Doms in Iraq

The Kawliya, Qawliya or Awaz, Keche-Hjälp (Arabic: كاولية or كاولي), also known as Zott and Ghorbati (known in English as Gypsies), is a community in Iraq of Indian origin, estimated to number over 60,000 people. Today, they speak mostly Arabic, while their ethnolect is a mixture of Persian, Kurdish and Turkish, which is only spoken by the older generations. The largest tribes are the Bu-Baroud, Bu-Swailem, Bu-Helio, Bu-Dakhil, Bu-Akkar, Bu-Murad, Bu-Thanio, Bu-Shati, Al-Farahedah, Al-Mtairat, Bu-Khuzam, Bu-Abd, Bu-Nasif, Bu-Delli and Al-Nawar. Their main occupation is entertainment, and also small trades.

Romani (Kawliya / Zott / Ghorbati)
in Iraq

Total population
50,000–200,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Basra, Baghdad and Nasiriya[2]
Languages
Domari[3] and Mesopotamian Arabic
Religion
Islam (Shia and Sunni)[1]
Related ethnic groups
Doms in Syria

The Kawliya migrated from India approximately 1,000 years ago.

Kawliya is also the name of a former village in the Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate near Al Diwaniyah, located about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, where they live.^[4]

Iraqi Roma predominantly reside in remote villages in southern Iraq, particularly in Al-Qadissiya governorate, in addition to the surrounding areas of Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul. Despite the fact that most Romani people in Iraq belong to the Shi’a or Sunni Muslim faith, they face persecution from Islamic militias due to their customary roles as performers.^[5]

See also

• Doms in Syria
• Nawar people
• Ghorbati

References

1. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Iraq : Roma". Refworld.
2. "The Iraqi gypsies living on the fringes of society". 4 March 2015.
3. "Romani, Domari in Iraq".
4. Shadid, Anthony (3 April 2004). "In a Gypsy Village's Fate, An Image of Iraq's Future". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
5. "Roma in Iraq". 16 October 2023.

Further reading

• Zeidel, Ronen (2014). "Gypsies and Society in Iraq: Between Marginality, Folklore and Romanticism". Middle Eastern Studies. 50: 74–85. doi:10.1080/00263206.2013.849696. S2CID 144448156.
• "Minorities in Iraq: Memory, Identity and Challenges (Chapter of Gypsies in Iraq), Masarat Publication, Baghdad, 2013".
• Chris Chapman; Preti Taneja (10 January 2009). Uncertain refuge, dangerous return: Iraq's uprooted minorities. Minority Rights Group International. ISBN 978-1-904584-90-2.