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values, traditions and dresses and consider themselves as a distinct ethnic group. 206
However, during the Arabization, 207 the Shabak were registered as either Kurds or Arabs.
Most Shabak consider themselves Muslims (mainly belonging to the Shi’ite branch of
Islam, with a smaller Sunni minority), though they follow their own unique form of Islam,
which includes elements of Christianity and other religions and has its own sacred book
known as Buyruk, written in the Turkoman language. There is a close relationship between
the Shabak and the Yazidis, and the Shabak perform pilgrimage to Yazidi shrines. 208 The
Shabak language is called Shabaki and is related to Kurdish, Turkish, Farsi and Arabic. 209
As there is no recent or non-politicized census, there are no clear estimates as to the number
of Shabak in Iraq and estimates range from 15,000 to 400,000 persons. 210 They
predominantly reside in Mosul city (mainly on the left side of the Tigris river) and in towns
and villages of the Ninewa Plain such as Nimrod, Qaraqosh, Bartilla, Basheqa and Telkep.
According to Dr. Hunain Al-Qaddo, 211 the Shabak comprise a third of the inhabitants of the
town of Bartilla. 212
During the Arabization campaign, numbers of Shabak were forcibly expelled from their
places of origin in the Governorate of Ninewa. According to Dr. Hunain Al-Qaddo, the
former regime destroyed 22 Shabak villages and deported 3,000 families to the north of
Iraq. Reportedly, many Shabak were falsely accused by the former regime of being
members of the Shi’ite Dawa Party and were executed. 213
Like other religious minorities, the Shabak have come under increasing pressure from
Islamic extremists. The fact that the Shabak primarily adhere to the Shi’ite branch of Islam
makes them a target for Sunni Islamists. Others may look at them as “infidels” altogether
given that they adhere to a distinct form of Islam. Possibly, they may also be targetted
based on their (perceived) Kurdish ethnicity. 214 UNAMI HRO reported that Shabak in the
aim of being recognized as a distinct ethnic group; however this demand was not met with sympathy by the
Kurds.
206
In 1952, the Shabak were recognized as distinct ethnic group in Iraq. Therefore, consideration could also
be given to persecution on the basis of ethnicity.
207
On the former Governments’ Arabization policies, see “De-Arabization”.
208
Encyclopaedia of the Orient, Shabak, see above footnote 203. See also: AINA, Kurdish Gunmen Open
Fire on Demonstrators in North Iraq, 16 August 2005, http://www.aina.org/news/20050816114539.htm.
209
Dr. Hunain Al-Qaddo, Iraq’s Shabaks Are Being Oppressed By Kurds, 28 August 2005,
http://www.aina.org/guesteds/20050828120403.htm.
210
During the former regime’s Arabization campaign, the Shabak were defined as either Arabs or Kurds and
as a result census figures do not exist for Shabak. See, for example, American Aid for Children of Nineveh,
Ethnic Groups in Nineveh, Shabak Culture, http://www.iraqkids.org/ethnicdetail.html [accessed January
2007]. See also: Al-Qaddo, see above footnote 209, and ibidem, A letter from the Rep. of Shabak in the
National Assermbly, 23 August 2005, http://www.christiansofiraq.com/shabak8235.html.
211
Dr. Hunain Al-Qaddo is the General Secretary of the Democratic Shabak Assembly and former Shabak
representative in the TNA. He was also a member of Iraq’s Constitution Drafting Committee and Chairman of
the Iraqi Minorities Council.
212
Al-Qaddo, see above footnote 209.
213
Ibid.
214
See also “Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen428F, Ethnic-Based Christian Groups (Assyrians, Chaldeans,
Armenians)429F, Yazidis430F and Shabak431F in Ethnically Mixed Areas”, “Actual or Perceived
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