Bartella

Bartella ܒܪܛܠܐ‎ برطلّة
Saint George Church of Bartella
Bartella
Coordinates: 36°21′8″N 43°22′47″E / 36.35222°N 43.37972°E / 36.35222; 43.37972Coordinates: 36°21′8″N 43°22′47″E / 36.35222°N 43.37972°E / 36.35222; 43.37972
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Ninawa
Municipality	Al-Hamdaniya District
Government
• Mayor	Nisan Karromi
Population (2018)
• Total	15,000+
	30,000 prior to ISIS invasion
Time zone	GMT +3
Website	http://baretly.net/index.php

Bartella (Syriac: ܒܪܛܠܐ‎; Arabic: برطلّة‎) is an Assyrian^[1] town that is located in northern Iraq about 21 kilometres (13 miles) east of Mosul.

Bartella was liberated from ISIS control on 20 October 2016 by Iraqi Special Operations Forces and Nineveh Plain Protection Units currently control and run the city's security.

Etymology

The name Bartella is of Eastern Aramaic origin, but its meaning is not fully agreed on by the historians. While Joseph Ghanima and al-Jawaliqy believe it is from Bart Tilla meaning Daughter of Dew, the priest Putros Saba al-Bartelly believes it comes from Beth Rattly meaning House of Weights.

Early history

In northern Iraq, until the 19th century, the maphrian was the regional head of the Syriac Orthodox Church and reported to the Patriarch in Antioch. When Ignatius Elia'azar made Bartella his home and see in 1153, dissatisfaction erupted in the community since Mar Mattai Monastery has been the traditional see of the Orthodox maphrian. A compromise was finally reached and he returned to Mar Mattai. However, it was agreed that he would make it a tradition to visit Bartella to emphasize its importance. Bartella gained fame again in 1284 when Maphrian Gregoris bin al-Ebry built the Yohanna bin Najara Monastery.

Other maphrians who made their see in Bartella were Dionysius Saliba II (1222–1231), Gregorius Barsuma (1288–1308), Gregorius Mattai I (1317–1345), Gregorius bar Qeenaya (forced to flee Bartella to Tikrit, and then to Baghdad where he was killed in 1361), and Athanasius Abraham II (1365–1379). Maphrian Qorlos (Cyril) Joseph III (1458–1470), known as Ibn Nissan, was the last Maphrian who chose Bartilla as his home. He stayed only for a short time in Bartilla and then left to Hamas where he died in 1470.

Disasters in Bartella

Street of Bartella

Bartella, like other Assyrian towns and villages, faced attacks, plunder, and massacres at the hands of Muslim attackers throughout its long history. It was destroyed at least three times by the Kurds and the Persians.

In 1171, Kurdish marauders attacked Bartella and it was in this same year that they attacked Mar Mattai Monastery. The monks realized that the Kurds were going to attack again. Therefore, the monks agreed to sign a peace treaty with the Kurds to avoid further bloodshed. They paid the marauders, mostly Kurdish tribal irregulars, 30 golden Dinars. Despite the treaty, the Kurds gathered a bigger army of 1,500 and attacked the monastery, caused a crack in its wall, entered and killed 15 monks, while the others escaped.

In 1201, a confrontation took place between the Assyrian Christians and the Muslim cleric in the town. The town's people complained to the mayor, who punished the Moslem cleric by beating him. The cleric went to Mosul and on the following Friday, he gathered a huge crowd in the main big mosque and agitated them. The crowd soon marched toward Bartella to destroy it. However, when they reached the town, its gates were closed and could not enter. They returned angry and on their way, they passed by the church of the Tikritis (Mar Zena Church). They broke the doors, entered and plundered and spoiled everything they found inside and took all valuables in the church. Today, Mar Zena Church, situated in the al-Najjareen area near Bab al-Jisir al-Qadeem (the old bridge gate), has been forcibly converted to the al-Khallal mosque.

In 1261 and 1369, Kurds attacked Mar Mattai Monastery.

In 1738, the Persian king sent his army under Nargis Khan to the area where he destroyed many villages in the Nineveh plain.

In 1743, Persian Nadir Shah destroyed additional villages after besieging and entering Kirkuk and Irbil. He attacked Bartella, killed many men and took many young men, girls and women away.

In 1756, 1757, and 1758 a great famine swept Bartella and many traveled to Kirkuk and other towns to purchase new grain, where they faced plunder and robbing at the hands of bandits.

In 1789, Bartella was plundered again by Jolu Beg bin Bdagh, the Emir of Shikhan, during his war with the Arab Emir Mohammad bin Hasan al-Taa'i.

In early August 2014, Bartella was overrun by ISIL Islamic extremists.^[2] The Christian population of the town fled, mostly to Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan region, joining thousands of other Iraqi Christians fleeing ISIL terror.^[2][3][4]

Population

Before the ISIS invasion, Bartella's population was around 30,000, with the majority being Syriac Christians, including Eastern Catholic Syriacs and Oriental Orthodox Syriacs. Bartella was Christianized in the 2nd century. With the emergence of the Christological controversies, the people and their church came under the dominion of the Assyrian Church of the East (often incorrectly or correctly known as Nestorian); however, it switched to the Syriac Orthodox Church (mistakenly and loosely known as Jacobite) around AD 610. On November 23–24, 2013 during the 2-day "Bartella Friends" conference held in Erbil to discuss the demographic change due to the Shabaki Kurds exodus fleeing Mosul and the surrounding villages towards Bartella from 2003 on, it was announced that the rate of Christians has dropped dramatically from 99% to 40%.^[5]

Churches of Bartella

Bartella and its vicinity has six churches, two partially demolished, one abandoned, one new, and two very old:

• Mar Aho Dama Church

This church was in existence in 1153 when was expanded by Maphrian Ignatius II La'Azer. It was in use till 1386. Excavation in its ruins found the remains of three bishops which were moved to Mart Shmony Church.

