The Kawliya, Qawliya or Awaz, Keche-Hjälp (), also known as Zott and Ghorbati (known in English as ''Gypsies''), is a community in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

of Indian origin, estimated to number over 60,000 people. Today, they speak mostly

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, while their

ethnolect An ethnolect is generally defined as a language variety that marks speakers as members of ethnic groups who originally used another language or distinctive variety. According to another definition, an ethnolect is any speech variety (language, dia ...

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. The Kawliya migrated from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

approximately 1,000 years ago. Kawliya is also the name of a former village in the

Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate Al-Qadisiyah Governorate (, ), also known as the Al-Diwaniyah Governorate (, ), is one of the governorates of Iraq. It is in the southern part of the center of the country. The estimated population of the province is about a million and a half ...

near Al Diwaniyah, located about 100 miles southeast of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, where they live. 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 Islamist militias due to their customary roles as performers. In the 1970s, the Ba'ath government led by Saddam Hussein offered them citizenship and nationality. During this period, they worked as dancers, singers and artists, which was well known.

See also

References

Further reading