Nahla Valley (, or , ), meaning “valley of kings” in Syriac, is a geographic region located in the province of

Dohuk Duhok (; ; , ) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is the Capital (political), capital city of Duhok Governorate. Name The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish languages, Kurdish words ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a ...

in the

Akre District Akre District (, ) is a district in northern Iraq, disputed between the Iraqi Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The administrative center is the city of Akre Akre (, , ) is a city located in Kurdistan Region of Iraq ...

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

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 Sapna valley lies to the northwest and is separated by a mountain range, and the city of

Akre Akre (, , ) is a city located in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is disputed by the Nineveh Governorate and the Duhok Governorate which both partially claim it. Akre is known for its celebrations of Newroz. History The city was built in ...

is to the south, separated by another mountain range. It is bound by the Greater Zab River to the north and east, and the

Khazir River The Khazir River () is a river of northern Iraq, a tributary of the Great Zab river, joining its right bank. Geomorphology The area around the Khazir River is geologically active and crosses three anticlines from the north to the south and this ...

to the west.

History

Most of the

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

living in Nahla, which number around 20,000, moved there from Hakkari after the

Assyrian genocide The Sayfo (, ), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during ...

that occurred during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. However, some villages were emptied in the 1960s when fights between the Iraqi government and Kurdish separatists forced most of their inhabitants to flee to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

and

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

. Some scarcely populated villages were completely destroyed later on during the

Anfal campaign The Anfal campaign was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988 during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rural Kurds because its p ...

in the 1980s as well. The population of the valley grew considerably following the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, as many Assyrians living in Dora and

started settling back in the region. There is significant friction between the Kurds and Assyrians in the valley, with a history of violence, land

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

, and voter suppression since the establishment of

. On July 17, 1999, an armed group belonging to the Assyrian

Bethnahrin National Council The Bethnahrin National Council or Mesopotamia National Council (, MUB), formerly the Bethnahrin Freedom Party (, GHB) and the Patriotic Revolutionary Organization of Bethnahrin (, PROB) is a militant socialist Assyrian-Syriac party in the Dawron ...

attacked a PDK

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 ...

position in the region in retaliation for the murder of an Assyrian woman. The attack resulted in 39 deaths and 20 injured on the Kurdish side. In the present day, Kurdish imposed checkpoints in the region pose challenges to the Assyrians living there who intend to enter their villages, including an incident in July 2023 that caused considerable controversy. In 2023, a Turkish reconnaissance drone crashed in the valley, causing fires to spark that spread across 2km of Assyrian agricultural land. The fires were eventually put out with assistance from the Shlama Foundation. A similar fire had happened two years prior, with Assyrians living in the region unable to put out the fire immediately, nor receive help from the

Kurdish Regional Government The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the official executive body of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. The cabinet is selected by the majority party or list who also select the prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdish polit ...

References

Dahuk Governorage
Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce

AINA.org {{coord, 36, 50, N, 43, 56, E, dim:30km_region:IQ-DA_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title, name=Nahla Plains of Iraq Dohuk Governorate Nineveh Governorate Geography of Iraqi Kurdistan

History

See also

References