Al-Qahtaniyah ( ar, ٱلْقَحْطَانِيَّة, al-Qaḥṭānīyah; ku, Tirbespî; syr, ܩܒܪ̈ܐ ܚܘܪ̈ܐ, Qabre Ḥewore), formerly Qubur al-Bid, is a town in northeastern

Al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate ( ar, محافظة الحسكة, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḥasakah, ku, Parêzgeha Hesekê}, syc, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܚܣܟܗ, Huparkiyo d'Ḥasake, also known as syc, ܓܙܪܬܐ, Gozarto) is one of the fourteen governorates (pro ...

, northeastern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

al-Qahtaniyah Subdistrict Al-Qahtaniyah Subdistrict ( ar, ناحية القحطانية) is a subdistrict of Qamishli District in northeastern al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. The administrative centre is the town of al-Qahtaniyah. At the 2004 census, the sub ...

, which consists of 103 localities. Historically an

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...

city, at the 2004 census, it had a population of 16,946.

Etymology

Al-Qahtaniyah was officially called Qbor el-Bid until 1962. Its old name was derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

words "Qbor" ("graves") and "el-Bid" ("white") – i.e. "white graves."

Demographics

The majority of the towns inhabitants are

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

s, followed by a large number of Assyrians and

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

Churches in the town

* Syriac Orthodox Church of Our Lady (كنيسة السيدة العذراء للسريان الأرثوذكس)

History

al-Qahtaniyah was founded as an Assyrian city in the 1920s. In 1927, the Kurdish tribal chief Haco Agha of the influential Haverkan tribe immigrated from Turkey together with more than 600 families and settled in the town. On 13 March 2004, after the

2004 Qamishli riots The 2004 Qamishli riots were an uprising by Syrian Kurds in the northeastern city of Qamishli in March 2004. The riots started during a chaotic football match, when some Arab fans of the guest team started raising pictures of Saddam Hussein, an ...

when 40 Kurdish civilians were killed, residents of Al-Qahtaniyah who protested the killings were shot at and injured by

Syrian forces The Syrian Arab Armed Forces ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْمُسَلَّحَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah) are the military forces of the Syrian Arab R ...

. As of 2004, Al-Qahtaniyah is the sixth largest town in Al-Hasakah governorate. In late July 2012, during the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the YPG took control of the town.

Notable people

Ciwan Haco Ciwan Haco (born 1957) is a Kurdish singer. He was born in Tirbespî near Qamişlo in Syria. His grandfather was originally from Doğançay in Turkey. After finishing high school, he left for Germany in order to continue his studies. He studi ...

(1957*), Kurdish singer *

Muhammad Khayr Ramdan Yusef Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

References