manuscripts from the late 16th century were copied there.
The Catholic Church of Mosul, later known as the Chaldean Catholic Church, split from the Church of the East in the
schism of 1552
The schism of 1552 was an important event in the history of the Church of the East. It divided the church into two factions, of which one entered into communion with Rome becoming part of the Catholic Church at this time and the other remained ind ...
, and its inaugural patriarch
Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa
Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa ( syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܬܡܝܢܝܐ ܝܘܚܢܢ ܣܘܠܩܐ; la, Simeon Sulacha; also ''Yohannan d'Bēth Bello'' ( syr, ܝܘܚܢܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܒܠܘ), John Soulaqa, Sulaka or Sulacha; circa 1510–1555) was the first Patriarch ...
appointed
Abdisho as archbishop of Gazarta in 1553.
Shemon VII Ishoyahb
Mar Shemon VII Ishoyahb ( syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܫܒܝܥܝܐ ܝܫܘܥܝܗܒ), born , was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1539 to 1558, with residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery.
His reign was widely unpopular, and discontent with his leaders ...
, Patriarch of the Church of the East, appointed Joseph as archbishop of Gazarta in response in 1554. Abdisho succeeded Sulaqa as patriarch on his death in 1555.
Gabriel was archbishop of Gazarta in 1586. There was an archbishop of Gazarta named John in 1594. Joseph was archbishop of Gazarta in 1610. A certain Joseph, archbishop of Gazarta, is mentioned in a manuscript in 1618 with the patriarch Eliya IX. An archbishop of Gazarta named Joseph is also mentioned in a manuscript in 1657.
Joseph, archbishop of Gazarta, resided at the village of Shah in 1822. An archbishop named Joseph had two suffragan bishops, and served until his death in 1846.
In 1850, the Church of the East diocese of Gazarta had 23 villages, 23 churches, 16 priests, and 220 families, whereas the Chaldean diocese of Gazarta had 7 villages, 6 churches, 5 priests, and 179 families. The Chaldean Catholic Church expanded considerably in the second half of the 19th century, and consequently its diocese of Gazarta grew to 20 villages, 15 priests, and 7,000 adherents in 1867. The Chaldean diocese decreased to 5200 adherents, with 17 churches and 14 priests, in 1896, but recovered by 1913 to 6400 adherents in 17 villages, with 11 churches and 17 priests.
West Syriac
Syriac Orthodox
The
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
diocese of Gazarta was established in 864, and supplanted the diocese of
Bezabde. It is first mentioned under the authority of the
maphrian
The Maphrian ( syr, ܡܦܪܝܢܐ, maphryānā or ''maphryono''), originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East and also known as the Catholicos, was the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
in the tenure of Dionysius I Moses (). There were 19 villages in the Syriac Orthodox diocese of Azakh and Gazarta in 1915.
The following is a list of incumbents of the see:
*Iwanis (1040)
*Basil (1173)
*John Wahb (1265–1280), ordained by maphrian
Gregory bar Hebraeus.
*Dioscorus Gabriel of
Bartella
Bartella (; ar, برطلّة) is a town that is located in the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq, about east of Mosul.
Bartella was liberated from ISIL control on October 20, 2016 by Iraqi Special Operations Forces along with the Nineveh Plain ...
(1284–1300), ordained by maphrian Gregory bar Hebraeus.
*'Abd Allah of Bartella (1326)
*Iyawannis of
Basibrina (1329–1335)
*Iyawannis Barsoum (1415–1457)
*Dioscorus Simon of
Ayn Ward (1483–1501)
*
Dioscorus George (1677–1684), ordained by maphrian
Baselios Yeldo
Saint Baselios Yeldo was the Maphrian, Maphrian of the East of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1678 until his resignation in 1684. He is venerated as a saint in the Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church and Malankara ...
.
*Dioscorus Shukr Allah (1687–1691), ordained by maphrian
Basil Isaac.
*Dioscorus Saliba (1691–1698), ordained by Patriarch
Ignatius George II
Ignatius George II ( syr, ܓܘܪܓܝܣ ܬܪܝܢܐ, ar, البطريرك جرجس الثاني ابن عبدالكريم الموصلي) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1687 until his death in 1708.
Bio ...
at the
church of the Virgin Mary at
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
.
*Dioscorus Murad (1698–1716), ordained by maphrian
Basil Isaac.
*Dioscorus Aho (1718–?), ordained by Patriarch
Ignatius Isaac II
Ignatius Isaac II ( syr, ܐܝܣܚܩ ܥܐܙܐܪ, ar, اسحق بطريارك انطاكية) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1709 until his resignation in 1723.
