7,456 bytes added,
11 years ago {{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
| name = Yüksekova (Gever)
| image_skyline =
| image_caption =
| image_shield =
| pushpin_map = Turkey
| latd = 37 |latm = 34 |lats = 00 |latNS = N
| longd = 44 |longm = 17 |longs = 00 |longEW = E
| coordinates_display = inline,title
| coordinates_format = dms
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = [[Turkey]]
| subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Turkey|Province]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Hakkâri Province|Hakkâri]]
| subdivision_type2 =
| subdivision_name2 =
| leader_party = [[Peace and Democracy Party|BDP]]
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Ruken Yetişkin
| leader_title1 = [[Kaymakam]]
| leader_name1 = Üzeyir Aziz Özeren
| elevation_m = 1950
| area_footnotes = {{Turkey district areas|SOURCE}}
| area_blank1_title = District
| area_blank1_km2 = {{Turkey district areas|Hakkâri|Yüksekova}}
| population_footnotes = {{Turkey district populations|SOURCE|Hakkâri}}
| population_urban = {{Turkey district populations|Hakkâri|Yüksekova|şehir}}
| population_as_of = {{Turkey district populations|YEAR}}
| population_blank1_title = District
| population_blank1 = {{Turkey district populations|Hakkâri|Yüksekova|toplam}}
| population_density_blank1_km2 = auto
| postal_code_type = Post code
| postal_code = 30300
| website = {{URL| www.yuksekova.bel.tr | www.yuksekova.bel.tr }}
}}
'''Yüksekova''' ({{lang-ku|Gewer}}; [[Syriac language|Syriac]]: ''Gawar''), is a Kurdish city and formerly known as '''Gever''' (not Gawar or Gavur), is a district of [[Hakkari Province]] of [[Turkey]], situated on the border with [[Iran]]. Its location on the trade route between north western [[Iran]] and eastern Turkey made it an important juncture for travelers and the location of several ethnic groups that were active in regional trade. It is an historically [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] region.
In the early 20th century, the villages in Gawar predominantly consisted of [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] with a few numbers of [[Jews]] among them. ''Gawar'' is from the [[Turkish language|Turkish]] "Gavur" meaning "[[infidel]]," referring to what were the primarily Christian inhabitants of the region, the Assyrians. In the 1st century AD, its name was ''Beth-Bagash'' (so was the [[Nochiya Region|Nochiya]] district). In the 1920s its name was changed to ''Yuksekova''.<ref>G. Maspero : :"Hitory Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria",V8, special study by Project Gutenberg</ref>
==History==
In the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Gawar had around 30 villages (the number is variable because [[Turkish people|Turks]] used to destroy the villages and Assyrians re-built them). Prior to the [[Assyrian Genocide]] during World War I, the population of Gawar was 15,000.<ref>Assyrians Of The Van District During The Rule Of Ottoman Turks, M.Y.A . Lilian, 1914</ref> Inhabitants lived off [[agriculture]] that mainly consisted of [[wheat]] and [[barley]], [[cotton]], [[tea]]. Gawar had around 1497 families in the 1880s.
