Bashiqa
Bashiqa (Kurdish: بەعشیقە, romanized: Başîqa; Arabic: بعشيقة, romanized: Ba'shīqah; Syriac: ܒܥܫܝܩܐ) is a town situated at the heart of the Nineveh plain, between Mosul and Sheikhan, on the edges of Mount Maqlub.
Bashiqa
بعشيقة | |
|---|---|
Town | |
Bashiqa Location in Iraq | |
| Coordinates: 36.4466°N 43.3471°E | |
| Country | Iraq |
| Governorate | Nineveh |
| District | Al-Hamdaniya District |
The urban area of Bashiqa and Bahzani had the third largest Yazidi population in Iraq prior to the Yazidi genocide. Whilst Bahzani contains older buildings with numerous ancient sites, Bashiqa is more modern and consists mainly of newer infrastructure and architecture. Between 2014 and 2016, ISIS destroyed 22 Yazidi mausoleums that were located in Bashiqa and Bahzani, the Yazidi libraries were demolished and the famous sacred olive grove in Bahzani was burnt.
Around 85% of the population is Yazidi in 2021. The remaining 15% are 390 ethnic Christian Assyrians which include around 300 Syriac Orthodox families and 90 Syriac Catholic families.