Şemdinli is a district located in the Hakkari Province

Hakkari Province

Hakkâri Province is a province in the south east corner of Turkey. The administrative centre is located in the city of Hakkâri . The province covers an area of 7,121 km² and has a population of 251,302 . The province had a population of 236,581 in 2000.The province was created in 1936 out of...

 of southeastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.
The population is 11,211 as of 2010.It was previously in the Ottoman vilayet of Van and the district centre was called Nevşehir. The mayor is Sedat Töre (BDP

Peace and Democracy Party

The Peace and Democracy Party ) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey. It succeeded the Democratic Society Party following the closure of the latter party for its alleged connections with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.The BDP has observer status in the...

).

Assyrians

The district of Şemdinli (Syriac

Syriac language

Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

: ܫܲܡ̱ܣܕܝܼܢ Shemsdin) lies in the center of the Assyrian

Assyrian people

The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...

 Nochiya Tribe

Nochiya Tribe

The Nochiya Tribe , are an Assyrian Christian tribe that were based in and around the district of Şemdinli, in the province of Hakkari, Turkey. The word "Nochiya" means "between the mountains" in the Kurdish language...

 of Hakkari

Hakkari

Hakkâri , is a city and the capital of the Hakkâri Province of Turkey. The name Hakkâri is derived from the Syriac word, Akkare, meaning farmers...

. The district of Şemdinli is the heart of their tribe. It was the home of the famous Assyrian Khnanisho Matran Family. The Nochiya tribe of Şemdinli are well known for their adherence to the Assyrian Church of the East

Assyrian Church of the East

The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...

 faith, growing tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, and for their religious customs (such as lent

Lent

In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...

 and prayer were strictly observed).

Şemdinli today

Located at the farthest corner of Turkey, the district of Şemdinli is a mountainous land. There is a visible military presence in the town, owing to the strategic position of the town astride a mountain route connecting the least-controllable corners of Iran and Iraq.

Bombings

A bomb ripped Şemdinli town centre on November 1, 2005. It was officially attributed to the PKK, an armed Kurdish separatist group. A second bomb went off near a bookstore on November 9. The suspects of this attack, however, were caught in the act by bystanders. They were said to be members of a gendarmerie special-operations unit, JITEM. The resulting investigation developed into a major political issue in Turkey in the first half of 2006.

Investigations concerning the Şemdinli bombing trial have been blocked by the military. All the judges and prosecutors associated with the Şemdinli bookshop bombing case were transferred from Van to other cities following a June 2007 decree.

External links

• Şemdinli indictment, Milliyet
  Milliyet
  Milliyet is a major Turkish daily newspaper founded in 1950.-History:Milliyet came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950...
  
  , Milliyet
  Milliyet
  Milliyet is a major Turkish daily newspaper founded in 1950.-History:Milliyet came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950...
  
  , BBC News
  BBC News
  BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...