Kawliya
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (50,000+ (est.)) | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic and Domari | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Gypsies in Syria |
The Kawliya or Qawliya (Arabic: كاولية or كاولي), also known as Zott and Ghorbati (known in English as Gypsies), is a community in Iraq of Indian origin, estimated to number over 60,000 people. Today they speak mostly Arabic, while their ethnolect is a mixture of Arabic, Persian, Kurdish and Turkish, only spoken by the older generations. They are noted as imitating Bedouins. 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 approximately 1,000 years ago. Under the secular rule of Saddam Hussein, they lived peacefully among other ethnic groups. They became outcasts after the rise of ultra-conservative Islamists in 2004, despite the fact that the majority of Kawliya are Muslims. ("Kawliya" is also an Arabic term for prostitute.)
Kawliya is also the name of a former village in the Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate near Al Diwaniyah, located about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, where they live. The village was reportedly destroyed by a militia controlled by a militant Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who viewed the gypsies as "morally repugnant. About 1,000 villagers were driven out.
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Wikipedia