Tel Keppe ܬܸܠ ܟܹܐܦܹܐ | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A photo of the Tel Keppe cemetery | |
  Tel Keppe | |
| Coordinates:36°29′22″N43°7′9″E / 36.48944°N 43.11917°E /36.48944; 43.11917 | |
| Country |  Iraq |
| Governorate | Nineveh |
| District | Tel Kaif District |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Raad Naser |
| Population (2010)[1] | |
• Total | 40,000 |
| Prior to ISIS, August 2014 | |
| Demonym | Assyrian:Tel-Kepnaya (m)/Tel-Kepnetha (f)Arabic:Tel-Kayfi (m)/Tel-Kayfiya (f) |
Tel Keppe (Syriac:ܬܸܠ ܟܹܐܦܹܐ,Arabic:تل كيف,romanized: Tall Kayf, alternatively spelledTel Kaif,Tilkepe, orTelkef) is aChaldean CatholicAssyrian populated town in northernIraq.[2][3][4][5] It is located in theNineveh Governorate, less than 8 mi (13 km) northeast ofMosul.[6]
The people who descend from the village of Tel Keppe are ethnicAssyrians, who are indigenous to the village and theNineveh Plains. The majority of Assyrians from the village adhere to theChaldean Catholic Church, and due to its influences, many Telkepnayeh hold a strong Chaldean identity.
The name Tel Keppe (Syriac: ܬܸܠ ܟܹܐܦܹܐ) is ofAssyrian Aramaic origin and derives from the wordstil meaning "hill of", andkēpē meaning "stones". Therefore, the town's name translates to "hill of stones".[7][8][9][10]
The first reliable reference to the town is written in the bookThe History of Mosul, by Abu Zakaria Azidi. The book was released in 945 AD and he wrote about the history of Mosul, in which he referenced the town of Tel Keppe. Zakaria also mentioned a different author from the year 749 AD, who also mentions the village Tel Keppe as one of the Mosul's manysuburbs.
In 1508, Tel Keppe was sacked byMongols. In 1743, Tel Keppe was looted and burned by the armies of thePersian leaderNader Shah. This event took place within the context of thesiege of Mosul, in which the Persian army suffered heavy casualties and resorted to looting the surrounding towns to have some semblance of victory. In 1833, the town was once again sacked, this time byMohammed Pasha theKurdish governor ofRawandiz who also sacked the town ofAlqosh.[6]
On 6 August 2014, the town was captured by theIslamic State (ISIS), along with the nearby Assyrian towns ofBakhdida,Bartella andKaramlesh which were also overrun by ISIS militants during theirAugust 2014 northern Iraq offensive.[11] Upon entering the town, ISIS looted the homes and removed the crosses and other religious objects from the churches. The cemetery in the town was also later destroyed.[12]
Soon after the beginning of theBattle of Mosul, Iraqi troops advanced on Tel Keppe, but the fighting continued into 2017.[13][14] Iraqi forces recaptured the town from ISIS on 19 January 2017.[15]
In 2017, Salman Esso Habba of the "Christian Mobilization" militia – a part of thePopular Mobilization Forces – warned the Arabs to leave, claiming that Tel Keppe's homes belonged only toAssyrians in the town, MEMO reported Wednesday. He also said that Christians’ homes and rights could not be taken away.[16]
Five years after the liberation of Tel Keppe and most of the indigenousAssyrian population is yet to return, mostly due to the presence of the non-localBabylon Brigades militia.[17][18] The majority of the towns inhabitants either fled to large cities, or fled Iraq as a whole.[19] Very few Assyrians returned or had any plans to return.[20][21]
Tel Keppe has facedArabization since the late 1970s under the rule ofSaddam Hussein.[21][22]Arabs began moving to Tel Keppe, while Assyrians began moving to the larger cities inIraq, mainlyBaghdad,Basra andMosul.[citation needed] TheNorthern Iraq Offensive byISIS made things even worse for theAssyrians. After Tel Keppe was invaded, mostAssyrians fled toBaghdad and theKurdistan Region or fled Iraq entirely, causing more Arabs to settle in the town. The contested security between theKurdishPeshmerga and the Shia paramilitary forcePMU and presence of Arab-dominated militias in theNineveh Plains has prevented the return of thousands of Tel Keppe residents.[23] Tel Keppe has a majority ArabMuslim population as of 2021.[24]
Tel Keppe has asemi-arid climate (BSh) with extremely hot summers and cool, damp winters, typical to the Nineveh Plains.
