Qamishli

Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the ninth most-populous city in Syria and the second-largest in Al-Hasakah Governorate after Al-Hasakah. Qamishli has traditionally been a Christian Assyrian majority city, but is now predominantly populated by Kurds with large numbers of Arabs and Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians. It is northeast of Damascus.
The city is the administrative capital of the Qamishli District in Al-Hasakah Governorate, and the administrative center of Qamishli Subdistrict, consisting of 92 localities with a combined population of 232,095 in 2004. Qamishli was the de facto capital of the AANES, until it was moved to Ayn Issa.
Etymology
The city was initially a small village inhabited by Assyrians called (Bēṯ Zālīn) meaning "House of Reeds". The modern name is the Turkish translation of this name. Kamış means "reed" and -lı suffix denotes "place with" in Turkish.
History
The city dates back to the 1920s, when a sizable amount of Assyrians, escaping the Assyrian genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire, fled from northwestern Iran and southern Turkey and built a small town, under the French Mandate authorities, which they initially called Bet-Zalin. The city itself was officially founded as Qamishli in 1926 as a railway station on the Taurus railway. One of the most important funders of the early development projects in the city was Masoud Asfar, an Assyrian who survived the Massacres of Diyarbakır (1895) as a young child. Masoud, along with stepbrother, whose last name was Najjar, established the Asfar & Najjar Corporation, a company that produced wheat in Qamishli. Throughout the 1920s–1940s, the Asfar & Najjar Corporation funded hospitals, Assyrian schools, and churches throughout the city. At the same time, many Armenians and Assyrians, fleeing persecution in Iraq and Turkey, moved into the region. This was followed by the emigration of Kurds from Turkey, most of whom settled in the countryside and then began to move to the city. However, in the 1960s and until the late 1970s, when Assyrians still constituted two-thirds of the city's population, the government of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region actively confiscated Assyrian farms, lands, and areas, causing an Assyrian exodus.
Qamishli is considered a center for both the Kurdish and the Assyrian ethnic groups in Syria. It was heavily settled by refugees from the Assyrian genocide. Assyrians were the majority in the city until the 1970s, when Kurds from the surrounding countryside moved into the city in numbers. Qamishli is renowned for its large Christmas parade, and Newroz and Kha b-Nisan festivals.
21st century
In March 2004, during a chaotic soccer match, the Qamishli riots began when visiting Arab fans from Deir ez-Zor started praising Saddam Hussein to taunt the Kurdish home fans. The riot expanded out of the stadium and weapons were used against people of Kurdish background. In the aftermath, at least 30 Kurds were killed as the Syrian security services took over the city.
In June 2005, thousands of Kurds demonstrated in Qamishli to protest the assassination of Sheikh Khaznawi, a Kurdish cleric in Syria, resulting in the death of one policeman and injury to four Kurdish civilians.
In March 2008, according to Human Rights Watch, three more Kurds were killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on people celebrating the spring festival of Newroz.
Civil war
With the civil war and the Rojava conflict from 2011, the city grew into a major political role, being the de facto capital of the AANES. Part of the city, as well as an area to the south which includes Qamishli Airport, remain under the administration of the Syrian government. Unlike many Syrian cities, Qamishli has not seen large-scale fighting during the war, although it has been attacked by unknown perpetrators in 2015 and by Islamic State in 2016, as well as brief skirmishes between AANES and Syrian forces in 2016 and 2018. Qamishli is home to Chirkin prison, which houses detained Islamic State militants.
On 17 August 2020, Syrian forces reportedly clashed with US troops near Qamishli, which resulted in the death of one Syrian. Two other Syrian soldiers were said to have been injured during the clash, state media added.
In 2022, the Syrian government remains in control of a large part of the city centre as well as a substantial rural area to the south, including the airport, the border crossing, various government buildings, and many residential neighborhoods. The government still organises the production and the distribution of the harvest in the southern countryside, and organizes flights between Qamishli and other Syrian cities, as well as Beirut. However, most of the city is under the administration of the AANES.
Climate
The Köppen climate classification subtype for this climate is "Csa" (Mediterranean climate; dry-summer subtropical climate). The summers tend to be dry and warm, with July being the hottest month of the year, while the winters are usually cold and wet, with January being the coldest month and having an average of 11 days of rain. In total, around 53 days of rain occur every year.
Demographics
In 1939, French mandate authorities reported the following population numbers for different ethnic/religious groups in Qamishli city centre.
Qamishli is an ethnically mixed city. Kurds make up a majority of the city's population, which also has many Arabs, Assyrians, and Armenians.
Religion
Muslims
More than 80% of Qamishli's inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. They are mainly Kurds, followed by Arabs.
Christians
The city is considered to be a Christian center in Syria, and was a Christian-majority city for much of its history.
In the 1930s it is estimated that out of the town's population of 23,000 individuals, 20,000 of those were Christians.
Before the civil war, the Christian population of Qamishli was about 40,000, of whom 25,000 belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church, the biggest church in the city. As of 2014 it was believed that half of all Christians had left the city.
