Country Iraq District Tel Keppe Local time Thursday 7:38 AM | Governorate Ninawa Time zone GMT +3 | |
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Weather 11°C, Wind E at 13 km/h, 65% Humidity | ||
Baqofa (also, Baqofah or Bakofa or Bakopa or Baqopa) (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܩܘܦܐ, Běţ Ợopa) is an Assyrian village in northern Iraq located near Batnaya. Most of its inhabitants are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The village's Aramaic name may derive from "Beth Qopa" or "Beth Qofa", signifying either the "House of Rods" or "Place of the Skull." The town is occupied and used as a base of operations by Dwekh Nawsha, an Assyrian Christian militia.
Contents
Map of Bakufa, Iraq
History
The area is believed to have been settled for thousands of years, dating back to the Assyrian Empire era; in 1852, an archaeological dig uncovered artifacts with Cuneiform script. The earliest historical reference to the village dates to the 7th century, in Life of Rabban Hormizd the Persian. Notable historical events have included devastating raids by Mongols in 1436 and 1508, an attack by Persian king Nader Shah in 1743, and an attack launched under order of the Kurdish governor of Rawandz in 1833. An 1852 document indicated that in 1850 approximately families residing in the village attended its single church.
Notable author and bishop Jacques-Eugene (Ogein) Manna, also known as "Ya'qob Awgin Manna", whose Aramaic-Arabic Dictionary was first published in 1900 and was reprinted as recently as 2006, was born in the village in 1867.
Modern village
The modern agricultural village consists of about 80 brick, cement or stone houses, with approximately 1,000 inhabitants. The population of Baqofah are all Assyrian followers of the Chaldean Catholic Church who speak Neo-Aramaic.