Şemdinli

Şemdinli (Assyrian: ܫܲܡ̱ܣܕܝܼܢ "Shamizdin"; Kurdish: "Şemdinan") is a district located in the Hakkari Province of southeastern Turkey.It was previously in the Ottoman wilāyet of Vān and the district and the district centre was called Nāwshār.http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/uid=1380/entry?entry=islam_SIM-6803 Verify source|date=August 2008] The name Şemdinli is the Turkicised form of Shamdinan.

This district, along with many others located in southeastern Turkey, was previously inhabited by Assyrians before World War I.Solomon (Sawa) Solomon from Nineveh Magazine 1st & 2nd quarter 1997, vol. 20, no 1&2.]

Today, the majority of the citizens are ethnic Kurds and Assyrians.

Assyrians

The district of Şemdinli lies in the center of the Assyrian Nochiya Tribe. The district of Şemdinli is the heart of their tribe. It is the home of the famous Assyrian Matran Family. The Nochiya tribe of Şemdinli are well known for their adherence to the Nestorian faith, growing tobacco, and for their religious customs (such as lent and prayer were strictly observed).

Şemdinli today

Located at the farthest corner of Turkey, the district of Şemdinli is a mountainous land. There is a visible military presence in the town, owing to the strategic position of the town astride a mountain route connecting the least-controllable corners of Iran and Iraq. The Kurdish dialects of the Gerdi and Herki clans are used by some locally.Fact|date=February 2007

Nehri

15 km southwest of the town is Nehri, officially called Bağlar, the former capital of the valley of Şemdinli. Here at the beginning of the 19th century Seyid Taha, who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad Fact|date=March 2007, set up the headquarters of a powerful sufi lodge of the Nakshibendi orderFact|date=March 2007. He reconciled the warring clans and set up a medrese that became a spiritual beacon of the Kurdish lands. His son Seyid Ubeydullah grew strong enough to make war on Persia. A grandson, Seyid Abdülkadir, was the last president of the Ottoman SenateFact|date=March 2007. He was hanged in 1925 for suspected complicity in the Kurdish rebellion of that year.Fact|date=March 2007

The lodge (tekke) and the residence of the seyids are now scant ruins in an overgrown mulberry grove.Fact|date=March 2007

Bombings

A bomb ripped Şemdinli town centre on November 1, 2005. It was officially attributed to the PKK, a terrorist Kurdish separatist group. A second bomb went off near a bookstore on November 9. The suspects of this attack, however, were caught in the act by bystanders. They were said to be members of a gendarmerie special-operations unit, JITEM. The resulting investigation developed into a major political issue in Turkey in the first half of 2006. [cite news|url = http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=49228 |title = Court says senior officers involved in Şemdinli bombing |work=Turkish Daily News|date=2006-07-19|accessdate = 2008-08-14]

Investigations concerning the Şemdinli bombing trial have been blocked by the military. All the judges and prosecutors associated with the Şemdinli bookshop bombing case were transferred from Van to other cities following a June 2007 decree. [http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/turkey0707/4.htm Retrograde Human Rights Trends and Stagnation of the Human Rights Reform Process] , 4th part of the Human Rights Watch July 2007 report titled "Turkey: Human Rights Concerns in the Lead up to July Parliamentary Elections"]

On October 4th, 2008 Kurdish rebels killed 15 Turkish soldiers in an attack near Şemdinli. The attack is believed to be orchestrated by the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). [cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7652246.stm |title = Turkish troops killed in clashes |work=BBC News|date=2008-10-04|accessdate = 2008-10-04]

ee also

* Nochiya Region
* List of Nochiyaye
* List of Nochiyaye settlements

References