Biography
Isaac ʿAzar was born at Mosul ...
.
*Dioscorus Shukr Allah (1743/1745–c. 1785), ordained by Patriarch
Ignatius Shukrallah II Ignatius is a male given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
Religious
* Ignatius of Antioch (35–108), saint and martyr, Apostolic Father, early Christian bishop
* Ignatius of Constantinople (797–877), Cath ...
.
*Athanasius Stephan (d. 1869)
*Julius Behnam of
Aqrah (1871–1927), ordained by Patriarch
Ignatius Peter IV at the
church of Umm al-Zunnar at
Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
. In 1916, he was represented by Iyawannis Shakir, archbishop of Mosul, at the synod held at the
monastery of Saint Ananias to elect a new patriarch.
Syriac Catholic
The
Syriac Catholic diocese of Gazarta was established in 1863, and endured until its suppression in 1957. The following is a list of incumbents of the see:
* Flavianus Pietro Matah (1863 – death 1874)
* Giacomo Matteo Ahmndahño (1888.10.10 – death 1908)
* Blessed
Flavianus Michael Malke
Flavianos Michael Melke ( syr, ܦܠܒܝܐܢܘܣ ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܡܠܟܝ, ), born Ya'Qūb Melkī; (1858 – 29 August 1915) was an Eastern Catholic prelate of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem of an Syriac background. He became the Syrian Catholic eparc ...
(1912.09.14 – 1915.08.29)
Government
Mayors
Seyyit Haşim Haşimi was
RP mayor of Cizre in 1989–1994. Haşimi was detained by police in the summer of 1993 on suspicion of aiding the PKK; Saki Işıkçı was deputy mayor at this time.
On 29 October 2019, Mehmet Zırığ, HDP co-mayor of Cizre, who was elected in the
2019 Turkish local elections
The Turkish local elections of 2019 were held on Sunday 31 March 2019 throughout the 81 provinces of Turkey. A total of 30 metropolitan and 1,351 district municipal mayors, alongside 1,251 provincial and 20,500 municipal councillors were elected, ...
with 77% of the vote, was removed from office by the
Governor of Şırnak amidst an investigation into charges of "praising the crime and the criminal", "propagandising for a terrorist organisation", and "being a member of a terrorist organisation", and kaymakam (district governor) Davut Sinanoğlu was appointed as acting mayor. Berivan Kutlu,
HDP co-mayor of Cizre, was detained by police on 12–19 March 2020.
Demography
Population
Until 1915, Cizre had a diverse population of Christian Armenians and Assyrians, who constituted half of the city's population, Jews, and Muslim Kurds. The genocide of Armenians and Assyrians reduced the city's population significantly, and it declined further with the departure of the Jews in 1950–1951. The population began to recover in the second half of the 20th century, and later increased dramatically from 1984 onwards due to the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the prese ...
as thousands of people fled to Cizre to escape pressure from both the Turkish armed forces and PKK militants.
Religion
Christian population
According to the census carried out by the
Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople ( tr, İstanbul Ermeni Patrikhanesi; Western hy, Պատրիարքութիւն Հայոց Կոստանդնուպոլսոյ, ''Badriark'ut'iun Hayots' Gosdantnubolsoy'') is an autonomous See. The seat of ...
, 4281 Armenians inhabited the ''kaza'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1913, with only one functioning church: 2716 Armenians lived in Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar itself and eleven nearby villages, and 1565 Armenians were nomadic. 60 Chaldean Catholic families inhabited the city in 1850, and were served by one church and one priest. There were 300 Chaldeans in 1865, 240 Chaldeans in 1880, 320 Chaldeans in 1888, 350 Chaldeans in 1890, and 600 Chaldeans, with 2 priests and 2 churches, in 1913.
A report submitted to the
Paris Peace Conference by the Syriac Orthodox bishop
Severios Barsoum in July 1919 testified that 7510 Syriac Orthodox Christians in 994 families and 8 clergymen had been killed in the ''kaza'' of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar during the genocide. 26 Syriac Orthodox villages and 13 churches had been affected. In total, 35 Assyrian villages in the vicinity of Cizre were destroyed in the genocide. A separate memorandum was submitted on behalf of
Shimun XX Paulos, Patriarch of the Church of the East, in which it was requested that the city become part of an independent Assyrian state.
After the genocide, in 1918, it was reported Kurds made up the majority of the city, with approximately 500 Chaldeans. There were 960 Assyrians at Cizre in total in 1918.
