The town Council of Bartella decides to build 1000 residential units within the town in spite of the strong opposition by its Christian people

Ankawa.com – Bartella – Exclusive
Yousif Jacob Matty, a member of Bartella Council Board, suspended his membership from the board in relation to a number of decisions which he described as unfair. These decisions adopted by the council against the will of the people of Bartella. The council consists of 10 members, four of them from the Syriac, five from the Shabak and one from the Kurds.
The suspension of Matty membership, the president of the council of Syriac tribes in Bartella, comes due to the dispute over the establishment of residential complex includes 1000 housing units by an investment company. The residential complex was planned to be build on the land number 113 in Ain Safra district near Bartella and adjacent to the town from the east. When the people of that region, includes a number of villages, rejected the project, the council of Bartella surprisingly change the plan of the project to use, instead, the land number 195 medium Bartella which lies within the municipal north boundaries of Bartella.
This is something fully rejected by the people of Bartella because it represents a demographic change in the region. In addition, these lands hovering with lots of problems have extinguished by the former regime and still suffer from property disputes and its ownership belongs to the people of Bartella.
On this matter, Matty said to the site of Ankawa.com that the suspension of his membership in the council of Bartella comes as results of the unfair decision taken against the rights of the indigenous people of Bartella, and after a verbal dispute with one of the council members who accused the president of the council of bias and impede the approval and ratification of the project, especially after the approval by the majority of the members on the implementation of the project. Matty also said that his request to give him an opportunity to consult the public and the people in this crucial issue, even for only 24 hours, was rejected by the council members. He emphasized that he asked for immediate investigation with the members of the council on a background of accusation made by one of its members. He added, he will not lift the suspension of his membership until the investigation take place and decide the truth and rights.
On the other hand, Ankawa.com conducted a telephone conversation with the president of the town council, Munther Shaba, who also confirmed that the establishment of such project requires realistic study and the decision was unfair for the people of Bartella and will cause immediate demographic change to the region.
Shaba said, the dispute broke out after changing the district of the project which was located outside the municipal boundaries and replaced by a piece of disputed land within the boundaries of the municipality in the province of medium Bartella, in addition to the verbal dispute that took place between members of the council. He added this decision is completely unacceptable and rejected by the people of the town.
The decision caused wide censuring by Bartella people and large number of the town youths confirmed to Ankawa.com that the local administration does not comply to the wishes of the people but only with their narrow personal interests. This issue may lead to large condemnation and may develop a demonstration demanding the dismissal of the local administration in the town.
It is worth mentioning that Bartella was a fortified Christian castle throughout the history and occupied a prominent status in the history of the Syriac Church. Bartella procreated many Patriarchs, Bishops, monks, scholars, writers, poets and calligraphers whom strengthened its position among the people and raised it high. But racism policies and the prejudice has took a lot to bring the town to the brink of abyss to catch and become similar to her sister Talkafe which got the biggest part of the inequality and demographic change.
Bartella located 20 km to the east of Mosul and 60 km to the west of Erbil.