Baadre (also written Ba'adra, Badra or Bathra, (, ) is a town located in the Shekhan District of the Ninawa Governorate in northern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. The town is located in the

Nineveh Plains Nineveh Plains (, Modern ; ; ) is a region in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq. Located to the north and east of the city Mosul, it is the only Christian-majority region in Iraq and have been a gathering point for Iraqi Christians since 2003. Control o ...

. It belongs to the disputed territories of Northern Iraq. According to 2014 statistics, Baadre's urban population was 9 835 and the rural population was 5 167. Baadre's residents are mostly

Yazidis Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish languages, Kurdish-speaking Endogamy, endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The major ...

and is considered the political capital of the Yazidis as it has been the base of the group's leader, the Mir. The castle of the princely family is found here. Cemetery in the Yezidi town of Baadre near Sheikhan in Duhok Governorate 01

Cemetery in the Yezidi town of Baadre near Sheikhan in Duhok Governorate 01

History

The village was originally an Assyrian village known as Bet Edrai. In

Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, Iraqi regional bra ...

, the population of Baadre was deported because of their support for

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

. According to Shamal Adeeb, who was the town's mayor at the time, the town and the 10 villages in the vicinity took in 2,028 displaced families totaling 12,115 people fleeing the

Sinjar massacre The Sinjar massacre () marked the beginning of the genocide of Yazidis by ISIL, the killing and abduction of thousands of Yazidis, Yazidi men, women and children. It took place in August 2014 in Sinjar city and Sinjar District in Iraq's Nineveh ...

in 2014

References

{{Nineveh Plains Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Yazidi populated places in Iraq Nineveh Plains Historic Assyrian communities in Iraq