To revive their religious rites, they built church

RENAS RAMO –KHDAR IBRAHIM /QAMISHLO

The Armenian, Syriac ,and Yezidi people were exposed to genocide by the Ottoman Empire in Turkey and Bakur Kurdistan (north Kurdistan) between 1914 and 1920, thousands of these families were forced to leave their villages heading toward to Rojava and North Syria among these areas is al-Shalhomiya village located 50 km north of Tirbespiyê district in al-Jazeera region where dozens of Syriac families settled.

Aiming to revive their religious rites, the people started to build a church in the name of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Marwah. The church was exposed to abrasion and erosion factors . So the villagers started to build a new church near the old church.

70% of the project has been completed over five months of work to construct the Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Marwah by al-Shalhomiya village's people.

As for the cost of building the church, the villagers and their families in European countries donated the costs of its construction. Haitham Zeinouni of  al-Shalhomiya village and one of the supervisors of the construction process explained that the residents and to ensure continuation of their religious rites in the village decided to build a new church after the old church became unfit for worship.

Haitham Zeitouni explained that the cost of completing the project could reach 35 million SP. The cost of the project was collected from the villagers and their families abroad.

There are 5 churches of the Christian religion in Tirbespiyê district      and the villages of Qar shiran,Shalhomiya, Gurdukah and Maharkan.

(T/S)

ANHA