Iraqis

Iraqi people

Ancient: Gudea of Sumer, Sargon of Akkad, Hammurabi of Babylonia, Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria, Medieval: Harun al-Rashid, al-Kindi, al-Masudi, Alhazen, Modern: Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, Ilham al-Madfai, Zaha Hadid, Viola Haqi
Total population
over 25,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Iraq	20 million+
Syria	2 million+
Jordan	1 million+
UK	450,000+
Brazil	70,000–340,000+
United States	37,000–230,000+
Iran	203,000+
Egypt	150,000+
Germany	150,000+
Lebanon	100,000+
UAE	100,000+
Yemen	100,000+
Turkey	60,000–90,000+
Australia	80,000+
Sweden	70,000+
Netherlands	40,000+
Cuba	40,000+
Greece	5,000–40,000+
.	more countries.
Languages
Vernacular Iraqi Arabic, North Mesopotamian Arabic and Neo-Aramaic Traditional Sumerian succeeded by Akkadian succeeded by Aramaic
Religion
Predominantly Islam Others Bahá'í Faith, Christianity, Judaism, Mandaeism as well as several other minority religions
Related ethnic groups
Other Semitic ethnic groups and others (see "Genetics" and "Identitiy")

The Iraqi people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq which is located primarily in the land between the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris (known since antiquity as "Mesopotamia") and, by virtue of a wide-ranging diaspora, throughout the Arab World, Western Europe, the Americas and Australia. The population was a non-Arabic speaking one prior to the arrival of Islam from the Arabian Peninsula, but gradually adopted Arabic due to Arabic being the only language of the Quran (a process known as Arabization during the Islamic Conquest of Mesopotamia). This change was facilitated by the fact that Arabic, being a Semitic language, shared a close resemblance to Iraq's traditional languages of Akkadian and Aramaic. While Arabic was the common language spoken by Iraqi Muslims from the 8th century AD onwards (Iraqi Arabic, North Mesopotamian Arabic as well as Literary Arabic), many of Iraq's Christians had no need of completely adopting the language, as prayers were not held in Arabic but in Aramaic. This is the reason why, even nowadays, many Christian Iraqis (who identify primarily with the people of ancient Assyria) speak mainly Neo-Aramaic (a modern form of the ancient Aramaic) but also Arabic (usually only Iraqi Arabic or North Mesopotamian Arabic).

Culture

Like many of its Semitic and non-Semitic neighbors, the Iraqi people developed a number of significant civilizations. These civilizations were incorporated into four great empires (or six - if counting the Neo-Babylonian Empire and Neo-Assyrian Empire as separate empires) known as the ancient Sumerian Empire, Akkadian Empire, Babylonia (who brought a significant number of Jews into the land between the two rivers who would eventually form the Jewish population of Iraq), Assyrian Empire and medieval Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.

Till this day, the Sumerian Empire is believed to be the World's oldest civilization giving Iraq the nickname of "cradle of civilization". Furthermore the Abbasid Caliphate was one of the most advanced empires of the medieval world, giving Baghdad the nickname of the center of the so called "golden age of Islam".

Further information on Iraq's civilizations, which has influenced and was influenced by many other great civilizations around the world can be found under the following articles and the sub-links found within the respective pages:

• Mesopotamia

• Sumer
• Akkad
• Babylonia
• Assyria

• Islamic Golden Age

• Abbasid Caliphate

Genetics

The land of Mesopotamia has been continuously conquered and assimilated with armies of invading empires (including the Median Empire, Achaemenid Empire, Macedonian Empire (followed by the Seleucid Empire), Parthian Empire, Sassanid Empire, Roman Empire, Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Mongol Empire, Timurid Empire, Safavid Empire, Ottoman Empire and British Empire) over the course of history, that Iraqis share a very mixed genetics.

