Iranians in Iraq explained

Group:	Iraqi Persians
Popplace:	Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra
Region1:	Iraq
Pop1:	486,000
Pop2:	400,000
Rels:	Shiʿa Islam^[1] (minority Sunni Islam)
Languages:	Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish
Related:	'Ajam of Kuwait Ajam of Bahrain

Iraqi Persians also known as Iranians in Iraq or the 'Ajam of Iraq, are Iraqi citizens of Iranian or Tajik descent and background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, since the Fall of Babylon.

History

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saddam Hussein exiled between 350,000^{[2] [3]} to 650,000 Iraqi citizens of Iranian ancestry.^[4] Most of them went to Iran. Most could prove an Iranian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq immediately after his fall.^[4] The population of Iraqis of Iranian descent is currently 486,000 (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).

Culture

Most Persian Iraqis belong to, the same religion that most Iraqis and Iranis belong to.

See also

• Iranian diaspora
• Moaved
• Medes
• Achaemenid Assyria
• Asuristan
• Parthian Empire
• Baghdad Province (Safavid Empire)
• Feyli (tribe)

Notes and References

1. Pahlavan, Demographic Movements in the Region, p. 147.
2. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/diaspora#pt6 Iranica Online
3. http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/reliefweb_pdf/node-49027.pdf U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
4. Web site: Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian). hamshahri.org. 12 November 2014.