| Chapter 1: | The Homeland and Origin of the Independent Assyrian Tribes of Tiyari and Hakkari |
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The following villages belonged to other districts: Walto, Neivdi, Gesnak, Paprashin, Burun, Bijani, Gawar, Albak, Shams-ud din, Shapat, Brasinnai, Dirakan, and Narwa in Amediaya, or Bahdinan.
7. The Semi-Independent and Ra’aya
The semi-independent tribes enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy in controlling their own affairs and usually recognised Mar Shimun as their religious leader, while at the same time, they paid an agreed tribute to their Kurdish landlord. In the Ra’aya provinces, the Assyrians lived under the direct control of the Kurds and Afshars in both the Ottoman Empire and Persia, and there were no independent centres. This was due to the drastic changes in the demography of the land and the success of both the Kurds and Afshars in subduing various Assyrian settlements, which, in the words of W. Wigram, had turned the original inhabitants into serfs tilling their own ancestral lands under their new masters.55
Many western travellers observed the harsh conditions in which these people were living. During her travels in Persia and Turkey, Mrs. Bishop was able to see at first hand the persecution and exploitation that the Assyrians were suffering. Among other districts, she reported the deteriorated conditions in the region of Van, where the Assyrians formed a continuation of those in Tiyari and Hakkari. She attested to the degradation of the people in the villages of Katranis, a typical example for the living conditions of all the eighty thousand Assyrian Christians who inhabited the region.56
8. Origin of the Tribes
Badger’s Theory of Refugees Moving From the South to the North
Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, the history and origin of the people was much debated.