Jewish population
The Jewish community of Cizre is attested by
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli''; Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, an ...
in the mid-12th century, and he noted the city was inhabited by 4000 Jews led by
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
s named Muvhar, Joseph, and Hiyya.
J. J. Benjamin
Israe͏̈l Joseph Benjamin (Fălticeni, Moldavia, 1818 – London, May 3, 1864) was a Romanian-Jewish historian and traveler. His pen name was "Benjamin II", in allusion to Benjamin of Tudela.
Life and travels
Married young, he engaged in the l ...
remarked on the presence of 20 Jewish families in Cizre during his visit in 1848. Jews of Cizre spoke
Judaeo-Aramaic and Kurdish.
There were 10 Jewish households in Cizre when visited by Rabbi Yehiel Fischel in 1859, and were described as very poor. 126 Jews inhabited Cizre in 1891, as recorded by the Ottoman census. The community had grown to 150 people by 1906, and the synagogue was renovated in 1913. In 1914, 234 Jews inhabited Cizre. The Jewish community of Cizre
emigrated
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1950–1951. The Israeli politician
Mickey Levy is a notable descendant of the Jews of Cizre.
Kurdish population and tribes
The town is presently populated by Kurds of the Aluwa, Amara, Elikan, Kiçan and Meman tribes.
Culture
As the capital of the Bohtan emirate, Cizre served as an important Kurdish cultural centre, and music, poetry, and science flourished under the protection of the emirs.
Education
Cizre formerly played a significant role in the dissemination of Islamic education in Upper Mesopotamia. In the 11th century, a
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
was constructed by the Seljuk
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
Nizam al-Mulk
Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk ( fa, , , Order of the Realm) was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and Vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising fro ...
. In the following century, there were four
Shafi‘i madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
s, and two
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
khanqah
A khanqah ( fa, خانقاه) or khangah ( fa, خانگاه; also transliterated as ''khankah'', ''khaneqa'', ''khanegah'' or ''khaneqah''; also Arabized ''hanegah'', ''hanikah'', ''hanekah'', ''khankan''), also known as a ribat (), is a buildin ...
s outside the city walls. The two Sufi khanqahs were noted by
Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad
Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad al-Halabi (1217–1285) ( ar, عز الدين بن شدّاد) was an Arab scholar and official for the Ayyubids from Aleppo.
Biography
'Izz al-Din Muhammad b. 'Ali ibn Shaddad al-Halabi, often quoted simply as Ibn Shaddad ...
in the 13th century, and he also recorded the names of the four Shafi‘i madrasas as Ibn el-Bezri Madrasa, Zahiruddin Kaymaz al-Atabegi Madrasa, Radaviyye Madrasa and Kadi Cemaleddin Abdürrahim Madrasa.
Until 1915, French
Dominican priests operated a Chaldean Catholic school and Syriac Catholic school in the city, as well as other schools of those denominations in the vicinity.
Monuments
Religious
![Gora_Nûh_Cizîra_Botan_2009_2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Gora_N%C3%BBh_Ciz%C3%AEra_Botan_2009_2.JPG)
In the 12th century, there was a (hospital), 19 mosques, 14 (baths), and 30 (fountains). This increased to two , two grand mosques, 80 mosques, and 14 when recorded by
Ibn Shaddad Ibn Shaddad can refer to:
*Abd al-Aziz ibn Shaddad, 12th-century Zirid chronicler
*Antarah ibn Shaddad (fl. 580), pre-Islamic Arab hero and poet
*Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, 12th-century jurist and biographer of Saladin
*Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad, 13th-c ...
in the next century.
Cizre became a place of pilgrimage in the 15th century due to its association with Nuh (Noah), and it attracted notable figures, such as the Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed the Conqueror
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
and potentially also his sons. The Mosque of the Prophet Noah in Cizre purports to contain
his tomb.
The tomb of the Kurdish poet
Ali Hariri (1425–), who died at Cizre, is considered sacred and visited by pilgrims.
The
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
church 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 ...
Behnam was renovated by Gregorius Jacob, archbishop of
Gargar, in 1704. Gregorius Thomas,
archbishop of Jerusalem, was buried at the church of Mar Behnam in 1748 behind the right wing of the altar; his grave and an inscription in
Garshuni Garshuni or Karshuni ( Syriac alphabet: , Arabic alphabet: ) are Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet. The word "Garshuni", derived from the word "grasha" which literally translates as "pulling", was used by George Kiraz to coin the term "gars ...
was still extant when visited by
Aphrem Barsoum in 1910. A number of archbishops of Gazarta were also buried here, including Dioscorus Gabriel of Bartella (d. 7 September 1300), Dioscorus Shukr Allah (d. c. 1785), and Athanasius Stephan (d. 1869).
