Dehi, Iraq

Old picture of the village

Dehi (Syriac: ܪܗܐ) is an Assyrian Christian village located at the western end of Mateena Mountains and in the valley that separates Sapna and Barwali Bala districts, in the Dohuk Governorate of Iraq. Most residents of village Dehi were the followers of the Assyrian Church of the East and others of Chaldean Catholic Church.

There are ruins of a very old church on the top of the mountain overlooking the village and is believed to be built some 1400 years ago. Big stones are the only remnants of this church, which is called Mar Qayoma. Residents of Dehi believe that their village was built at the same time this ancient church was founded. The nature of the village is mountainous; therefore the areas of fertile soil were less available for farming. But nevertheless there are plenty of fruit trees.

There are currently 16 families living in the village.

The Armenians of Dehi

Saint Shmony Church

As a result of the oppression and genocide perpetrated against Armenians during the First World War, many Armenian convoys fled to Iraq and Syria seeking security.

The Armenian refugees who fled to Iraq in this phase came from two Armenian regions:

First part: Refugees from the Armenian village of Dehi, which is located in the middle between Sharnakh and Saart. Dehi had 700 Armenian families before the genocide. They were massacred by the Ottoman and Kurdish troops during World War I. Only 40 families escaped and fled to Iraq to settle down in Zakho. By the 1970s, the village was built again and there were about 180 Armenian families in the village of Dehi.

Today there are no Armenians in Dehi. Many of them moved from Zakho to other Iraqi cities. Most of them migrated to Europe in the last decades. Most of them are now in Holland in the region of Elmelo. The entire population is now Assyrian.

See also

List of Assyrian villages