The name of the town is derived from "köy" ("village" in Turkish) and "sanjaq" ("flag" in Turkish), and thus Koy Sanjaq translates to "village of the flag".[7]
According to local tradition, Koy Sanjaq was founded by the son of an Ottoman sultan who planted his flag and established a garrison at the site of a seasonal bazaar after having defeated a rebellion at Baghdad, and developed into a town as locals moved to the settlement to provide services to the soldiers.[7] A Jewish community at Koy Sanjaq is first mentioned in the late 18th century, by which time it was already well established.[7] The community had its own graveyard,[5] and spoke both Jewish Neo-Aramaic and Sorani Kurdish.[8] A small Chaldean Catholic community was established in the town in the 19th century.[9] In 1913, 200 Chaldean Catholics populated Koy Sanjaq, and were served by two priests and one functioning church as part of the archdiocese of Kirkuk.[10]
The Iraqi census of 1947 recorded a total population of 8198 people, with 7746 Muslims, 268 Jews, and 184 Christians.[11]
80-100 Jews from the village of Betwata took refuge in the town for several months in 1950, increasing the size of the local community to 350-400 people. The Jews of Koy Sanjaq immigratedtoIsrael the following year.[11]
Koy Sanjaq had a population of 10,379 in 1965.[1] In 1994, the town was struck by Iranian airstrikes targeting the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) base, resulting in the death of a civilian and wounding three KDP militants.[12] In 1999, Assyrians from the nearby village of Armota protested the construction of a mosque in their village at Koy Sanjaq.[13]Koya University was established in 2003.[14]
35 displaced Assyrian families from Mosul were housed in a converted church building in the town in November 2014, and had not been rehoused as of April 2015.[15] As of March 2018, 60 Assyrian families inhabit Koy Sanjaq.[16] The Assyrian population largely speak Kurdish, but some continue to speak Syriac.[17]
Lalik, Krzysztof (2018). "Ethnic and Religious Factors of Chaldo-Assyrian Identity in an Interface with the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan". In Joanna Bocheńska (ed.). Rediscovering Kurdistan's Cultures and Identities: The Call of the Cricket. Springer.
Mutzafi, Hezy (2004). The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Koy Sanjaq (Iraqi Kurdistan). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
Wilmshurst, David (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Peeters Publishers.
Iraq
