Bashiqa
بعشيقة | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 | |
  Bashiqa Location in Iraq | |
| Coordinates: 36°26′48″N 43°20′50″E / 36.4466°N 43.3471°E | |
| Country | Iraq |
| Governorate | Nineveh |
| District | Al-Hamdaniya District |
Bashiqa (Kurdish: بەعشیقە, romanized: Başîqa;[1][2] Arabic: بعشيقة, romanized: Ba'shīqah; Syriac: ܒܥܫܝܩܐ[3]) is a town situated at the heart of the Nineveh plain, between Mosul and Sheikhan, on the edges of Mount Maqlub.
The urban area of Bashiqa and Bahzani had the third largest Yazidi population in Iraq prior to the Yazidi genocide. Whilst Bahzani contains older buildings with numerous ancient sites, Bashiqa is more modern and consists mainly of newer infrastructure and architecture. Between 2014 and 2016, ISIS destroyed 22 Yazidi mausoleums that were located in Bashiqa and Bahzani, the Yazidi libraries were demolished and the famous sacred olive grove in Bahzani was burnt.[4]
Around 85% of the population is Yazidi in 2021. The remaining 15% are 390 ethnic Christian Assyrians which include around 300 Syriac Orthodox families and 90 Syriac Catholic families.[5]
- ^ "Pêşmerge li Başîqa bi tundî bersiva Daîş dide û şer li Xazir berdewame". Tigris Haber (in Turkish). 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ "لێدوانی چاوشئۆغڵو لەبارەی عێراق و بەعشیقە". Anadolu Agency (in Kurdish). Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Baʿshīqa — ܒܥܫܝܩܐ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified December 9, 2016, http://syriaca.org/place/303.
- ^ "The Yazidi mausoleum of Melek Miran in Bashiqa". Mesopotamia. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
- ^ "Shlama Population Project - Nineveh". Retrieved 20 April 2022.