Kurdistan Region recognizes eight religions, 598 places of worship, government data shows

ERBIL, Iraq — Official data from the Kurdistan Regional Government shows eight religions and denominations are officially recognized in the region, alongside several ethnic communities including Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Armenian groups. The information was published in a report by the Kurdistan Regional Government's Department of Information and Affairs, which lists Muslim, Christian, Yazidi, Sabaean-Mandaean and Kakai communities among those living in the region. The report says these communities have been represented in political life and state institutions since the region was established. The current ninth cabinet includes two ministers from non-majority communities, and two separate ministries handle community affairs and endowment-religious affairs. In education, 1,995 students study in 19 Turkmen-language schools, while 6,690 students are enrolled in 50 Syriac-language schools across the Kurdistan Region. Figures in the report record 6,224 mosques, 273 Christian churches and places of worship, and 325 Yazidi sites of worship and religious monuments throughout the region. The government also lists 36 civil society organizations working on social cohesion, cultural preservation and diversity. The report additionally references support provided to tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis who took refuge in the region after the Islamic State attacks of 2014, as well as ongoing repair work at damaged religious sites.