Editing Arabization (section)

===Arabization in Iraq===
{{main|Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in North Iraq|Al-Anfal Campaign}}

[[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Ba'ath Party]] had aggressive Arabization policies involving driving out many pre-Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups – mainly [[Kurds]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Yezidis]], [[Shabaks]], [[Armenians]], [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turcomans]], [[Kawliya]], [[Circassians]], and [[Mandeans]] – replacing them with Arab families.

In the 1970s, Saddam Hussein [[Moaved|exiled]] between 350,000 and 650,000 [[Ajam of Iraq|Shia Iraqis of Iranian ancestry (Ajam)]].<ref name="HamshahriIbrahimi">{{cite web|url=http://www.hamshahri.org/print-7737.aspx|title=Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian)|work=hamshahri.org|access-date=12 November 2014}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Most of them went to Iran. Those who could prove an Iranian/Persian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq after [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam]].<ref name="HamshahriIbrahimi"/>

During the Iran-Iraq War, the [[Anfal campaign]] destroyed many Kurdish, Assyrian and other ethnic minority villages and enclaves in North Iraq, and their inhabitants were often forcibly relocated to large cities in the hope that they would be Arabized.

[[Kirkuk#1970 Autonomy Agreement|This policy]] drove out 500,000 people in the years 1991–2003. The Baathists also pressured many of these ethnic groups to identify as Arabs, and restrictions were imposed upon their languages, cultural expression and right to self-identification.