Hakkari Province is located in Turkish Kurdistan[6] and has an overwhelmingly Kurdish population.[7] The province is tribal and most of the Kurds adhere to the Shafiʽi school with the Naqshbandi order having a strong presence around Şemdinli.[8] The Kurdish tribes in the province include the Doski, Ertuşi, Gerdi, Herki, Jirki and Pinyaniş.[9] The area had a significant Christian Assyrian population from various tribes before the Assyrian genocide in 1915.