Iraqi Turkoman
Appearance
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The Iraqi Turkomans are a minority (of about 180.000 people) living in Iraq. These people are the descendants of those Turks the Ottoman Empire brought to the region from Turkey to secure and transport mail from Baghdad to Istanbul and vice versa about 200 years ago. However, most of the Turkomans living in the region have settled to Northern Iraq in Seljuk Empire period, (beginning from 11th century) when Turks have migrated from Central Asia (Turkestan) to Anatolia, Iran and Iraq. They speak a language that is a mixture of Arabic, Kurdish and old Turkish in a thick Arabic. Most of them live in Kurdish regions,Iraqi Kurdistan, in the oilfield of Kirkuk and Mosul (Musel) city.