Revitalizing the Nineveh Plains: Syriac Patriarch Mor Aphrem II visits Ba’shiqa. Inaugurates new cultural complex and school

BA’SHIQA, Nineveh Plains – During his apostolic visit to the Nineveh Plains, Iraq, and the Archdiocese of Mor Matay, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II on Saturday May 7, headed to the town of Ba’shiqa to hold prayers in the Church of Mart Shmuni and inaugurate the new Saint George Cultural and Educational Center, a multi-functional complex which includes a kindergarten, a mixed elementary school, and a cultural center. Mor Aphrem II also inspected the grounds of a new community hall which is currently under construction.

In his sermon in the Church of Mart Shmuni, Mor Aphrem II pointed out that the love that exists between the various components in Ba’shiqa is what made the reconstruction of the town possible.

His Holiness arrived on Thursday in Iraq. In the Nineveh Plains, on Sunday he will visit Bahzani and Merki.

The towns of Baghdede, Bartella and Ba’shiqa in the Nineveh Plains have historically been strongholds of Syriac Christianity. The nearby Mor Matay Monastery was founded in 363 AD by the Syriac hermit Mor Matay, who had fled Omid (Diyarbakir) following persecution under the Roman Emperor Julian. The monastery is widely regarded as one of the oldest monasteries in use in the world. 

However, after being occupied by terrorist organization Islamic State in 2015 and its liberation in 2017, the towns of Baghdede, Bartella and Ba’shiqa have undergone a major demographic change. Only a relatively small number of the Syriacs who fled the Islamic State in 2015 have returned to their hometown of Bartella for example. And only some 60% of the displaced Syriacs have returned to Baghdede. In Bartella, Shia Arab Shabaks have moved into the town’s neighborhoods, tipping the demographic balance in their favor.

After the defeat of Islamic State, Iran-linked Popular Mobilization Units took control of the southern part of the Nineveh Plains. The northern part is under control of the Barzani-family led Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

The Nineveh Plains is regarded by Syriacs (Chaldeans-Assyrians-Arameans) as one of their historical homelands in Mesopotamia. Efforts by Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) political representatives to establish the Nineveh Plains as a separate province for the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people under the Federal constitution of Iraq have so far been unsuccessful.