Kurdish peasants (raʿiyyat) by Abbas Mirza. In the early 20th century, Sunni Kurds belonging to the Mamash, Zarza and Mukri tribes numbered 2,000 families within the county, comprising a quarter of the counties' total population. Ten villages within the county were entirely inhabited by these tribes (including Galvan, Vazneh, etc.) whereas eleven other villages (Chianeh, Naqadeh, Mameyand, etc.) were shared with the Qarapapaq. The county, like that of Oshnavieh, is recorded as a Nestorian bishopric, but by 1914, there were only 80 Christian families left in its main town of Naqadeh. The Jews of the Naqadeh County, of which 120 families were located in the town of Naqadeh, were "probably the oldest element in the present population" of the county; virtually all have now emigrated to Israel. During the Ottoman occupation from 1908 to 1912, the Azerbaijani population suffered considerably as they were seen as Iranian agents. The Ottomans attempted to destroy the tribal structure and free the rayah of the town. During World War I, the village of Haydarabad at Lake Urmia was turned into a Russian naval base, and a light railway was built through the county of Naqadeh. The territory that comprises the county would change hands between the Ottomans and the Russians in this period, until the Iranians took control in 1919. Administrative divisions The population history of Naqadeh County's administrative divisions over three consecutive censuses is shown in the following table. The latest census shows two districts, four rural districts, and two cities. Geography Naqadeh County is located to the south-west of Lake Urmia on the lower course of the Gadir-Chay river. The county is bordered to the west by Oshnavieh County, to the north by Dol which belongs to Urmia County, and to the south and east by the Paswa and Shari-weran cantons of Mahabad County. References Sources Counties of West Azerbaijan Province