World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Iraq : Armenians
| Publisher | Minority Rights Group International |
| Publication Date | October 2014 |
| Cite as | Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Iraq : Armenians, October 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d0a55.html [accessed 3 January 2016] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Updated October 2014
Profile
There is a community of Armenians, almost entirely in Baghdad - with some presence also around Mosul and Kirkuk in the north as well as a church in Basra (closed). They are Christians - both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Most are descended from refugees from Urumiya and eastern Anatolia who fled the 1915-18 Armenian genocide and settled in Iraq.
Armenians by and large seek to avoid notice, but they are also quite attached to their country and would consider themselves as part of Iraq. Ethnically different from others, they are culturally Iraqi.
Current issues
With the outbreak of civil war following the toppling of the Hussein regime, Armenians have faced the same targeting as other Christian groups. Many Armenians have left Iraq due to violence, harassment and economic decline. Many of them have sought refuge in Armenia or among the Armenian diaspora in other countries - either to settle down or wait until the situation in Iraq gets better.
As Christians, Armenians have also found themselves targeted in the recent insurgency of extremist Islamic State (IS) forces. A joint letter by Armenian organizations in September 2014 reported that as many as 200,000 Assyrians had been displaced from towns and villages in the Nineveh Plain in North Iraq as a result of IS.
