Shafaq News/ When ISIS militants stormed the Nineveh Plains in 2014,Layla Ibrahim and her family fled their ancestral home in Bartella, seekingrefuge 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. "Weare grateful, but is this a permanent home or just a place of refuge?"
Iraq’s Kurdistan Region has emerged as a rare sanctuary for religiousand ethnic minorities escaping war and persecution. Yet even in one of Iraq’smost stable areas, communities such as Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen, and Kakaisface a quieter crisis: dwindling numbers, stalled recovery, and concerns overlong-term stability.
The semi-autonomous region, governed by the Kurdistan RegionalGovernment (KRG), hosts a mosaic of communities, many displaced by cycles ofviolence elsewhere in Iraq. While Kurdistan has offered relative safety, thatalone has not been enough to prevent a demographic decline.
Reliable figures are difficult to confirm due to the absence of a recentcensus, but estimates suggest a sharp drop in minority populations. The numberof Christians across Iraq has fallen to fewer than 150,000, down from about 1.5million before the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Yazidi population, concentrated in Duhok province and the Sinjardistrict, has decreased from around 500,000 before the 2014 ISIS attack. Nearly200,000 Yazidis remain in displacement camps in Duhok, with thousands stillmissing nearly a decade later.
Other communities face similar uncertainty. The Turkmen, Iraq’sthird-largest ethnic group, represent roughly one percent of the nationalpopulation, with established communities in Kirkuk and parts of Erbil andDuhok.
The Shabak population, centered in the Nineveh Plains, is believed tonumber in the tens of thousands. The Kakais, also known as Yarsanis, are aculturally distinct group located mainly in Al-Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, whileIraq’s Armenian population has dwindled to a few thousand, mostly residing incities such as Erbil.
Many have left for Europe, the US, or Canada, joining a growingdiaspora. According to church sources, Sweden alone is now home to tens ofthousands of Iraqi Christians, many of whom once lived in Kurdistan beforedeciding to emigrate permanently.
Despite these challenges, the Kurdistan Region has made efforts topreserve minority heritage. The Kurdish Ministry of Endowments and ReligiousAffairs oversees more than 120 churches, 27 Yazidi temples, and various otherplaces of worship belonging to minority faiths. Officials say the governmentsupports religious coexistence through heritage restoration and formalrecognition of minority holidays.
"We are working to protect coexistence and guarantee equalrights," said Mariwan Naqshbandi, the ministry’s spokesperson.
Foreign aid and NGO support have played a role in sustaining thesecommunities, funding initiatives such as language preservation programs andhousing for displaced families. Schools offering instruction in Syriac andTurkmen have opened in parts of the region, and cultural traditions continue tobe observed.
"We are still here. We want to stay," said Kawa Haji, a Kakaiactivist in Halabja. "But we need more than just words; we need realopportunities to rebuild our future."
As Iraq’s Kurdistan Region remains a bastion of stability, itsminorities face a choice: to rebuild their shattered communities or to join theexodus. For many, the answer remains uncertain.