Simele or Semel ( ku, سێمێل, translit=Sêmêl, ar, سميل, Syriac: ܣܡܠܐ) is a town located in the Dohuk province of Kurdistan Region in

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 ...

. The town is on the main road that connects Kurdistan Region to its neighbor

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. It is west of Dohuk. The town had a population of 71,557 in July 2018.

Etymology

The word "Sêmêl" may originate from the Kurdish words "sê" and "mil" meaning "three hills", or "sê mal" meaning "three homes".

Information

Simele was a small Kurdish village until the mid-1910s as the village was populated by Armenian and Assyrian refugees fleeing massacres during Sayfo and the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. During the Simele massacre in 1933, around three thousand Assyrians were massacred prompting many to flee the country as a consequence. The main Assyrian tribe in Simele at the time was Baz. In 2011, the population was mostly Kurdish with a small Assyrian minority of 635 people. Around half of the Assyrian minority adhere to the Assyrian Church of the East. A small Armenian minority is still present in the town.

Footnotes

{{Districts of Iraq Cities in Iraqi Kurdistan Populated places in Dohuk Province Assyrian communities in Iraq Kurdish settlements in Iraq Simele