According to medieval and most of modern scholars, Hakkari is named after a Kurdish tribe called Hakkâri.

[6][7][8] According to Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo, The name Hakkari is derived from the Akkadian word Ikkari or Aramaic Akkare, meaning farmers.

[9] The city is divided into the neighborhoods of Bağlar, Berçelan, Biçer, Bulak, Dağgöl, Gazi, Halife Derviş, Karşıyaka, Keklikpınar, Kıran, Medrese, Merzan, Pehlivan, Sümbül and Yeni.

The few remaining and the handful of those attempting to return to their indigenous land where Assyrians were still based just a few generations ago, continue to face intense persecution and even murder.

[12][13] Thirteen Kurgan stelae, never before seen in Anatolia or the Near East, were found in 1998 in their original location at the centre of Hakkari.

Stelae with this type of relief are not common in the ancient Near East however there are many close parallels between these and those produced by a variety of peoples from the Eurasian steppes between the third millennium BC and the eleventh century AD.