Qaraqosh (, ), also known as Al-Hamdaniya () or Bakhdida (; ), is an ethnically Assyrian city in Iraq within the Nineveh Governorate, located about 32 km (20 mi) southeast of the city of Mosul and 60 km (37 mi) west of Erbil amid agricultural lands, close to the ruins of the ancient Assyrian cities Kalhu and Nineveh. It is connected to the main city of Mosul by two main roads. The first runs through the Assyrian towns of Bartella and Karamlesh, which connects to the city of Erbil as well. The second, which was gravel before being paved in the 1990s, is direct to Mosul. All of its Assyrian Christian citizens fled to the Kurdistan Region after the ISIS invasion on August 6, 2014. The town was under control of ISIS until October 19, 2016, when it was liberated as part of the Battle of Mosul after which residents have begun to return.
Local Assyrians, who are ethnically distinct from Arabs and Kurds, speak the Qaraqosh dialect of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic.
Etymology
The present name of the town, Qaraqosh, is first attested in a source from the sixteenth century. It is of Turkish origin, meaning 'Black Bird', and was introduced either by the Ottomans after their conquest of the area at the beginning of the sixteenth century or by the Turkmen rulers of the region in the fifteenth century. The local population, however, when speaking in their Aramaic dialect, still refer to the town by its former name. The name Bakhdida (; Beth Khdeda), is of uncertain origin and when translated from the Syriac language it has two components Beth which means "house", and Khodida which could either mean "Youths" in Aramaic or actually "Baghdadak" a diminutive form of Baghdad, Old Persian meaning "God's gift". Some also believe that Bakhdida comes from the Aramaic Beth Deta, meaning "Land of the Kite".
Security
As of October 2016, the city is under the control of the Nineveh Plain Protection Units. On November 25, 2017; Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) celebrated the completion of its new military camp in Bakhdida, Nineveh Plain.
Education
Students from the village were harassed in University of Mosul; many female students were forced to wear an Islamic dress for fear of being attacked. On May 2, 2010, a convoy of buses carrying students from Bakhdida to the University of Mosul was the target of a coordinated attack, which killed and injured more than a hundred.
The Iraqi Ministry of Education started the construction of a subsidiary of the University of Mosul which in 2014 became the University of AL-Hamdaniya, which is planned to serve the whole Nineveh Plains region. The University of AL-Hamdaniya currently consists of two colleges: The college of Education and the college of Administration and Economics. The University is based at the Mosul-Erbil road, Al-Hamdaniya intersection.
History
Pre-Christian accounts
It is thought that the ancient city of Rasin mentioned in some texts, the second city built by the Assyrian king Nimrud, was in Bakhdida.
Early Christian history
The Assyrians of Bakhdida became Christians during early Christianity. With the Christological disputes of the 4th century, they followed the Church of the East teachings, but switched to the Syriac Orthodox Church through the influence of Shapur of Baghdeda in the 7th century and the arrival of Assyrian refugees from Tikrit in the 11th century.
Raids of Persians and Kurds
In their literature and writings, the Assyrians of Bakhdida remember vividly the raids of the Persians and Kurds on their village and churches. In 1171, while the governors of Mosul and Damascus were fighting each other, the Kurds used the opportunity to attack the Mar Mattai Monastery. According to the 13th century writer Bar Hebraeus, in 1261 the Kurds came down to Mosul, killing many Christians who refused to follow Islam and looting their homes and churches. The Kurds then occupied the nunnery of Naqortaya and killed many of the nuns and others who had sought refuge there. In 1288 a battle took place between the Kurds and Tatars near Baghdida. In 1324 Baghdida was attacked by the Kurds again, in which many homes and four churches were burned.