Mata Khtata, a village in Baz, Hakkari, c

Assyrians under a walnut tree in Baz, Hakkari, c

Baz (

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

: ܒܙ) was one of the five independent

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...

tribes of the Hakkari region.

History

Maha Khtayya was the chief village of the region, followed by Shwawwa. All the Maliks descended from the hereditary Malik-Younan family. The last malik, Malik Khamo Younan of Maha Khtayya died in 1937 at Baghdad, Iraq. The Baz region was also the birthplace and ancestral home of the Assyrian World War I commander General Agha Petros. The Assyrians of the Baz tribe were renowned carpenters and iron-workers who worked not only in their villages, but throughout

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 larg ...

and other large towns of

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the 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, the region has been ...

. Baznaye are traditionally adherents of 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 the majority remain adherents. Baznaye can also be found in 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 ...

due to the conversions made in the early 20th century and resettlement near traditional Chaldean villages. Some Baznaye also joined the

Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with t ...

after the 1968 schism. A very small minority also adhere to

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

and

Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

. The patron saint of the region is Mar Qayyoma. Mar Zaia is also highly revered as it was the cathedral church of Diocese of Jilu and Baz.

Assyrian Villages in Baz, Turkey

The Assyrian settlements that traditionally comprised the Baz region in Hakkari consist of the following villages. The region has been empty since they were abandoned in 1915 due to the

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 ...

. *Arwantus (Artusnaye) *Shwawwa (Shawutnaye) *Maha Khtayya (Mahaye) (37°27 N, 43°53 E) *Be-Selim (Selimnaye) *Argab (Argabaye) *Kojij (Kojijnaye)

Current Baznaye settlements

These are the villages occupied after the Baznaye were resettled by the British in 1920s and the French in the 1930s. ;

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 ...

*Babilo (Shawutnaye) *Bagereh (Selimnaye) *Chaqala (Kojijnaye) *Sardarawa (Artusnaye) *Sorka (Mahaye) *

Simele Simele or Semel ( ku, سێمێل, translit=Sêmêl, ar, سميل, Syriac: ܣܡܠܐ) is a town located in the Dohuk province of Kurdistan Region in Iraq. The town is on the main road that connects Kurdistan Region to its neighbor Turkey. It i ...

(Mahaye) *Badarrash (Artusnaye) * Sarsing (Artusnaye) *Sikren (Selimnaye) *Sedar (Shawutnaye) *Pirozawa (Argabaye) *

Ain Sifni Ain Sifni ( ar, عين سفني, ) also known as Shekhan ( ku, شێخان, Şêxan), is a town and subdistrict in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It is located in the Shekhan District in the Nineveh Plains. In the town, there is a Chaldean Catholic ...

(Mixed Baznaye) *Mawana (Mixed Baznaye) ;

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 ...

* Tell Baz (Shawutnaye, Mahaye and some Argabaye) *Tell Ruman Foqani (Selimnaye and Mahaye)

Famous people

* General Agha Petros Elia -

military leader during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and Chief Negotiator for the * Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people during the 1920s.

References

{{Coord, 38, 01, N, 44, 06, E, region:TR_type:city, display=title Hakkari Assyrian tribes