Tell Tamer

Tell Tamer
تل تمر
Tella Tamra
Tell Tamer
Coordinates: 36°30′42″N 40°44′32″E / 36.51167°N 40.74222°E
Country  Syria
Governorate Al-Hasakah
District Al-Hasakah
Nahiyah Tell Tamer
Population (2004)
 • Total 7,285
  Historical population estimates are as follows: 1,244 (1936); 1,250 (1960); 2,994 (1981); 5,030 (1993); 5,216 (1994); 5,405 (1995).[1]
Time zone EET (UTC+3)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+2)

Tell Tamer (Arabic: تل تمر‎, Syriac: ܬܠ ܬܡܪ, Kurdish: Girê Xurma[2]) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the al-Hasakah Governorate, located 40 km north of the city of al-Hasakah. Settled in the 1930s by Iraqi Assyrian refugees fleeing the Simele Massacre in Iraq, by the 1960s the village had grown into a town. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Tell Tamer had a population of 7,285 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") consisting of 77 localities with a combined population of 50,982 in 2004.[3] The inhabitants of the town are composed of Assyrians/Syriacs, Arabs and Kurds.

Etymology

The name of the town, "Tell Tamer," is derived from the Arabic and Aramaic words "tell/tella," both meaning "hill," and "tamer/tamra," both meaning "date." The name of the town therefore means "Hill of Dates."

Demographics

Its original inhabitants are Assyrians from the Upper Tyari tribe, who came to the area from Hakkari region in Turkey via Iraq.[4] As late as the 1960s, they still comprised virtually the entire population of the town.[5] The majority of the town's modern population is composed of Kurds and settled Arab Bedouins, while local Assyrian leaders in the 1990s estimated their own community's presence in the town to be around 20%.[6]

The pre-war scholarly estimates actually placed the total number of Assyrians which belong to the Assyrian Church of the East living across all of Syria at around 30,000 individuals, with between 15,000 and 20,000 (i.e., 2/3, at most) of them living along the Khabur.[7]

Syrian Civil War

An Assyrian exodus from the city began in November 2012, when Free Syrian Army soldiers threatened to invade the town. The exodus further continued when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took control of nearby roads just outside the town.

In October 2013, four Assyrians were stopped while driving in a car and kidnapped by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorists.

According to the Syriac International News Agency, in May, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant attacked an Assyrian village in the town, which prompted the Assyrians to call the Kurdish People's Protection Units to help protect them.[8]

Since ISIL militants captured the city of Ar-Raqqah, some Assyrians from there and from Al-Thawrah fled to Tell Tamer as refugees. However, more than 500 Assyrian families have fled the city. Many Assyrians from the town emigrated mainly to the United States, Europe and Canada.

On 23 February 2015, ISIL kidnapped around 220 Assyrians from villages surrounding Tell Tamer, and by 26 February, that number had increased to 350. On 1 March, ISIL released 19 of the kidnapped Assyrians.[9] On March 24, 5 more Assyrian hostages were released, raising the number of released Assyrian hostages to 24.[10]

Notable people

See also

Coordinates: 36°39′N 40°22′E / 36.650°N 40.367°E

References

  1. ↑ Alberto M. Fernandez, Dawn at Tell Tamir, pp. 43-44
  2. ↑ "ISIS Attacks Tell Tamer". Peyamner News Agency (in Kurdish). 15 Feb 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  3. ↑ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Hasakah Governorate. (Arabic)
  4. ↑ Fernandez, Alberto M. Dawn at Tell Tamer: The Assyrian Christian Survival on the Khabur River. Assyrian International News Agency. p. 41.
  5. ↑ Alberto M. Fernandez, Dawn at Tell Tamir, p. 43
  6. ↑ Alberto M. Fernandez, Dawn at Tell Tamer, p. 37
  7. ↑ Alberto M. Fernandez, Dawn at Tell Tamer, p. 30
  8. ↑ "Assyrian citizens called the YPG to defend them against ISIS - Syriac International News AgencySyriac International News Agency". Syriac International News Agency. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11443872/Isil-frees-19-abducted-Christians.html
  10. ↑ "IS releases 24 Assyrian Christians so far". SOHR. Retrieved 3 March 2015.