Amuda

Amuda عامودا Amûdê
Town
Amuda Location in Syria
Coordinates: 37°06′15″N 40°55′48″E / 37.10417°N 40.93000°E / 37.10417; 40.93000
Country	Syria
Governorate	Al Hasakah Governorate
District	Al Qamishli District
Nahiyah	Amuda
Elevation	470 m (1,540 ft)
Population (2004 census)
• Total	26,821
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)

Amuda or Amouda (Arabic: عامودا‎ 'Āmūdā, Kurdish: Amûdê‎) is a town in Al Hasakah Governorate) in northeastern Syria close to the border with Turkey. Amuda has a mostly Kurdish population with also a significant Assyrian presence.^[1][2]

History

Two tells exist in the area; the first is inside Amuda itself and the second exist on the Turkish side of the borders 3 kilometers north of the city.^[3] In older literature and some modern one, the tell inside Amuda is named tell Amuda; however, the actual name of it, according to locals, is tell Shermola while the tell on the Turkish side is the real tell Amuda which had its name changed by the Turkish authorities to tell Kemaliya.^[4]

Tell Shermola revealed evidence for a limited occupation dating to the third millennium BC.^[4]

Middle Assyrian period

Archaeological evidence from Shermola dating to the middle Assyrian period reveal that the city was inhabited by Assyrians as early as the reign of Shalmaneser I (1250 BC).^[5]

Shermola is identified by Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and Jeanne Marie Aynard with the Assyrian city of Kulishinas (Kulišinaš).^[6][7][8] This identification is based on tablets written in Kulishinas discovered and sold to museums by a dealer who claimed that they were taken from Shermola; hence, the identification is not certain although Shermola being a middle Assyrian city is confirmed by archaeology.^[9]

Modern era

The demographics of this area saw a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century. At the onset of the 20th century, Kurds cooperated with Ottoman authorities in the massacres against Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia.^[10] Kurds were responsible for most of the atrocities against Assyrians, and Kurdish expansion happened at the expense of Assyrians.^[11][12]

In 1936, there French forces Bombarded Amuda (Tusha Amudi). On 13 August 1937, in a revenge attack, about 500 Kurds from the Dakkuri, Milan, and Kiki tribes attacked the then predominantly Christian Amuda.^[13] and burned the mostly Assyrian down.^[14] The town was destroyed and the Christian population, about 300 families, fled to the towns of Qamishli and Hasakah.^[15]

Syriacs began to immigrate from Syria after the Amuda massacre of August 9, 1937. This massacre, carried out by the Kurd Saeed Agha, emptied the city of its Syriac population, and the town became completely Kurdish.^[16]

In 1941, the Assyrian community of al-Malikiyah was subjected to a vicious assault. Even though the assault failed, Assyrians were terrorized and left in large numbers, and the immigration of Kurds from Turkey to the area have resulted in a Kurdish majority in Amuda, al-Malikiyah, and al-Darbasiyah.

On 13 November 1960, more than 200 children died in a fire at a movie theatre, the Amouda cinema.^[17] There is a park in Amuda that commemorates the event.^[18]

On 12 March 2004, there was an Uprising. As of 2004, Amuda is the fourth largest town in Al-Hasakah governorate.

Syrian Civil War

With the dawn of the Syrian Civil War, the rule of the Bashar al-Assad government ended in much of Rojava. Free Syrian Army fighters were briefly seen in the town^[19] during the July 2012 withdrawal of government troops from the area, but by 21 July 2012 the Popular Protection Units (commonly known as YPG) established control.^[20] The early days of Democratic Union Party (PYD) influence in Amuda was not without conflict – in June 2013, clashes took place.^[21] Opponents of the PYD stated that fighters had opened fire on protesters following tensions with pro-Free Syrian Army youth committees and rivalling Kurdish groups. The PYD on the other hand stated it had been attacked by a mercenary gang.^[22][23] Due to the onslaught of "Islamic State" fighters, thousands of refugees have moved towards Amuda.^[24]

Following the development of the Rojava Revolution, the first meeting of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Jazira Canton was held in Amuda following its 21 January 2014 declaration. Al-Qamishli was declared as the Canton's de jure capital, but with Amuda acting as such for the time being. The meeting was held at the Hurî Culture and Art Centre, and was attended by the assembly president Ekrem Hiso, his two Arab and Assyrian deputies, and 22 ministers.^[25] In July 2014 two new co-mayors were elected for the Canton, by a council gathered in Amuda. Those elected were Hamedi Daham (a sheikh of the Arab Shammar tribe) and Hadiya Yousif (former head of the Women's Protection Units, YPJ).^[26] In November 2014 Bernard Kouchner, former foreign minister of France and co-founder of Doctors Without Borders, visited Amuda and met with local senior officials.^[27]