Secular
The citadel of Cizre ( ku, Bırca Belek, 'multicoloured palace') was constructed by the emirate of Bohtan, and is prominently presented as the residence of Zin in the tale of
Mem and Zin. After the emirate's dissolution in 1847, the citadel was periodically used as a barracks by Turkish soldiers, and was closed to the public.
It remained in military use, and was used by Turkish border guards from 1995 onwards, until 2010.
Excavations by archaeologists from
Mardin Museum
Mardin Museum is a museum in Mardin, Turkey
Location and history
The museum is to the north of the Cumhuriyet Street at .
The former museum of Mardin was in Zincirli Medrese, a building constructed by the Artukids in the 14th century. The prese ...
began in May 2013, and continued until December 2014.
Sport
Cizre Serhat Sports Club ( tr, Cizre Serhat Spor Kulübü) was founded in 1972, and later renamed to
Cizrespor
Cizrespor is a sports club located in Cizre, a Kurdish populated city in the province of Şırnak, Turkey.
Cizrespor was founded in 1972 and closed in 2010. Cizre Basraspor was founded in 2010 and adopted the name Cizrespor later on. After it ...
.
Geography
Cizre is located at the easternmost point of the
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
in the Melabas Hills ( syr, Turo d-Malbash, "the clothed mountain"), which is roughly coterminous with the region of Zabdicene.
Climate
Cizre has a
mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csa'' in the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
) with wet, mild, rarely snowy winters and dry, extremely hot summers. Cizre has a mean temperature of 6.9 °C in the coldest month and a mean temperature of in the hottest month. The highest temperature ever recorded in Cizre was , on 20 July 2021, which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Turkey.
Notable people
*
Ismail al-Jazari
Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206, ar, بديع الزمان أَبُ اَلْعِزِ إبْنُ إسْماعِيلِ إبْنُ الرِّزاز الجزري, ) was a polymath: a scholar, ...
(1136–1206), scholar
*
Majd ad-Dīn Ibn Athir (1149–1210), historian
*
Ali ibn al-Athir
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Din (Arabic), Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab people, ...
(1160–1233), historian
*
Abdisho IV Maron
Mar Abdisho IV Maron ( syc, ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ ܪܒܝܥܝܐ ܡܪܘܢ) was the second Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1555 to 1570.
Abdisho, whose name is spelled in many different ways (''Abdisu'', ''Abd-Jesu'', ''Hebed-Jesu'', ''Abdi ...
(r. 1555–1570), Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon
*
Melayê Cizîrî
Melayê Cizîrî (born Shaikh Ahmad), penname Nîşanî ( ku, مەلای جزیری, translit=Melayê Cizîrî, born; Cizre, c. 1570 – died c. 1640) was a Kurdish poet who laid the foundations for Kurdish poetry.
Biography
Born in Cizre of ...
(1570–1640), Kurdish poet
*
Bedir Khan Beg (1803–1868), Emir of Bohtan
*
Şerafettin Elçi
Şerafettin Elçi (14 March 1938 – 25 December 2012) was a Kurdish lawyer, politician, government minister and statesman in Turkey. He was one of the pioneers of Kurdish politics in Turkey.
Early years
Şerafettin Elçi was born in Cizre, Şı ...
(1938–2012), Kurdish politician
*
Tahir Elçi
Tahir Elçi (1966, Cizre – 28 November 2015) was a Kurdish lawyer and the chairman of Diyarbakır Bar Association.
Early life and education
He went to primary and secondary school in Cizre and graduated from Dicle University in 1991. In 1993 ...
(1966–2015), Kurdish lawyer
*
Halil Savda
Halil Savda (born 1974) is a Turkish conscientious objector who has been subjected to continued arrest and conviction for his refusal to serve mandatory military service – in violation of Turkish law.
Early life and education
Halil Savda was bor ...
(b. 1974), Kurdish conscientious objector
*
Leyla İmret (b. 1987), Kurdish politician
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Places of the Assyrian genocide
Assyrian communities in Turkey
Syria–Turkey border crossings
Populated places in Şırnak Province
Populated places on the Tigris River
Districts of Şırnak Province
Tomb of Noah
Kurdish settlements in Turkey
Populated places established in the 9th century
9th-century establishments in the Abbasid Caliphate
Tur Abdin
Jews and Judaism in Kurdistan