Country Turkey Website www.semdinli.bel.tr Province Hakkâri Province | Post code 30800 Local time Sunday 10:48 PM | |
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Weather 4°C, Wind NE at 13 km/h, 79% Humidity | ||
Şemdinli (Syriac: ܫܲܡ̱ܣܕܝܼܢ Shemsdin; Kurdish: Şemzînan) is a district located in the Hakkari Province of southeastern Turkey. Its population was 11,211 in 2010. It was previously in the Ottoman vilayet of Van and the district centre was called Nevşehir. The mayor is Seferi Yılmaz (BDP).
Contents
- Map of C59Eemdinli 30800 C59Eemdinli2FHakkC3A2ri Turkey
- Assyrians
- Bombings
- Clashes in 2012
- Climate
- References
Map of %C5%9Eemdinli, 30800 %C5%9Eemdinli%2FHakk%C3%A2ri, Turkey
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.
Assyrians
The district of Şemdinli lies in the center of the Assyrian Nochiya Tribe of Hakkari. The district of Şemdinli is the heart of their tribe. It was the home of the Assyrian Khnanisho Matran Family. The Nochiya tribe of Şemdinli are well known for their adherence to the Assyrian Church of the East faith, growing tobacco, and for their religious customs (such as lent and prayer were strictly observed).
Bombings
A bomb exploded in Şemdinli town centre on November 1, 2005. It was officially attributed to the PKK, an armed Kurdish militant group. On November 9 one man was killed in a grenade attack on a local bookshop. The suspects of this attack, however, were caught in the act by bystanders. They were said to be members of a Turkish Gendarmerie unit, JITEM. The resulting investigation developed into a major political issue in Turkey in the first half of 2006. After a lengthy legal process the three suspects were eventually sentenced to 39 years.
Investigations concerning the Şemdinli bombing trial were blocked by the military, and all the judges and prosecutor associated with the Şemdinli bookshop bombing case transferred from Van to other cities following a June 2007 decree.
Clashes in 2012
On 23 July 2012, Turkish security forces began a major security offensive, backed by airpower, against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) around Şemdinli. Interior minister, İdris Naim Şahin, explained that the forces were attempting to block the PKK's escape routes into northern Iraq, and that as many as 115 PKK fighters had been killed. Television news channel, Nergis Televizyonu (NTV), claimed that up to two thousand troops were involved in the operation. On 5 August 2012, PKK forces fired on a military post in the village of Gecimli, triggering clashes that killed 22 fighters, soldiers and village guards, and injuring 15 others, including five civilians. The military post was one of a number attacked in Hakkâri Province, although there were no reports of casualties in the other incidents.
Climate
Şemdinli has a hot-summer subtype (Köppen: Dsa) of the humid continental climate.