In spite of the importance of this region, genetic studies on the Iraqi people (and population living in the country Iraq such as the Kurds and Turkmen) are scarce, aged, and generally restricted to analysis of classical markers due to the regions modern political instability [1]. However, it has been suggested that Iraq may have been the homeland of Y haplogroup J, [2] as Iraqis have a 33% rate of Haplogroup J1 (Y-DNA). Furthermore, there have been several published studies displaying the genealogical connection between all modern day Semitic Iraqi people (Arabic speaking Muslims and Christians alike) as well as their connection to other Semitic people.

The Beni Delphi (sons of Delphi) tribe of Iraq is believed to have originated in Greece by the (Macedonian) soldiers of Alexander the Great.

Many historians and archaeologists, provide strong circumstantial evidence to posit that Iraq's Marsh Arabs share the strongest link to the ancient Sumerians [3].

The Assyrian population has also been found to "have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population." "The Assyrians are a fairly homogeneous group of people, believed to originate from the land of old Assyria in northern Iraq", and "they are Christians and are possibly bona fide descendants of their namesakes."Regarding the homogeneity of the Assyrian people, according to a recent study by Kevin MacDonald, the Assyrians tend to encourage endogamy. "The genetic data are compatible with historical data that religion played a major role in maintaining the Assyrian population's separate identity during the Christian era".

Due to the scarce genetic information on the Iraqi people, the following information is based on a historical perspective rather than on proven fact. However, in addition to the few ethnic groups listed above, it is believed that the Iraqi people also share Jewish, Greek, Roman, Gulf Arab, Mongolian, Turkish and other Asian and European genetics. This is part of a general Iraqi identity beyond its Mesopotamian and Islamic heritage.

Identity

Due to the extensive spreading of Islam and the mass adoption of Arabic, Iraq has seen a continuous divide between its Christian and Muslim population. Also contributing to the divide is the fact that that the two groups are ethnically unrelated groups. This divide has been further catalyzed by the Islamic divide into the Sunni and Shia belief, as well as the arrival of Turkmen and the expansion of the mountainous Kurdish people into Mesopotamia. However, it is most probably the idea of Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism - an idea formed in the early 20th century and inforced by the late dictator Saddam Hussein as well as his divide of the Iraqi Shia, Sunni, Christian and Marsh population as well as the Iraqi diaspora that damaged the modern Iraqi identity most severely [4].

The Pan-Arab ideology reached Iraq at the time during and after World War II, when Arab Nationalists in Iraq were supporting Germany because they shared mutual hatred towards the United Kingdom and its support of the Israeli state [5]. Once the Baath Party was implemented in 1963, Arab nationalism in Iraq reached an all time high, with the nation being led by pan-Arabist Saddam Hussein.

Ghazi Yawar, Iraq's former interim president, summed Saddam Hussein's pan-Arab nationalistic regime as he who "worked systematically to erase Iraqi identity over the course of three decades and replace it with an inflated and sinister version of Arab nationalism", in which he followed to add "[e]ven if we are [an Arabic speaking people], we cannot have any identity but an Iraqi identity" [6].

In his Washington Post article "Restoring Iraqi Identity" [7], American journalist Jim Hoagland, also shed light on the topic, by stating that "[a]n Iraqi identity that is not bound up with perpetuating the long progression of wars that Saddam Hussein started, supported or invited will change the face of the region. It will also contribute decisively to redefining the nature of Arab nationalism, which is under enormous historical pressure to adapt or die".

Another follower of Yawar and Hoagland is Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi American academic, who himself has expressed that "Iraq can no longer be an 'Arab' country. Iraq's national identity can only be Iraqi, and a complete divorce from the disastrous ideology of Arab nationalism is imperative for the well-being of the emergent, pluralist Iraqi state".[8][9] Often dubbed the "Iraqi Solzhenitsyn" [10], Makiya is well known for his anti-Arab publications.

Furthermore, in a novel written by Salim Matar, entitled The Women of the Flask, Matar writes that most Iraqis claim that "[they] are Iraqis. [They] go back to the [ancient Mesopotamians]".

