Komane, Iraq


Komane is a village in Dohuk Governorate in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is located in the Sapna valley in the district of Amadiya and the historical region of Barwari.
In the village, there are churches of Mart Maryam, and Mart Shmune. The ruins of the 4th-century monastery of Mart Maryam, and 8th-century monastery of Mar Quryaqos are located near the village.

History

A Nestorian community at Komane is attested in the 10th-century Life of Rabban Joseph Busnaya. Abdisho, Archbishop of Koma, likely Komane, is attested in a letter from Patriarch Shimun IX Dinkha to Pope Gregory XIII in 1580. In 1850, 13 Nestorian families inhabited Komane, and had one functioning church. The village was part of the Nestorian diocese of Berwari. By 1913, Komane had also become part of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiya, in which year the village was populated by 60 Chaldean Catholics. Komane had a population of 19 people, with four families, in 1938. The Iraqi census recorded 550 people inhabited Komane in 1957. In 1961, the village had 150 families, but was destroyed by Kurds during the First Iraqi–Kurdish War in 1965.
The Iraqi government constructed 100 houses, and forcibly resettled 20 Assyrian families and 80 Kurdish families to the village in 1977. The Assyrian families were relocated from the village of Wela in the Nerwa area, and were adherents of the Church of the East, and thus a Nestorian church of Mart Maryam was constructed in 1978. In 1996, it was reported that Kurds had illegally confiscated Assyrian villagers' land. By 2011, the Supreme Committee of Christian Affairs had constructed 36 houses, restored 27 houses, and built the church of Mart Shmune. Displaced Assyrian families found refuge at Komane, and received humanitarian aid from the Assyrian Aid Society in 2014. On 12 June 2019, the village was struck by Turkish airstrikes.