Iraqis

Iraqis (Arabic: العراقيون al-ʿIrāqiyyūn; Kurdish: عێراقییەکان, romanized: 'Êraqiyekan) are the citizens and nationals of the Republic of Iraq. The majority of Iraqis are Arabs, with Kurds accounting for the largest ethnic minority, followed by Turkmen. Other ethnic groups from the country include Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandaeans, Armenians, and Persians. Approximately 95% of Iraqis adhere to Islam, with nearly 64% of this figure consisting of Shia Muslims and the remainder consisting of Sunni Muslims. The largest minority religion is Christianity at 1%, while other religions collectively represent as much as 4% of the Iraqi populace.

The territory of modern-day Iraq largely overlaps with what was historically known as Mesopotamia, which was home to many noteworthy civilizations, such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. The fall of these native Mesopotamian civilizations, particularly Babylon in the 6th century BC, marked the beginning of centuries-long foreign conquests and rule. Recent studies indicate that the various Iraqi ethnic groups have significant genetic similarities, likely due to the long history of intermingling and assimilation between foreign and indigenous populations in the region.

Arabic and Kurdish are Iraq's two official languages; Mesopotamian Arabic is the Iraqi Arabic variety, having emerged in the aftermath of the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century. The process of Arabization and Islamization that began during the medieval era resulted in the decline of various Eastern Aramaic languages and local religions, most notably during the Abbasid Caliphate, when the city of Baghdad became the capital of the Muslim world and the centre of the Islamic Golden Age. Mesopotamian Arabic is considered to be the most Aramaic-influenced dialect of Arabic, as Aramaic originated in Mesopotamia and spread throughout the Fertile Crescent during the Neo-Assyrian period, eventually becoming the lingua franca of the entire region prior to the early Muslim conquests. Other languages spoken within the Iraqi community include Turkmen Turkic, Neo-Aramaic, and Mandaic.