The end of government rule in July 2012 has resulted in a rejuvenation in Kurdish culture in Amuda. Following the departure of the Syrian Arab Army, Kurdish flags could again be sold in its markets, and a large demand for traditional Kurdish clothing likewise appeared. While the town was still under government control, a Kurdish language center was opened in 2011, working under threat. Since the arrival of the YPG the center can operate safely, resulting in an overflow of students. In late 2012 Ronahi TV was founded, the only Syrian television channel that broadcasts in Kurdish. It has 50 employees, some of them Arabs, presenting "more than 25 political, cultural, and social programs in Kurdish and Arabic".^[28]

In August 2015 a Swedish activist group from Malmö (Allt åt Alla) launched the "Rojava Electricity Project", a crowdfunding campaign on the site Indiegogo, to raise money for Amuda. The goal is to, in the span of 23 days, collect $23,000 United States dollars to help repair the town's Swedish-made generators.^[29] An electricity crisis is growing in Rojava, and according to the local economic committee three of Amuda's five generators are not functioning. Once the generators have been fixed using the funds procured through the campaign, the estimate is that 1320Kw will be generated, and that 800 households that are currently cut off will receive 10 hours of electricity a day.^[30][31]

Demographics

In 2004 the population was 26,821. The inhabitants of the town are predominantly Kurds in addition to a significant number of Syriacs/Assyrians. Some inhabitants are refugees from Islamic State ^[32]

Historical Landmarks

• Park of Amuda cinema
• Sharmola hill
• cemetery of Amuda
• The Grand Mosque
• Alarasa Market
• Fatura Souq

Notable people

• Said Yitzhak, politician.
• Abdulbaset Sieda, politician.
• Abdulhakim Bashar, politician.
• Koma Barkhwadan, Musical Band.
• Koma Lat, Musical Band.
• Mahmoud Dahoud, Footballer of Borussia Monchengladbach.

Poets and writers:

• Haitham Hussein
• Hasan Draei
• Salim Barakat
• Jamil Dari
• Halim Yousif
• Ahmed Alhusseyni

References

Al-Hasakah Governorate Capital: Al-Hasakah   Al-Hasakah District Al-Hasakah Abu Hajirat Khuatana Abu Tinah al-Alwa al-Arishah Bir al-Helou Bureij Sharqi Dashishah Gharbiyah al-Fadghami al-Fakkah Markada Ghabshah al-Ghariri al-Haddadiyah al-Hajiyah al-Hawl Al-Kharitah Khatuniyah Markada Markada Sharqiyah Qaber Shamiyah al-Sabaa wa Arbain al-Saadah Safia al-Shaddadeh al-Shaykh Hamad Sumayhan Gharbi Tell Arboush Tell Balouaah Tell Baz Tell Brak Tell Bureij Tell Damshij Tell Fuweidat Jazira Tell Goran Tell Hefyan Tell Hermez Tell Jazira Tell Jedaya Tell Jemaah Tell Kifji Tell Maghas Tell Majdal Tell Makhadah Tell Massas Tell Nasri Tell Ruman Tell Safouk Tell Sakra Tell Shamah Tell Shamiram Tell Tal Tell Talaah Tell Tamer Tell Tawil Tell Tawil Gharbi al-Tweinah Umm Ghargan Umm al-Keif Umm Madfaa   Al-Qamishli District Al-Qamishli Amuda Jimaayah al-Manathirah al-Qahtaniyah al-Tannuriyah Tell Hamis Tell Maaruf Umm al-Fursan   Al-Malikiyah District Al-Malikiyah al-Jawadiyah al-Muabbada Maashuq Sabaa Jafar Suwaydiyah Fawqani al-Tabaqah Tell Adas al-Yaarubiyah   Ras al-Ayn District Ras al-Ayn Abu Rasin al-Darbasiyah al-Lid Dirbasiyah Mabrouka al-Manajir Tell Halaf Tell Sinan Sharqi Umm al-Dibs Dirbasiyah

Coordinates: 37°06′15″N 40°55′48″E / 37.10417°N 40.93000°E / 37.10417; 40.93000