Bahzani

Bahzani
Mosul
Bahzani within Northern Iraq
A Yazidi shrine in Bahzani

Bahzani (Kurdish: Bahzanê, Arabic: بحزاني‎‎, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܚܙܢܐ‎), literally from the Syriac words meaning "House of treasure," is a town located in the Al-Hamdaniya District of the Ninawa Governorate in northern Iraq. Bahzani's residents are mostly Yazidis, Shabaks and Assyrians, with a minority of Kurds and Arab Muslims.[1] The Yazidis in Bahzani and its twin village Bashiqa speak Arabic as their mother language.[2]

Bahzani is official Iraqi territory but is controlled and claimed by the Kurdistan Regional Government since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. According to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, a referendum should decide whether it should continue to be managed by the central government or the KRG. The status of the city is still not fully understood. According to Human Rights Watch, UNHCR and other human rights organizations the townspeople are forced and threatened with violence if they should not vote for inclusion of the city in the Kurdistan Region.[3][4][5]

The town's residents all fled for Iraqi Kurdistan following the invasion of the town by ISIS on August 2014.

See also

References

  1. ↑ أبرشية دير مار متى, Mar Mattai's Parish website (Arabic)
  2. ↑ electricpulp.com. "YAZIDIS i. GENERAL – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  3. ↑ "Iraq's Disputed Territories" (PDF). United States Institute of Peace.
  4. ↑ "On Vulnerable Ground" (PDF). Human Rights Watch (HRW).
  5. ↑ "UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION NEEDS OF IRAQI ASYLUM-SEEKERS" (PDF). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Coordinates: 36°27′17″N 43°20′15″E / 36.45472°N 43.33750°E / 36.45472; 43.33750


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