---
title: "Who Are the Iraqi Kurds?"
description: "Kurds are playing a major role in the current conflict in Iraq, and are often mentioned alongside Iraq’s Sunni and Shia Muslim populations. But Kurds are an ethnic group, not a distinct religious sect within Islam; nearly all Iraqi Kurds consider themselves Sunni Muslims."
date: "2014-08-20"
authors:
  - name: "Benjamin Wormald"
    job_title: "Senior Engineer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/benjamin-wormald/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2014/08/20/who-are-the-iraqi-kurds/"
categories:
  - "Islam"
  - "War & International Conflict"
---

# Who Are the Iraqi Kurds?