Margavar Rural District
| Margavar Rural District دهستان مرگور | |
|---|---|
| Rural district | |
| Country |
 Iran |
| Province | West Azerbaijan |
| County | Urmia |
| District | Silvaneh |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 34,862 |
Margavar Rural District (Persian: دهستان مرگور) is a rural district (dehestan) in Silvaneh District, Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.[1] At the 2006 census, its population was 34,862, in 6,012 families.[2] The rural district has 53 villages.
Its inhabitants are Kurds. There are also some Assyrians who belong to the Nochiya Tribe. This sub-district, along with two others in modern-day Iran, lie in the eastern part of the Nochiya Region. Its plain is surrounded by high mountains, such as Dalanpar, Buze-e-sina, Qolozan and Az mountains. It has about 50 villages, with a total population over 38,000.
According to Ahmad-e-Xani a Kurdish 17th-century poet who speaks of Margavar, at that time a Kurd from Margavar worked at Ottoman Empire Wilayat-i-Bohtan's palace as a guard. Regarding this point we conclude that Margavar was a Kurdish district in the 17th century.
According to Dr. Harry P. Packard of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, the districts of Targawar, Mergawar, and Dasht were destroyed by Turks and Kurds during the Assyrian Genocide in events that gave rise to the Assyrian war of independence.[3]
References
- ↑ Iranian National Committee for Standardization of Geographical Names website (Persian)
- ↑ "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)". Islamic Republic of Iran. Archived from the original (Excel) on 2011-11-11.
- ↑ Hannibal Travis, "Native Christians Massacred": The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians During World War I, 1.3 Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 327, 331 (2006), http://ssrn.com/abstract=950428