Nowadays, the definition "Iraqi" sometimes extends to include non-Semitic people in the country, such as the Kurds and Turkmen (although these groups often specify their ethnicity by adding a Suffix such as "Iraqi Kurdish" or "Iraqi Turkmen").

The single identity and heritage of the Iraqi people is most commonly seen in the Iraqi cuisine. Iraqi cuisine has changed and evolved since the time of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Abbasids; however several traditional Iraqi dishes have already been traced back to antiquity [11] such as Iraq's national dish Masgouf and Iraq's national cookie Kleicha which have been traced back to Sumerian and Babylonian times respectively [12] [13].

Languages

The two main regional dialects of Arabic spoken by the Iraqi people are Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken by approximately 15.1 million Iraqis (i.e. the majority) and thus commonly known as "Iraqi Arabic") and North Mesopotamian Arabic (spoken by approximately 6.3 million Iraqis in Iraq's north around the city of Mosul and thus commonly known as "Maslawi") [14].

In addition to Arabic, Christians in Iraq speak Syriac, a modern version of the ancient Aramaic language spoken by the Prophet Jesus and all people in the Mesopotamian region before the arrival of Islam and Arabization during the Islamic Conquest of Mesopotamia.

The Mandaic language is a dialect of the Eastern Aramaic language, which is thus also derived from the Semitic family of languages. All religious manuscripts of the Mandaeist Faith concerning rites were written in this language.[15].

Religion

Iraq has many devout followers of its religions. In 1968 the Iraqi constitution established Islam as the official religion of the state as the majority of Iraqis are Muslim (both Sunni and Shia).

In addition to Islam, many Iraqi people are Christians belonging to various Christian denominations, some of which are the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East with an estimated 300,000 members, the Chaldean Catholic Church with about 900,000 members and the Syriac Orthodox Church with an estimated 100,000 to 4 million members around the world as well as various Protestant churches [16] [17].

Other religions also include, Bahá'í Faith, Mandaeist Faith,Shabaks, Yezidis and followers of other minority religions. Furthermore Jews were also present in Iraq but their population has dwindled following the creation of Israel and the rise of the Ba'ath Party in Iraq. Present estimates of the Jewish population in Baghdad are seven or eight.

Diaspora

Main articles: Iraqi diaspora and Refugees of Iraq

The Iraqi diaspora is not a sudden exodus but one that has grown exponentially through the 20th century as each generation faced some form of radical transition or political conflict. There were at least two large waves of expatriation of both Christians and Muslims alike. A great number of Iraqis left the country during the regime of Saddam Hussein and large numbers have left during the Second Gulf War and its aftermath. The United Nations estimates that roughly 40% of Iraq's remaining and formerly strong middle-class has fled the country during and after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

From 1950 to 1952 Iraq saw a great exodus of roughly 120,000 - 130,000 of its Jewish population under the Israel-led "Operation Ezra and Nehemiah".

Even though more then 120,000 Iraqi Jews left the country between 1950 and 1952, the recent Iraqi diaspora represents the largest exodus of refugees in the Middle East since the state of Israel was created in 1948 [18].

See also

• Abbasid Caliphate
• Assyria
• Babylonia
• Assyrian people
• Culture of Iraq
• List of Iraqis
• Iraq
• Iraqi diaspora
• Iraqi Jews
• Iraqi Turkmen
• Mesopotamia
• Sumer

External links

• Babylon Jewry
• Iraqi identity after the fall of Saddam
• Iraqi identity - Forces for Integration/ Divisiveness
• Iraqi Jews
• Iraqi people photos
• The Genographic Project - Human Migration, Population Genetics, Maps, DNA - Ancient Mesopotamia
• Y-chromosome and mtDNA polymorphisms in Iraq, a crossroad of the early human dispersal and of post-Neolithic migrations