Civil War in Iraq - Ethno-sectarian Composition

Ethno-sectarian Composition

The Sunni insurgency has used sectarian violence to capitalize on Sunni fears of the Shi'a majority and the Shi'a armed militias have shown a zeal for vigilante justice. However, there are other sectarian divisions of the population that lay in nearly a dozen distinct groups. These groups are subdivided into countless smaller factions.

The sectarian divisions can be divided into several main ideological or ethnic strands:

• Shias (Arabic speaking) : 45-55%: By themselves a majority of the population, but for centuries dominated by the Sunni Arab minority. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and establishment of democracy meant an end to the Sunni Arab domination, and seemingly the beginning of the Shia Arab domination of the state.
• Sunnis (Arabic speaking) : 30% : Dominated Iraqi politics and military since 1638 and the Treaty of Zohab that confirmed Ottoman Sunni domination of Iraq. The Coalition invasion of 2003 and the establishment of democracy, ended this centuries long dominance of power by the minority Sunni Arabs.
• Kurdish - 15% : De facto independent administration (mostly Sunnis, small Shi'ite, Yazidi, and other elements).
• Assyrian - 1% : This group has a minor role in the current situation (mostly Christians).
• Turkoman - 2% : This group has a minor role in the current situation (majority Sunni with large Shi'a minority), although Turkey is concerned about their overall treatment in Iraq.

Religions:

• Muslim - 95% : This is the primary religion in Iraq and serves as one of the primary sectarian distinctions.
  • Sunni - 45% : Majority Arabs with Kurds and Turkomans by 3 to 1.
  • Shi'ite - 55% : Mainly Arabs with a very small minority of Kurds and Turkomans.
• Christian, Mandaeans and Yazidi ~ 3% : These groups have a minor role in the current situation.

The Arab-Sunni faction and the Arab-Shi'ite are the main two participants in the violence, but conflicts within a single group have occurred. It has been conjectured that in the violence, Arab states help the Sunni militants and Iran helps the Shi'ite militants. A senior American official has said that during a meeting between Vice President Dick Cheney and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in November 2006, the king said that if U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq, the Saudis would be forced to support the Sunni minority.

The Kurds are caught between the two religious groups, but as they are an ethnicity opposed to religious movement, they are often at odds with the Sunni Arabs that were settled in Iraqi Kurdistan by Saddam's Arabization policy. Kurds also sympathise with Shi'ites as Saddam's Sunni regime persecuted both communities. Blurring this cohesion, though, are division of social, economic, political and geographic identities.