west asian ethnic groups

1. Ethnic groups and Languages in WA
ETHNIC GROUP
– a social group or category of the population that, in a
larger society, is set apart and bound together by
common ties of race, language, nationality, or culture.
1. Arabs
• Arabs constitute the majority ethnic group in all of
the Middle East states except Iran, Israel, and Turkey
• the term "Arab" referred to the peoples that
inhabited the northern and central portions of the
Arabian Peninsula.

2. • Following the spread of various Arab-Islamic
empires throughout the Middle East and into
Europe and south Asia, the term "Arab" has
come to be synonymous with those who speak
Arabic.
• Presently, about 60% of the total population in
the Middle East speak Arabic and consider
themselves to be an Arab.

3. 2. Persians
• Persians are Iran’s largest ethnic group
• The name Persia derives from Parsa, the name of the
Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into
southern Iran—to an area then called Persis—about
1000 BCE
• Before the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th
century CE, most Persians followed Zoroastrianism,
based on the teachings of the ancient prophet
Zoroaster (Zarathustra), who lived during the first half
of the 1st millennium BCE
• The vast majority of Persians practice Shia

4. 3. Turkish
• About 80% of the population in Turkey is Turkish
• The Turkish people have been in the region of Turkey
and its surrounding areas since around 1071 AD, and
have gradually spread throughout the country we now
know as Turkey.
• Early Turkish settlers in the area slowly overtook the
mostly Greek and Christian areas of Turkey and it soon
became a Muslim country.
• The Turkish people have a long history in the region
and still make up 72.5% of the population today. Turks
can also be found in Cyprus, Western Europe and North
America. Interestingly, the Turkish State recognizes all
people with citizenship as ethnic Turks.

5. 4. Kurds/Kurdish
• Kurds or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to
the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which
spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq,
and northern Syria
• The number of Kurds living in Southwest Asia is estimated at
between 30 and 45 million, with another one or two million
living in the Kurdish diaspora.
• Kurds comprise anywhere from 18 to 25% of the population
in Turkey, 15 to 20% in Iraq, 10% in Iran & 9% in Syria.
• Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries,
viz. in Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian Kurdistan and
Syrian Kurdistan.
• The Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in West Asia
after Arabs, Persians, and Turks.

6. 5. Jews
• Jews originated as an ethnic and religious group in the Middle East
during the second millennium BCE, in a part of the Land of Israel.
• The Jewish population is diverse. Jews from eastern and western
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, North America,
and Latin America have been immigrating to this area since the late
19th century.
• Differing in ethnic origin and culture, they brought with them
languages and customs from a variety of countries.
• The Jewish community today includes survivors of the Holocaust,
offspring of those survivors, and émigrés escaping anti-Semitism. The
modern State of Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority
of the population
• Jews constitute about three-fourths of the total population of Israel

7. RELEGIOUS SECTS – Sunni & shia
• Islam , an Arabic word meaning "submission".
Obedience to God is a central theme in the Islamic
faith.
• The monotheistic belief system originated in the 7th
century through the teachings of Muhammad
• Muslims identify themselves with different strands of
Islamic tradition. The main ones are Sunnism and
Shiism.

8. • Today adherents of Islam constitute the world's
second-largest religious group.
• An estimated 1.8 billion or more than 24% of the
world population identify themselves as Muslims.
• Islam is the official religion in 26 countries in
Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the
Middle East
• The two main branches of Islam today, Sunni and
Shia
• The sects split from each other soon after the
death of the Prophet Muhammad, over a religio-
political leadership dispute about the rightful
successor to Muhammad.

9. • Sunnis are in a majority by far; Shias might
constitute no more than 15 per cent though
most Sunnis would place the figure much
lower.
• Every Sunni majority country has a Shia
minority and vice-versa, but the size of the
minority varies.
• There are four Shia majority countries — Iran,
Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan.

10. SUNNI
• The great majority of the world's Muslims are
Sunnis; its followers make up 87 to 90% of the
global Muslim population.
• Sunnis regard the first four caliphs as
legitimate successors of Muhammad. The
majority of the Muslims of Indonesia,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Gaza and
the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia are Sunnis.
They regard themselves as the traditional
(original) followers of the Islamic faith.

11. SHIA
• Followers of the Shiite faith reject the first
three Sunni caliphs and regard Ali, the fourth
caliph, as Mohammed's first true successor.
• The majority of Shia Muslims live in Iran,
southern Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Azerbaijan,
and Yemen. There are large Shia communities
in Afghanistan, India, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar,
Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.