• Mart Shmony Church

It's unknown when this church was first built, however, it was reinvigorated for the first time in 1807, It was rebuilt again completely in 1869, and It was reinvigorated again in 1971.

• Mar Giwargis Church

There are two churches with this name. The first is in ruins (recently renovated and reused) and is believed to be a monastery for St. Jerjis who built it around 1701. The second church was completed in 1939.

• Church of the Virgin

This church was built in 1890 at the time of Qorlos Elias al-Mosuli who died in 1911. However, an inscription dating 16th century mentions the name of the Church of the Virgin which contradicts the date of 1890 and assumes that this church was standing at that time. The gate and part of the church were destroyed by ISIS sometime between August 2014 and October 2016.

• Al-Sayida Church

The complete demolition of Al-Sayida Church came in 1934 as its bricks were used to build the new Mar Giwargis Church.

• Ber Nagara Monastery

This monastery is named after Yohanan bit Nagara meaning "Yohanan of the Carpenters" since all his family were working as carpenters. It's believed that he used to worship pagans, and after converting to Christianity he was killed by his father and was buried in the village of Ba Agre. When this village was destroyed in 1282, his grave which was visited heavily by the locals was destroyed with it. That forced Maphrian Gregarious bin al-Ebry to build a temple for the martyr Yohanan in Bartella and was completed in 1285. On November 23, 1285, the remains of St. Yohanan, monks from Syria, and the 40 martyrs killed by the Persians were moved and reburied in this temple. Unfortunately, this monastery was destroyed in 1653 and again the remains were moved to St. Shmony church. Currently, all what exist of this monastery is a small room built recently as a reminder to its existence.

Latest events

On August 31, 2004, three girls from Bartella were slaughtered while returning home from their work at a hospital in Mosul where they worked.^[6] On November 19, 2004, two brothers from Bartella were killed while at work when a mortar shell fell on the shop they worked at in Mosul market.^[6]

On December 8, 2004, Dr. Ra'ad Augustine Qoryaqos, one of Bartella's notables and a successful surgeon who worked as a professor at the College of Medicine in University of Anbar, was murdered in Ramadi. A group of three terrorists stormed his clinic while he was checking on his patients, shot and left him bleeding. An operation later failed to save his life. Dr. Qoryaqos left behind his wife and two children.^[6]

On June 25, 2006, a series of car bombs by Iraqi insurgents at a petrol station and a SCIRI headquarters rocked the town, injuring many.

On August 10, 2009, a pair of large flatbed trucks packed with bombs exploded simultaneously shortly after dawn, destroying a Shabaki village known as Khazna, about 16 km (10 mi) east of Mosul and a few kilometres away from Bartella. The blast shattered windows at many homes in Bartella.^[7]

On January 4, 2010, Bartella was attacked by a car bomb which was apparently aimed at civilians and the Mar Giwargis church. Although there were no fatalities, the bomb caused extensive damage to nearby shops and houses and injured 13.

On March 28, 2013, and during the passion week of Easter, a car bomb parked downtown not far from street of Bartella went off in the early hours of that day killing one local resident.^[8]

On August 3, 2014, many families from Bartella left the city to Erbil, Ankawa and Shekhan, due to attacks by ISIL fighters. The Peshmerga forces were fighting them to retake ISIL-controlled Gogjali district west of Bartella.^[9]

On August 6, 2014, Peshmerga forces guarding the city ordered the remaining residents to leave, and pulled back to Erbil at around 8:30 pm. Over the night, the city was almost completely empty of its predominately Assyrian Christian residents. At around 4:30 am on August 7, the whole city was totally taken by ISIL militants in a bullet-less fall. On August 8, they burned liquor stores, looted houses and food stores, hung their flags on the church walls, pulled down the crosses and demanded the few remaining Christian locals of either converting to Islam, staying in the city and paying a yearly tax of $200 or face the "death by the sword" if refused to convert or pay.^[10][11]

In late August and early September 2014, it was reported that three residents of the few remaining Assyrian Christians, died. One disabled, the other due to illness and old age and the third one was tortured then killed after he refused to convert to Islam.^{[12][13][14][15]}

In mid September 2014, the 12 remaining residents managed to escape by faking conversion.^[16]

On October 20, 2016, as part of the Iraqi government offensive to retake Mosul, the Assyrian Nineveh Plain Protection Units^[1] and Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) liberated Bartella from ISIL control. ^[17]

On December 24, 2016, first post-liberation Christmas Eve mass was held at Mart Shmony Church.^[18]

Gallery

• 
  Church of the Virgin Mary pictured in December 2013
• 
  Mar Giwargis Church (the old one) pictured in December 2013
• 
  Mar Giwargis Church (the new one) pictured in December 2013

See also

• Nineveh Plains
• Assyrian homeland
• Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq
• Bakhdida
• Karemlesh

References

some originally based on an article by bartella.com , licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, used with permission.

External links

• baretly.net