Baz (Turkey)

Baz ( Aramaic ܒܙ) is the name of a tribe of Assyrian Christians and was the historical name of the region they inhabit in the province of Hakkâri , the southeasternmost province of Turkey , in the triangle on the border with Iraq and Iran . The area was on the right side of the upper reaches of the Great Zab on the upper reaches of a tributary of the Şemdinli River, southeast of the provincial capital Hakkari north of the Turkish-Iraqi border. In the west was the settlement area of the Assyrian Țāl and Txuma, in the east that of the Ǧilu, whose name is still in the name of the third highest mountain in Turkey, the Cilo Dağıis preserved. In the southeast was Şemdinli . The main town was Māṯā d'Bāz , today Çanaklı .

The word Baz means falcon or little eagle. The inhabitants of the region spoke Aramaic and belonged to the early Christian denomination of the Assyrian Church of the East . In Ottoman times, the Assyrians of Baz were famous for their courage to fight and their church architecture . The most beautiful Nestorian churches are in the Baz region of Hakkari. They belonged to the Aşirets capable of weapons who, in relative independence , were obliged to serve the Emir of Hakkâri and whose Maliks occasionally had Muslims as subjects, in contrast to their compatriots, who as Reâyâ were dependent on Kurdish Ağas or Assyrian Aşirets like the Baz were.

Baznaye now settle in some villages in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria. After the genocide of the Syrian Christians (1915), many of them fled or emigrated from Turkey to the USA , Australia , Germany and France. They continue to practice their language and traditional dances.

Most of the 20 or so Assyrian villages of Baz were destroyed in 1915, but some earlier churches still stand, notably Mar Qayyoma in Schwavuta , Mar Quraqos in Argab and Mart Maryam in Be-Selim .

Famous pepole

Agha Petros

Sources and web links

Individual evidence

↑ On the situation cf. the map on p. 14 in Shabo Talay : The New Aramaic Dialects of the Khabur Assyrians in Northeast Syria. Introduction, phonology and morphology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05702-8 , see the limited Google preview
^ David Wilmshurst: The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East 1318-1913 , Peeters, Löwen / Louvain 2000, ISBN 978-90-4290876-5 , p. 285
^ Helga Anschütz: Christian groups in Turkey in: Peter A. Andrews (Ed.): Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey (main volume), L. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-88226-418-7 , p. 454 -472, p. 466
^ David Wilmshurst: The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East 1318-1913 , Peeters, Löwen / Louvain 2000, ISBN 978-90-4290876-5 , pp. 285/286

[1] On the situation cf. the map on p. 14 in Shabo Talay : The New Aramaic Dialects of the Khabur Assyrians in Northeast Syria. Introduction, phonology and morphology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05702-8 , see the limited Google preview

[2] David Wilmshurst: The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East 1318-1913 , Peeters, Löwen / Louvain 2000, ISBN 978-90-4290876-5 , p. 285

[3] Helga Anschütz: Christian groups in Turkey in: Peter A. Andrews (Ed.): Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey (main volume), L. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-88226-418-7 , p. 454 -472, p. 466

[4] David Wilmshurst: The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East 1318-1913 , Peeters, Löwen / Louvain 2000, ISBN 978-90-4290876-5 , pp. 285/286