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Al Qamishli

Qamishli
Qamishli
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 37°03N 41°13E / 37.050°N 41.217°E / 37.050; 41.217
Country  Syria
Governorate Al Hasakah
District Qamishli
Population (2004)Census
  Total 184,231
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
  Summer (DST) +3 (UTC)
Area code(s) 52

Qamishli (Arabic: Qmil, Kurdish: Qamilo, Syriac: Qamilo or Be Zlin) is a city in north eastern Syria on the border with Turkey, adjoining the Turkish city of Nusaybin, and close to Iraq. It is part of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, and is the administrative capital of the Qamishli District within the governorate.

Contents

Etymology

The city was initially a small village inhabited by Assyrians/Syriacs called be zlin ( ) meaning "house of reed". The current name is a turkified form of it, where "kam" means "reed" in Turkish.

Demographics

With a population of 184,231 (2004 Census), Qamishli is among the 10 largest cities in Syria.

Qamishli is a somewhat mixed city with ethnic groups predominantly Kurdish, Christians and Arabs. The Christians of the city mainly consist of Assyrians/Syriacs and Armenians. The city was founded in 1926 by refugees from minorities of modern Turkey and Iraq. Today Kurds, Assyrians/Syriacs, Arabs and Armenians (about 8,500, of whom 2,000 are Armenian Catholics[1]) live side by side in the city.[2]

Al Qamishli was also home to a significant Jewish community. In the 1930s the Jewish population of Al Qamishli numbered 3,000. Since 1947, the situation of the Jews of Al Qamishli deteriorated. All Jews employed in government offices were sacked at once. Many Jewish women were imprisoned and beaten with the approval of the authorities. Massive immigration of Jews from Syria peaked due to violence, such as 1947 Aleppo pogrom. By 1963, the community had dwindled to 800 Jewish persons, and after the Six-Day War it went down further to 150 of whom only few remain today.

History

Qamishli is situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains, located near the area of ancient Hurrian city of Urkesh which was founded during the fourth millennium BC.

The modern city was founded in 1926 as a railway station on the Taurus railway.[3]

Qamishli is the largest town in Hassake province and it is regarded as the secret capital of the Kurds, the Assyrians/Syriacs also claim it to be their community capital. It is also the centre of the Syrian Kurdish problem.[4]

In March 2004, during a chaotic soccer match, a riot started when some people started raising separatist Kurdish flags, hailing Barzani and Talabani and US president George W. Bush, turning the match into political conflict against the Syrian government. The riot expanded out of the stadium and weapons were used against Syrian police and against Qamishli civilians of non-Kurdish background. In the aftermath, at least 30 Kurds were killed as the Syrian security services re-took the city.[5] The event became known as "Qamishli massacre".

In June 2005, thousands of Kurds demonstrated in Qamishli to protest the assassination of Sheikh Khaznawi, a Kurdish cleric in Syria, resulting in the death of one policeman and injury to four Kurds.[6][7] In March 2008, according to Human Rights Watch,[8] Syrian security forces opened fire at Kurds celebrating spring festival of Newroz and purportedly gathering for reviving the 2004 riot in Qamishli. The shooting left three people dead.

The city is renowned for throwing a large Christmas parade every year in December, and celebrating Newroz festival by a large crowd every year in March. Despite the ethnic clashes, including during the 2012 Syrian civil war, both Kurds, Muslims, and Syriac Christian citizens lived side by side in peace, as well as the Armenian minority.

Climate

Climate data for Al-Qamishli
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 10.9
(51.6)		 12.6
(54.7)		 16.7
(62.1)		 22.1
(71.8)		 29.2
(84.6)		 36.1
(97)		 40.3
(104.5)		 39.8
(103.6)		 35.4
(95.7)		 28.3
(82.9)		 19.3
(66.7)		 12.7
(54.9)		 25.28
(77.51)
Average low °C (°F) 2.7
(36.9)		 3.5
(38.3)		 6.3
(43.3)		 10.3
(50.5)		 14.9
(58.8)		 20.0
(68)		 23.5
(74.3)		 23.0
(73.4)		 19.5
(67.1)		 15.0
(59)		 8.8
(47.8)		 4.4
(39.9)		 12.66
(54.78)
Precipitation mm (inches) 77.5
(3.051)		 71.9
(2.831)		 68.2
(2.685)		 59.0
(2.323)		 29.0
(1.142)		 2.2
(0.087)		 0.3
(0.012)		 0.1
(0.004)		 0.8
(0.031)		 18.0
(0.709)		 38.5
(1.516)		 66.9
(2.634)		 432.4
(17.025)
Avg. precipitation days 11 11 11 10 6 1 0 0 0 4 7 10 71
Source: World Meteorological Organization

Transportation

It has an international airport, Kamishly Airport, with IATA code KAC.

Chemins de Fer Syriens (the Syrian railroad company) operates a freight and passenger railway service to other parts of Syria

See also

Notes

  1. ^ (Armenian)
  2. ^ Al-Qamishli (Syria) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  3. ^ "Al-Qamishli" - Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006.
  4. ^ Qantara.de - The Kurds of Syria - An Insecure Stone in the Syrian Mosaic
  5. ^ James Brandon (February 15, 2007). "The PKK and Syria's Kurds". Washington, DC 20036, USA: Terrorism Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation. p. Volume 5, Issue 3. 
  6. ^ Blanford, Nicholas (June 15, 2005). "A murder stirs Kurds in Syria". USA Today. 
  7. ^ Fattah, Hassan M. (July 2, 2005). "Kurds, Emboldened by Lebanon, Rise Up in Tense Syria". The New York Times. 
  8. ^ Syria: Investigate Killing of Kurds - Human Rights Watch

External links

Coordinates: 37°03N 41°13E / 37.050°N 41.217°E / 37.050; 41.217

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