What is "dawodiya"

Coordinates: 37.089151,N 43.220261 E

Dawodiya is an Assyrian village in Iraqi Kurdistan in the province of Dohuk. Gara Mount bounds the Sapna valley to south and Matean Mount to the north.The village lies a short distance southwest of Amedi airport.

Some references indicate that the village of Dawodiyaof existed in pre- Christian times while others suggest that it was built in the Middle Ages. While residents of Dawodiya, are not certain of the village's exact age, they assume it was several centuries ago when some Assyrian Christian families escaped the persecution of Ottoman authorities during their original occupation of Botan in southern Turkey.

The British scholar Austen Henry Layard visited the village in the 1840s, spending one night there. In his writings he mentions that there were 200 families living in the village, a police station and a church. Layard also notes that Catholicism replaced the original denomination of those people who were the followers of the Assyrian Church of the East.

There are remains of the former police station established by the Ottoman authorities. Residents believe it was a fortified structure for the commanding officer of the Ottoman army in the region.