Sharafiya

Sharafiya ܫܪܦܝܐ
Sharafiya
Coordinates: 36°41′20″N 43°5′46″E
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Ninawa
Population
• Total	500
Time zone	GMT +3

Sharafiya (Syriac:ܫܪܦܝܐ) is a Kurdish village located in The Nineveh plains region of northern Kurdistan in Nineveh Governorate and is located within the Kurdish homeland. The village is located about 40 Kilometers northwest of the city of Mosul, and is on the main road that connects Mosul to Alqosh, which it is only 5 kilometers south of.

The village rests on a plateau that is penetrated by small valleys, and has a stream which waters the lands used for growing crops such as wheat, grains and vegetables. The region also is fertile for cattle, sheep, goats and domesticated birds (chicken and turkey).

Population

The population of Sharafiya consists primarliy of Tyari-Assyrians of the Assyrian Church of the East, in addition to some Chaldean Catholics. They migrated from their original homes in the Hakkari region of southern Turkey during the Assyrian Genocide to Iraq. They then founded this village in 1938 after the Simele massacre. There are two churches in the village: a Chaldean Catholic church and an Ancient Church of the East named Mar Gewargis (St. George).

Location

Sharafiya and its surrounding lands are owned by the Chaldean Catholic Church of Alqosh. (which is known as convent of the Lady (St. Mary Monastery) in Alqosh) The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein visited the village in the mid 1980s and was astonished of the cleanliness of its residents and their adherence to their village. Upon his learning that they were unable to build new houses because the land was in the possession of the convent of the Lady in Alqosh, he ordered that each family own a piece of land and subsequently assisted them in building new houses. The fertile lands that were used for cultivation were, however, kept in the possession of the Church.

There is an elementary school in the village attended by 62 students of both genders. The high school students who are numbered some 50 boys and girls attend school in Alqosh. There are 17 college students who attend University of Mosul. As of 2006, there were 90 families living in Sharafiya, totaling 450 people.

There are other Assyrian villages to the east and south of Sharafiya: Tel Isqof which is an Assyrian village, is 9 Kilometers south of Sharafiya. There are also Yezidi villages nearby such as Beban, Shekhka, Hatara, and Badriya.

See also

• List of Assyrian settlements
• Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq