Sanctuary under strain: Minorities hold on in Iraq’s Kurdistan
Shafaq News/ When ISIS militants stormed the Nineveh Plains in 2014, Layla Ibrahim and her family fled their ancestral home in Bartella, seeking refuge in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. A decade later, she remains in Erbil, uncertain if she will ever return.
"We have safety here, but many have left because there are no jobs, no future for our children," Ibrahim, a Christian mother says. "We are grateful, but is this a permanent home or just a place of refuge?"
Iraq’s Kurdistan Region has emerged as a rare sanctuary for religious and ethnic minorities escaping war and persecution. Yet even in one of Iraq’s most stable areas, communities such as Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen, and Kakais face a quieter crisis: dwindling numbers, stalled recovery, and concerns over long-term stability.
The semi-autonomous region, governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), hosts a mosaic of communities, many displaced by cycles of violence elsewhere in Iraq. While Kurdistan has offered relative safety, that alone has not been enough to prevent a demographic decline.
Reliable figures are difficult to confirm due to the absence of a recent census, but estimates suggest a sharp drop in minority populations. The number of Christians across Iraq has fallen to fewer than 150,000, down from about 1.5 million before the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Yazidi population, concentrated in Duhok province and the Sinjar district, has decreased from around 500,000 before the 2014 ISIS attack. Nearly 200,000 Yazidis remain in displacement camps in Duhok, with thousands still missing nearly a decade later.
Other communities face similar uncertainty. The Turkmen, Iraq’s third-largest ethnic group, represent roughly one percent of the national population, with established communities in Kirkuk and parts of Erbil and Duhok.
The Shabak population, centered in the Nineveh Plains, is believed to number in the tens of thousands. The Kakais, also known as Yarsanis, are a culturally distinct group located mainly in Al-Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, while Iraq’s Armenian population has dwindled to a few thousand, mostly residing in cities such as Erbil.
Many have left for Europe, the US, or Canada, joining a growing diaspora. According to church sources, Sweden alone is now home to tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians, many of whom once lived in Kurdistan before deciding to emigrate permanently.
Despite these challenges, the Kurdistan Region has made efforts to preserve minority heritage. The Kurdish Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs oversees more than 120 churches, 27 Yazidi temples, and various other places of worship belonging to minority faiths. Officials say the government supports religious coexistence through heritage restoration and formal recognition of minority holidays.
"We are working to protect coexistence and guarantee equal rights," said Mariwan Naqshbandi, the ministry’s spokesperson.
Foreign aid and NGO support have played a role in sustaining these communities, funding initiatives such as language preservation programs and housing for displaced families. Schools offering instruction in Syriac and Turkmen have opened in parts of the region, and cultural traditions continue to be observed.
"We are still here. We want to stay," said Kawa Haji, a Kakai activist in Halabja. "But we need more than just words; we need real opportunities to rebuild our future."
As Iraq’s Kurdistan Region remains a bastion of stability, its minorities face a choice: to rebuild their shattered communities or to join the exodus. For many, the answer remains uncertain.
