Badarash
Badarash(or Ashewa) is an Assyrian village in the Iraqi Kurdistan province of Dohuk. The village of Badarash is located 1.5 kilometres from the centre of Sarsink. The town name comes from Kurdish words meaning “the Black Air.” Badarash is named for its heavy cold winds and snowy winters.
Most of the village’s houses are built from stone and mud(traditionally built), while others are built from stone and cement(modern built). Unlike many Assyrian villages, this one was never evacuated. Even after houses and fields were burned and destroyed, the owners just rebuilt them. Some residents moved to Duhok and Baghdad, but the majority of them continued to stay in Badarash.
1900 - 2000
The village was built in 1922 by around 25 Assyrian families, many of which were fleeing the Assyrian Genocide from Hakkari, Turkey to avoid Turkish Ottoman and Kurdish attacks on Assyrians and Armenians. During this period, over 300,000 Assyrians died at the hands of their attackers or from hunger, cold and disease.
The first church, called Mar Gewargis (St. George), was built in 1925 in the center of the village. Another church was built in 1975 of the Chaldean denomination, with the first church being of the Nestorian variety.
Before the 1961 Kurdish rebellion, 55 families lived in the village. Due to the outbreak of civil war, the village was burned along with its apple groves, which were the main source of income to the village. other forms of agriculture such as livestock and crops were secondary source of income. As destruction and war pushed younger residents to immigrate, the population shrank to 35 families. Even with the shrinkage, The village is still large compared to other entirely Christian villages.
See also
Coordinates: 37°03′N 43°20′E / 37.050°N 43.333°E