Mağaraköy, İdil

Mağaraköy or Mağara is a village in the İdil District of the Şırnak Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Kurds of the Salihan tribe.

History

Kīvakh is identified with the town of Kibaki, which submitted to Ashurnasirpal II during his campaign against Nairi in 879 BC. Ashurnasirpal II spent one night encamped at Kibaki and received cattle, sheep, wine, and bronze cooking-pots in tribute. It was located in the Kašiēri mountains. The Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus is said to have donated the village to the Mor Gabriel Monastery.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was a large village and was home to the Yazidi Çelkî tribe. When the Ottomans called upon them to join the army in 1910s, they refused. No school existed in the village. Yazidi Kurds from the village are said to have helped the Christians of Azekh amidst the Sayfo to fight Turkish Kurds. They also provided information, weapons, and transport to the Syriacs at ‘Ayn-Wardo. The village was disarmed by the Turkish state in 1926 in the aftermath of the Sheikh Said rebellion.
A ruined church was extant at the village in 1978. In the 1980s, the village was reported to be populated by the Hevirkan tribe, a tribe of Yazidi belief. In 2018, the village was reported to be populated by the Salihan tribe. The Salihan tribe has both Muslim and Yazidi members, but the ones in Mağara are Yazidi. In 2022, the village had a population of 15, increased from 6 in 2012.