Bartella

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Bartella
location
Bartella (Iraq)
Bartella
Bartella
Coordinates 36 ° 21 '  N , 43 ° 23'  E Coordinates: 36 ° 21 '  N , 43 ° 23'  E
Country IraqIraq Iraq
Governorate Ninawa
Basic data
Church of Saint Mary, photo taken in December 2013
Mar Giwargis Church (the older one), photo taken December 2013
Mar Giwargis Church (the newer one), photo taken December 2013

Bartella ( Arabic برطلّة; Aramaic ܒܪܛܠܐ) is an Iraqi town in Ninawa Governorate in the Nineveh Plain , around 21 km east of Mosul . It is on the main route between Mosul and Erbil .

population

Bartella was a purely Christian village until the end of the 20th century , but due to the targeted settlement of Shiite Shabaks , the latter will make up around 52% of the population in 2020 and Christians only about a third. According to data published by Church in Need in 2020 , all of the Christians surveyed in Bartella identify themselves as “ Syriac ” ( “ Syriac ”), and all of them named Surith (“ Syriac ”, Eastern Aramaic ) as their first language. Christians belong to the Syrian Orthodox or the Syrian Catholic Church.

Attractions

The Christian Mor Mattai monastery is located near the village .

history

Until the 1980s, Bartella's population was almost 100% Christian. In the following three decades, the proportion of the Sunni and Shiite population grew to about half, in particular due to the settlement of soldiers' families. In August 2014 the place was conquered by the Islamic terrorist organization Islamic State . In mid-October 2016, the city was liberated from the terrorist organization as a result of the battle for Mosul . From fleeing ISIS, only around a third of the former Christian residents had returned by 2019, so that their proportion of the population is currently significantly lower. In a study published in 2020 , the Church in Need identified political uncertainty and general threats as the most important reason for Christian residents not returning or emigrating abroad . Most Christians feel insecure in the face of the Shiite militias operating here - especially the al-Hashd asch-Sha'bī ( Shabak militia or 30th Brigade), who, according to these statements, terrorizes the Christian population and deliberately settles Shiite Shabaks, who dominate Bartella . Church in Need, on the other hand, supports both the reconstruction of apartments and churches in Bartella.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrzej Halemba , Xavier Bisits: Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq. Results from ACN's survey of Christians in the liberated Nineveh Plains. . Aid to the Church in Need , June 2020. pp. 11f., 45.
  2. ↑ a b Iraq: New boost for reconstruction. Houses for more than 200 residents are being built in Bartella. Church in Need , July 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b Oliver Maksan: Christians in Iraq: Is the End Near? In: The daily mail. July 4, 2018, accessed March 12, 2020 .
  4. ^ Iraqi Christians fear returning home, wary of Shiite militia. In: AP. February 13, 2019, accessed on March 12, 2020 .
  5. ^ Rainer Hermann: mass flight from terror of the Islamic State. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ Zeit.de: The front is confusing
  7. ↑ Andrzej Halemba , Xavier Bisits: Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq. Results from ACN's survey of Christians in the liberated Nineveh Plains. . Aid to the Church in Need , June 2020. pp. 33, 36, 38–45.