| Climate data for Tel Keppe | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 12 (54) | 14 (57) | 20 (68) | 26 (79) | 34 (93) | 38 (100) | 43 (109) | 40 (104) | 38 (100) | 30 (86) | 20 (68) | 14 (57) | 27 (81) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2 (36) | 4 (39) | 8 (46) | 11 (52) | 16 (61) | 21 (70) | 25 (77) | 24 (75) | 20 (68) | 14 (57) | 6 (43) | 4 (39) | 13 (55) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 39 (1.5) | 69 (2.7) | 51 (2.0) | 9 (0.4) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 6 (0.2) | 36 (1.4) | 60 (2.4) | 270 (10.6) |
| Average precipitation days | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 65 |
| Source: World Weather Online (2000–2012)[25] | |||||||||||||
In 1768, the town had a recorded population of 2,500. Due to plague and other disasters, the population was around 1,500 in 1882, rising to 2,500 again by 1891. In 1923, the population was recorded as 14,000. In 1933, the population numbered around 10,000. As a result ofemigration from the town to Baghdad and theUnited States, the population shrunk to 7,108 by 1968.
The district of Tel Keppe was approximately 50%Christian in the mid 1900s, the town of Tel Keppe remaining almost exclusively Assyrian with a population of 6,600 inhabitants.[26] Throughout the late 20th century, the town experienced non-native population growth from the arrival of Arabs, who established residence throughout the town and became the majority after ISIS. By the turn of the century, the population had swelled to close to 30,000.[27]
Some families who settled in Tel Keppe are:
Starting in the 1980s, and especially after the1991 Gulf War and2003 US invasion of Iraq, manyChaldean Catholics from Tel Keppe fled to other countries, primarily theUnited States. They set up their lives there with new churches and business for their families.[6] By 2001, many Tel-Kepnayeh had moved to major cities in Iraq such asBaghdad orMosul.[29]
ManyChaldean Catholic Assyrians in theMetro Detroit area trace their origins to Tel Keppe. According to the estimates of a priest of Tel Keppe's Sacred Heart Chaldean Rite Catholic Church, there were 10,000 worshippers in the late 1950s, which later decreased to 2,000 around 2004. He said: "Many people don’t want to go from here; they cry that they have to go… but you almost have to leave these days because your family probably already is inDetroit."[30]
Tel Keppe was historically the center of theChaldean Catholic community in Iraq. Each family residing in Tel Keppe had one or more plots of farming land located outside Tel Keppe. The land producedbarley andwheat, and animals raised there includedgoats andsheep. Natalie Jill Smith, author of "Ethnicity, Reciprocity, Reputation and Punishment: An Ethnoexperimental Study of Cooperation among the Chaldeans and Hmong of Detroit (Michigan)", wrote that in the reports of the village "everyone was related" and that marriage tended to occur between two people from the same village.[27]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Main settlements |
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| See also | |||||||||||
| Anbar Governorate |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Babil Governorate | ||
| Baghdad Governorate | ||
| Basra Governorate | ||
| Dhi Qar Governorate | ||
| Diyala Governorate | ||
| Duhok Governorate | ||
| Erbil Governorate | ||
| Halabja Governorate | ||
| Karbala Governorate | ||
| Kirkuk Governorate | ||
| Maysan Governorate | ||
| Muthanna Governorate | ||
| Najaf Governorate | ||
| Nineveh Governorate | ||
| al-Qādisiyyah Governorate | ||
| Saladin Governorate | ||
| Sulaymaniyah Governorate |
| |
| Wasit Governorate | ||
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