The Assyrian inhabitants of Shamezdin are more commonly called Nochiyayeh. Nochiya is a Kurdish word meaning "Between the Mountains". In the old days this country used to be called Rustaqa, meaning "black mountains", which picturesquely describes the dark forests of Sat Dagh. Nochiya contained both Assyrian and Kurdish villages and according to Qasha Yousip D'Kalaita, the Assyrian villages were Neri, Mar Isho, Bet Diwe, Shabatan, Tis, Halana, Dariyan, De Rayi and Deri Bend.
The spiritual leader of the Shamezdin Assyrians was Metropolitan Mar Yousip Khnanisho of the Assyrian Church of the East, who, in the old days was styled as the Metropolitan of Rustaqa. His Diocese in 1914 included Shamezdin, Tergawar, and Margawar. Under him were bishop Mar Dinkha in the village of Tis, an ancestor of the present Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV; bishop Mar Youkhana of the village of Tulaki in Tergawar, and after 1914 his own nephew bishop Mar Yousip who was ordained on the eve of WWI in Qudshanis by Patriarch Mar Benyamin Shimon, bless his sole.
The people of Nochiya were simple farmers, they owned cattle and grew food, but were particularly known for their fine tobacco. They were greatly oppressed by their Kurdish neighbors. In June 1896, Mar Goriel, Assyrian Church bishop in Urmia, along with an Archdeacon, two priests, three deacons, and others, fourteen persons in all, were murdered brutally on orders of a certain Kurdish Sheikh Sadik. The group was returning from a visit to Mar Yousip Khnanisho. This Kurd would confiscate Assyrian property at will, and would prevent the Metropolitan from visiting the Patriarch in Qudshanis. An Englishman visiting the land a hundred years ago noted that "There is perhaps no Assyrian district where simple piety and loyal devotion to the church of their fathers is more beautifully seen than Nochiya". Prayers and fasting were strictly observed in the villages. Metropolitan Mar Ishaq lived in the monastery of Mar Isho which contained a church, a house, and the school of deacons. He taught in the school and was helped by his father and uncle. The main subjects were old Syriac (Aramaic) and church liturgy.
During the First World War the people of Shamezdin fled to Urmia. In 1918 Metropolitan Mar Khnanisho consecrated Mar Polus Shimon, bless his sole, as Patriarch of the Assyrian Church after the murder of Mar Benyamin Shimon, bless his sole, at the hands of the Kurdish leader Simko in Koni Shahar. Mar Ishaq died during the trip from Hamadan to Baquba in 1918 and was buried in Kermanshah.
Following the Baquba Refugee Camps, most of the Nochiya Assyrians settled in the village of Simele near Dohuk in northern Iraq while a small group stayed in Gailani Camp in Baghdad. In 1928 they moved to Dashti Harir in Arbil province and established the following five villages: Harir, Batas, Darbandoki, Qalata and Hinari. These villages were under following Mukhtars (village head) respectively: Zaro, Breemo, Lazar, and Khidero. The first four villages named had the following churches and priests respectively: Mar Youkhana served by qasha Youil, Mar Yonan served by qasha Akhiqar, Mar Qaryaqos served by qasha Benyamin, Mar Youkhana served by qasha Youil. A further three Assyrian households lived in the village of Cubau, and half of the population of the Kurdish village of Al-Mandan was Assyrian.
In nearby Rawanduz, the people of Shamezdin established a further three villages, namely, Diana, Hawdiyan and Seerishmi. This group was the Diocese of bishop Mar Philipos Youkhana, who was ordained in Baghdad on April 19, 1953 by Metropolitan Mar Yousip Khnanisho. The latter lived in the village of Harir. Bishop Mar Youkhana served in the church of Mar Gewargis in Diana and the church of Mar Awrahim in Hawdiyan. Toma was the Mukhtar of the first village and Rehana of the second one. The present Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, was born in Darbandoki and baptized in the church of Mar Qaryaqos. Later on he was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Mar Yousip in the church of Mar Youkhana in Harir.
Changes did not come to Nochiyayeh until the Kurds started their rebellion in northern Iraq in the 1960's. Many Assyrians then moved to the big cities and later on they became part of the great migration to the west. One last footnote to this story is that when part of the Assyrian nation migrated to Syria following the tragic events of 1933, a group from Nochiya established the village of Tel Faitha on the banks of the Khabur River. They built the church of Mar Qaryaqos which was served by qasha Oraham. At one time Chitto Bado was the Mukhtar of the village.