Up until [[World War I]], Gawar was the seat of a bishop of the [[Church of the East]]. The district of Gawar served as the main travel stop for Assyrians traveling between the Hakkari tribal areas and the [[Urmia]] plains. At various times in the 19th century the residents of many Assyrian villagers from the district were forced to convert to [[Islam]] or were killed.<ref>Perkins, P: 316.</ref>
Only about a hundred families were in Gawar after the [[Massacres of Badr Khan|Kurdish massacre]] of [[Bedr Khan Beg]]. [[Justin Perkins]] (1805-1869) described the situation of Gawar and other Assyrian districts as follows: “The koords treat the Nestorians, who are subjects to their spoliation, as they do their bees, - leave them quiet till the hive is worth taking up and then rob it”. The Gawar, Albeq and Salamas villages suffered more than other districts because its inhabitants were subjects of the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]]-Islamic occupation, unlike their brethren of the highlands (the independent tribes of [[Tyari]], [[Jilu]], Baz, Diz, Tkhuma).<ref>E.L.Cutts : “Christians under the crescent in Asia”, London, P: 355</ref>
The heredity of the bishop family stopped during WW1, when all the family members were beheaded by the Kurds in Gegoran village in 1914. In October 1914, Gawar, Albaq and Salamas were the first districts targeted under the motto of "[[Jihad]]". Thousands were slaughtered and hundreds of villages were completely burned and destroyed.<ref>Rev. Justin Perkins : “A residence of eight years in Persia among the Nestorian Christians”, New York, 1843 – P: 304.</ref> Today the descendants of the Gawar inhabitants are distributed around the world just like other Assyrians, and the district is fully inhabited by Kurds.
== Climate ==
The climate in Yüksekova is a [[Humid continental climate#Dfa/Dwa/Dsa: Hot (or very warm) summer subtype|hot-summer subtype]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''Dsa'') of the [[humid continental climate]]. Summers are virtually dry with the most rainfall occurring in late winter to early spring (February to April).
{{Weather box
|location = Yüksekova
|metric first = yes
|single line = yes
|Jan high C = -6.4
|Feb high C = -4.0
|Mar high C = 2.7
|Apr high C = 10.3
|May high C = 17.6
|Jun high C = 22.8
|Jul high C = 26.7
|Aug high C = 26.8
|Sep high C = 23.2
|Oct high C = 16.3
|Nov high C = 7.7
|Dec high C = -3.3
|year high C =
|Jan mean C = -9.0
|Feb mean C = -7.3
|Mar mean C = -0.7
|Apr mean C = 6.0
|May mean C = 12.1
|Jun mean C = 16.5
|Jul mean C = 20.3
|Aug mean C = 20.2
|Sep mean C = 16.4
|Oct mean C = 10.5
|Nov mean C = 3.3
|Dec mean C = -5.5
|year mean C =
|Jan low C = -11.5
|Feb low C = -10.6
|Mar low C = -4.0
|Apr low C = 1.8
|May low C = 6.6
|Jun low C = 10.3
|Jul low C = 13.6
|Aug low C = 13.9
|Sep low C = 9.6
|Oct low C = 4.7
|Nov low C = -1.0
|Dec low C = -7.7
|year low C =
|Jan precipitation mm = 71
|Feb precipitation mm = 90
|Mar precipitation mm = 104
|Apr precipitation mm = 106
|May precipitation mm = 58
|Jun precipitation mm = 18
|Jul precipitation mm = 6
|Aug precipitation mm = 5
|Sep precipitation mm = 6
|Oct precipitation mm = 50
|Nov precipitation mm = 76
|Dec precipitation mm = 80
|year precipitation mm =
|source 1 = Climate-Data.org<ref name = "Climate-Data.org">{{cite web|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/15643/|title = Climate:Yüksekova|accessdate = 11 April 2014
|publisher = Climate-Data.org}}</ref>
}}
== Notable Gawar Assyrians ==
* [[Mar Meelis Zaia]] - [[Assyrian Church of the East]] [[bishop]], [[diocese]] of [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].
== See also ==
* [[Assyrian Tribes]]
* [[List of Assyrian settlements]]
* [[Tyari]], an Assyrian tribe also in Hakkari
* [[Nochiya tribe|Nochiya]]
* [[Jilu]], a tribe in proximity to Gawar
== References ==
<references/>
{{Districts of Turkey|provname=Hakkâri|image=Hakkari|sortkey=Yuksekova}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuksekova}}
[[Category:Hakkari]]
[[Category:Populated places in Hakkâri Province]]
[[Category:Districts of Hakkâri Province]]
[[Category:Assyrian settlements]]
{{Hakkari-geo-stub}}