“Hozan Dershewi” …A city memory

His city inhabited his heart as he inhabited it. His passion for history and his documentation prompted him to work diligently and finding out everything related to this hypocritical city in the far north of Syria on the borders with the Kurdistan of Iraq and Turkey. Starting from his tireless research about the richness of the city and heritage. His purpose and goal were to provide the city’s children, visitors and generations with a reference that highlights the importance and history of the city.

“Hozan Dirshewi,” the son of Derek / al Malikiya, a young man in the thirty, who obtained the master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Aleppo in 2011, which the circumstances of the war in Syria prevented him without achieving his goal to complete his career to obtain a doctorate.

Hozan talks to Aso News Network about his concern to document the archaeological sites, especially his city to say:
“Due to the lack of interest of successively governments and the limited resources and references written about them, I had a desire to collect information about the city of Derek / Malikiya in all its historical, folkloric and old tourist spots.”
Hozan began the journey of documentation from the small articles written about the city, followed by the stage of collecting information and documents, until he had an enormous amount of information as a raw material from which he embarked on his documentary project.

The first of his documentary works was the book “Derek’s Tourist Guide”, the first of its kind in which he documented several archaeological sites in the city and its countryside, such as the Bacheot dam, the French barracks, the Roman bridge, Derek churches and others. It was printed in 2016 by Sama Foundation for Culture and Arts.

As for questioning him about the reason for his historical and heritage documentation of both material and non-material, and what he used in his research, he says: “I have become more and more involved in the field of historical and archeological documentation because this field is the best service we can offer to our region and to the future generations. , And relied on books and research of the orientalists, and the official sources of the Syrian state, as well as books and researches of Kurdish historians and references, stories and novels taken from the mouths of the elderly in the city.

“The surrounding environment plays a big role in determining human concerns. He also grew up in the arms of a family interested in Kurdish heritage and folklore. His father dedicated a room from his home to collect folklore and make it a museum for visitors. Hezan explained that his father was the first fan of his works , And that the conversations and stories of his parents played a large role in enriching the balance of information and stories about the city.

The interests of (Hozan Dershewi) wasn’t only in the documentations field, where he has many works in the field of developing the Kurdish language,
He is considered as a founder of Badrakhan Institute for Kurdish Language Teaching in Derek, and his emigration from his city did not deter him from completing his project in the Kurdish language, where he opened a section of the Institute Mentioned in the city of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. As for these activities, he says: “At the Badrakhan Institute in Erbil, most of the courses that I had held were in Sorani and kormanji dialects, and recently, most of my courses have become for non-Kurdish foreign students. I also present the language courses in the Kurdish refugee camps in Erbil, the last was in Basirma camp in the countryside of Erbil”.

Hozan has many of projects and publications that he wants them to see the light are coming out soon. Some of his future works are soon to be published. “Hozan” mentions a comprehensive book about Derek in coordination with Bahjat Ahmed, who is also interested in the history of the city. , The “Six Levels of Kurdish Language” project on the international bases, the first level is nearing completion, the grammar book of “Kormanji – Sorani”, in addition to the preparation of the book “Zimanameya min” for documenting all the articles and works that I have done about the Kurdish language, and a research about the international Kurdish Engineer “Ismail Ibn Ar Razzaz Al Jaziri.”
It is worth mentioning that “Hozan Dershewi” was born in 1984, left his city in 2013 to the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He has several cultural and literary productions, including a poetry book entitled “EZ Û NÎGAŞA TE”, “Derek Tour Guide” in Kurdish and English, and “Baft Bridge – History and Documentation”, and several articles and research on the city of Derek and about the Kurdish language.