COVER STORY There are
COVER STORY There are homes inside Rawanduz Canyon, overseeing the river. Located northeast of Erbil, between the town of Khalifan and the city of Soran, the canyon is a tourist attraction known for its beautiful scenery, gorges, valleys, falls, and creeks. Its name comes from Rawn, a famous poet from the area, and Duz, which means ‘citadel’ or ‘tower.’ It’s a dry and dusty canyon in summer but lush and green from spring to autumn. Sureth schools teach all curriculums in the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac language. There are 49 schools with more than 5,000 students in first through twelfth grade getting an education in northern Iraq. These Christian schools are funded partly by the KRG government, but the majority is funded by donors and the Assyrian Aid Society of America. The intent is to keep the Sureth language from becoming extinct. Nahla Valley has eight Iraqi Assyrian Christian villages located behind Akra mountain in a remote and isolated area two hours of mountainous driving from suburbs of Duhok. This sesame butter mill is in Hazane Village. One must walk down the hill for 20 minutes to reach the mill, which is located there because it uses waterfalls to hydropower the operation. The mini plant operates eights months a year when water is available; the other four months, farmers grow the sesame seed. 20 CHALDEAN NEWS FEBRUARY 2022
Located in the Telkepe District, a five-minute drive from Tilkepe village, the village of Batnaya was ravaged by ISIS, and is now being reconstructed by USAID. 1,200 families had left Batnaya during the occupation of ISIS, and the village was seized by Peshmerga during the Battle of Mosul. Only 300 families had returned as of February 2020. This photo shows a priest inside a church that has been stripped of all valuables, including building materials. This is a picture of a woman who lives in the village of Sarsing, a sub-district in the Dohuk Governorate in Kurdistan Region, located in the Sapna Valley in the Amadiya District. By the early 1960s, Sarsing had become a key tourist attraction and a hotel, cinema, and restaurants were established. The village is known for summertime tourism; those looking to escape the Baghdad heat. This woman has traveled the world but insists on staying in her hometown. Akre is a city in the northern part of Iraq. The Akre Kala (the Castle) is on top of Akre mount. We believe that Wilson and his crew are the first to photograph this site professionally. There are ruins that are very visible but unknown. They appear to be a rectangular shape water reservoir, and many wells that have small openings at the surface, but get wider below the surface, going down 10 to 12 feet. There are clear cuts in the mountain resembling a walkway, building structures and short square stumps. The style of these cuts resembles the Sennacherib Period of 700 BC. The name Akre (Aqrah or Akra) is an old Aramaic word meaning the base or the root, or it could also be from Sumerian Akera meaning A: Water Ki: place Ra: water rolling or water branching; so, a place where water rolls from. This photo is of a stair walkway to the mountain that takes you past some houses, then leads you the top. The mountain oversees the city of Akre. There are some Christians remains in the city; two old churches on the side of the mountain. FEBRUARY 2022 CHALDEAN NEWS 21