Once a Christian-majority city, the rural migration to Qamishli has increased the Kurdish population of the city. In addition, since the PYD militia took control of the city in 2012 they carried out a Kurdification process touching all aspects of life, starting by changing the name of the city to Qamishlo, to forcing a Kurdish-language curriculum on non-Kurdish citizens, to cultural and social aspects of the city. The Christian and Arab population in the city were fiercely opposed to the PYD rule. Half the Christian population left by 2017 although no fighting happened in the city.
Churches in the city
Syriac Orthodox Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis (كنيسة القديس مار يعقوب النصيبيني للسريان الأرثوذكس)
Syriac Orthodox Church of Our Lady (كنيسة السيده العذراء للسريان الأرثوذكس)
Syriac Orthodox Church of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (كنيسة مار افرام السرياني للسريان الأرثوذكس)
Syriac Orthodox Church of Saint Quriaqos (كنيسة مار قرياقوس للسريان الأرثوذكس)
Syriac Catholic Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (كنيسة القديسين مار بطرس وبولس للسريان الكاثوليك)
Assyrian Church of Saint George (كنيسة مار جرجس للآشوريين)
Assyrian Church of Saint Ephrem (كنيسة مار أفرام للآشوريين)
Chaldean Catholic Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis (كنيسة القديس مار يعقوب النصيبيني للكلدان الكاثوليك)
Armenian Orthodox Church of Saint Hagop (كنيسة القديس هاكوب الأرمن الأورثوذكس)
Armenian Catholic Church of Saint Joseph (كنيسة مار يوسف الأرمن الكاثوليك)
National Evangelical Presbyterian Church (الكنيسة الأنجيلية المشيخية الوطنية)
Jews
Historically, Qamishli was also home to a significant Jewish community. The origin of the Jews of Qamishli (unlike the Jews of Damascus and Aleppo who are a mixture of Sephardi Jews and Musta'arabi Jews) is the adjoining city of Nusaybin, on the other side of the Turkish-Syrian border. As after the foundation of Turkey in 1923, the major economic hubs were allocated to Turkey, the French Mandate authorities deemed it necessary to encourage the settlement or foundation of new villages and towns in the region. The current town was founded in 1926 by the French Mandate, which following encouraged the settlement of the population in Nusaybin, which is located just across the border. Within a few years, Qamishli was more populous than Nusaybin. The major part of the Christian, and also of the Jewish population from Nusaybin moved to Qamsihli. In the 1930s the Jewish population of Qamishli numbered 3,000. After the escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 1947, the situation of the Jews of Qamishli deteriorated. The exodus of Jews from Syria peaked due to violence, such as the 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo. By 1963, the community had dwindled to 800, and after the Six-Day War it went down further to 150, of whom no one remain today.
Neighborhoods
Qamishli is divided into several districts, which are further divided into neighborhoods.
This is a list of the neighborhoods of Qamishli.
Al-Zahra (Al-Wusta)
Al-Qusour
Al-Muwazafin
Qudour Bek
Al-Gharbiyah
Corniche
Al-Arbawiyah
Al-Ashouriyin (Assyrian)
Al-Siryan (Syriac)
Al-Bashiriyah
Tay
Al-Thawra
Al-Golan (Berkila)
Qanat al-Suways
Al-Antariyah
Maysaloun
Al-Hilaliyah
Jurnak
Alaiya (Hattin)
Mahmakiyah
Jumaayah
Halko
Transportation
Qamishli Airport was closed to civilians in October 2015, but later reopened. Syrian airline companies including Cham Wings Airlines, FlyDamas and Syrian Air provide flights between Qamishli and Damascus, Latakia, and Beirut.
Media and education
The Kurdish-language newspaper Nu Dem has its headquarters in Qamishli.
While prior to the Rojava conflict, there had been no institution of higher education in northeastern Syria, in September 2014 the Mesopotamian Social Sciences Academy started teaching. Following the University of Afrin, in July 2016 the Jazira Canton's Board of Education officially established the second Syrian Kurdish university in Qamishli. The University of Rojava initially comprised four faculties: Medicine, Engineering, Sciences, and Arts and Humanities. Programs taught include health, oil, computer and agricultural engineering, physics, chemistry, history, psychology, geography, mathematics, primary school teaching, and Kurdish literature.
Sports
Al-Jihad SC is the largest football club in the city and plays at 7 April Stadium.
Notable people
Aram Tigran, singer
Viyan Antar, Kurdish (YPJ) fighter
Ciwan Haco, singer
Sanharib Malki, footballer
Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo
Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church
Gabriel Asaad, Assyrian Musician
Salim Barakat, novelist and poet
Agop Donabidian, football coach and former player
See also
Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Qamishli
Assyrians in Syria
Kurds in Syria
Explanatory notes
References
External links
"From Qamishli to Qamishlo: A Trip to Rojava's New Capital", Fabrice Balanche, Fikra Forum of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 13 April 2017
"Amnesty Raises Kurd Issue", on Kurds in Qamishli, 2005
Assyrian communities in Syria
Armenian communities in Syria
Christian communities in Syria
Cities in Syria
Jazira Region
Kurdish communities in Syria
Populated places in Qamishli District
Upper Mesopotamia