Iraqi diaspora

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The Iraqi diaspora refers to native Iraqis that have left for other countries as either immigrants or refugees. There were at least two large waves of expatriation. A great number of Iraqis left the country during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, and large numbers have left during the Second Gulf War and its aftermath.

Estimates vary on the size of the current Iraqi diaspora. According to one estimate, 4-5 million, or one in six Iraqis, were in exile before the American invasion. They fled from the regime of Saddam Hussein, though some may have left earlier. [1] However, in the Iraqi legislative election, December 2005, only 1.2 million Iraqi exiles were estimated to be living in the 14 countries with the highest exile populations. Less than 300,000 voted. [2]

Since the election, the Iraqi diaspora has continued to grow. As of 2006, 1.8 million Iraqis, out of a current population of 28.8 million, are living in other countries. Approximately 500,000 Iraqis are living in Jordan. Jordan has stopped renewing residency permits for incoming Iraqis. Syria has become the leading country for newly displaced Iraqis because it does not require entry visas from Arabs. About 2,000 Iraqis are entering the country each day as of 2006. There is also anything between 50,000 to 150,000 Iraqis in Egypt. [3] Refugees International is reporting a number of 2.3 million Iraqi refugees as of January 2007. However, the Iraqi dispora includes non-refugee migrants as well. [4]

The use of the term Iraqi diaspora is not universal. Many Iraqis have migrated for similar reasons as other Arabs, but the additional factor of the Second Gulf War makes the Iraqi diaspora a distinct and growing community.[citation needed]. As of March 20, 2007, 1.2 million refugees live in Syria while another 800,000 live in Jordan[5]

[edit] Minority Communities in the Iraqi Diaspora

Several population groups are overrepresented in the Iraqi diaspora. Leading up to, and especially in the decade following the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, nearly all 120,000 Iraqi Jews emigrated. The extent that this community now considers itself "Iraqi" is unclear. The salient ethnic dynamics in Israel label Jews of Iraqi descent as Sefardim. Iraq currently has only "about a dozen" Jews. [6]

There has also been a century-long dispersion of Assyrian people from their homelands in Iraq and the greater Middle East. It is unclear whether this trend have accelerated since the fall of Saddam Hussein, but Assyrians have typically been on the sidelines of recent Iraqi politics, and churches have been targeted by armed groups, such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq. This violence can be interpreted as anti-Assyrian. [7]

Violence has also flared in the city of Kirkuk, home to many Iraqi Turkmen. Whether this has led to an outpouring of Iraqi Turkmen refugees is unclear.

[edit] References

  • Asia Times Online; March 9, 2002; Make war, not politics. "European diplomats and the Iraqi diaspora in Europe deplore in private the limitations of Resolution 986 - a basket of extremely mean and intolerant ..." [8]
  • The New York Times; April 17, 2003 Iraqi's Road Home, by Way of the Web. "The Internet generally and Iraq.net specifically provided a way to do that -- first by simply gathering people scattered by the Iraqi diaspora, then by allowing the virtual discourse to unfold." [9]
  • US News and World Report; April 28, 2003; Beyond Babylon. "They came from nearby cities and towns, from the distant lands of the Iraqi diaspora to the 4,000-year-old Ziggurat of Ur, one of the Arab world's most famous archaeological ruins." [10]
  • National Public Radio; June 28, 2003; Interview with Faisal Istrabadi; "There is a sense that all of us who have lived in the Iraqi diaspora have a void in our lives ..." [11]
  • The New York Times; August 18, 2003; A Shiite Burial Ground Awaits Foreign Faithful. "The cemetery workers look forward to calmer days, when the faithful no longer fear joining the deceased by venturing onto Iraq's brigand-infested roads. In the cemetery's halcyon days, bodies arrived daily from a broad swath of territory from Lebanon to India and from the Iraqi diaspora in the world beyond." [12]

[edit] External links

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