ITCHY FEET TRAVELS

Qaragosh, Kurdistan

June 22, 2023

From glory days of a powerful empire to the ignominy of present day is the tale of the peoples who claim descent from the Assyrians. They converted to Christianity in the early days of the religion and have a long and bitter history of persecution. Quite by chance, in chatting with a fellow guest at the hotel in Mosul, I happened to learn about the town of Qaragosh, also called Bakhdida, and a neighboring smaller town of Karemlash. Both are home of predominantly Syriac-speaking Assyrians. Lynne was up for adventure and we set off to explore.

The crosses were visible from afar but this town has a peculiarity that we only realized when wandering in it. Qaragosh seems to be a town that revels in uniqueness, be it in churches or homes. No two crosses are the same just as no two houses are the same.

Mixed among newer buildings are the rubble of older ones, a mute testament to a bloody history and some due to old age. But quite a few are reburbished, seamlessly morphing from older to newer residences.

One such old house has been made into a museum of the Syriacs. A hodgepodge of pots, pans, utensils, radios, clothes and just about anything one can imagine is housed in the two rooms. There are  chambers underground as well. There are archways that lead to a network of tunnels connecting the houses. They were used in the old days to hide valuables in or to escape when enemies came to the door. Were it not for Lynne’s proficiency in Arabic, I for one would never have understood the explanations given readily and with welcome.

There was no curiosity about us in town and we wandered around clicking away. It was in Karemlash that we ran into problems. We had been taking photos of a church when a couple of army guards came up to sternly admonish us.

Duly chastened, we wandered off into the narrow alleyways of the town. If we weren’t supposed to take photos here either, no doubt the guards would find us. And sure enough they did. We were called up by the priest in the church. The explanation given us, was that no foreigner comes to this town and the residents may cause problems. We were largely ignored by the few people we met and it was only a group of children and an old woman who had welcoming smiles. We could take photos we were told but were to be accompanied by the army guards. So, dutifully trailed by the two guards we wandered at random.

Among the rubble and bullet-marked old houses are doorways. The signs say they are closed. Lynne asked and was told that this town had been overrun by ISIS and many of the people fled to Europe and elsewhere. Their homes lie padlocked with these signs. We also see signs on houses, proclaiming that they are homes of Christians. Given their painful past, it is perhaps no wonder that strangers walking around taking photos raised red flags.