My home town Tel Keppe, was one of the largest Chaldean towns in northern part of Iraq. The name, Tel Keppe, is of Aramaic origin made of two syllables; “Tel” which means “hill” and “Keppe” which means “stones,” in other words, Hill of Stones. The town was first mentioned at the end of fifth century BC by Zenfonenus, the Commander of the Greek army’s campaign in northern Mesopotamia in 401 BC (Chaldeans Online). In Tel Keppe, vases dating to 2000 years BC were found and other items even much older. Also, several old ruins of churches and monasteries dating to early Christianity were found (Chaldeans Online).
Tel Keppe became famous when its children played an impressive role by being the first Chaldeans to migrate from northern Iraq to Baghdad mid-19th century (Chaldeans Online). They were the first Iraqis to use steam ships on the Tigris river, first to introduce the concept of “modern days’ hotels” in Iraq, and the first Iraqi newspaper dealing with women’s issue, that of “Arabian Woman” (Fatat al-Arab), was published by the Tel Keppian woman, Maryam Narmy, in 1937 (Chaldeans Online).
In 1436 and in 1508, Mongols attacked Tel Keppe, killing many of its children and destroying many of its churches (Chaldeans Online). Tel Keppe was again attacked by Persian King Nader Shah in 1743 (Chaldeans Online). The Kurdish governor of Rawandows, Merkor, attached Tel Keppe in 1833 due to his hatred for Christianity (Chaldeans Online). Tel Keppe was a Christian town until 1980s when the change in democracy took place demanding to transform Tel Keppe town from a Christian Chaldean town to a Muslim Arab town. On June 2014, ISIS arrived to Tel Keppe, the Chaldeans left the town and those who could not flee were killed by ISIS.
ISIS arrived in Tel Keppe and lived in there for two and a half years where they destroyed the churches, the monasteries, the Christian cemetery in town and stole all the Christians’ properties and belongings. Tel Keppe was finally freed from the hands of ISIS on January 19, 2017. “We received the good news and the faithful Christians of Tel Keppe were overloaded with peace and joy to be able to visit their town one more time after two and a half years on the first week of liberation,” stated Bashar Kesto, Chaldean artist from Tel Keppe who was forced to flee Tel Keppe because of ISIS and lives in another town in northern Iraq now. “But we were shocked to discover our homes empty and destroyed, the cemetery and the churches destroyed,” he continued. “Unfortunately, that was our first and last visit to Tel Keppe because only a week after its liberation from ISIS, we were forbidden to go back to it again by Peshmerga, who wanted to enter Tel Keppe but was forbidden by the Iraqi government” said Kesto. Peshmerga are the Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
Sadly, most of the Christians who were forced to flee Tel Keppe, like Kesto, are hesitated to go back to Tel Keppe if the doors are ever opened to them again because of all that is happening and the lack of peace in the town. Most of the Tel Keppian families found homes for them in different countries like America, Europe, Australia, etc., and they will not be willing to go back to Tel Keppe as they left Iraq for good. During the late 20th century, Christian population in Tel Keppe was about 30,000 people (Revolvy, 2017). Today, there are probably less than 100 Tel Keppian families remaining in Iraq, according to Bashar Kesto.
Today, Tel Keppe is occupied by strangers, who never lived in it or had any relationship with it in the past. “These strangers took away our town from us, are walking in our streets and living in our homes, which they have absolutely no right in doing so,” said Kesto. Tel Keppe is sad, mourning in tears for its original people. Kesto also mentioned that Tel Keppe has an unclear future today. It is in the hands of Kurds and the Iraqi Government, both aiming to make it a part of their territory. As a young lady from Tel Keppe, I am very sad to see my beautiful town lost, destroyed, and lonely today. My people might never go back to it again, but I pray to God that it will soon be fixed and surrounded by beautiful people again.
Reference
Chaldeans Online (n.d). Welcome to Tel Keppe. Retrieved May 20, 2017 from www.chaldeansonline.org/telkeppe/
Revolvy (2017). Tel Keppe. Retrieved May 20, 2017 from https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Tel%Keppe&item-type=topic
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