Ethnic groups in the Middle East

Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism is an ethnic religion, though many ethnic Jews do not practice it. Religious Jews regard converts to Judaism as members of the Jewish nation, pursuant to the long-standing conversion process.

Zoroastrianism, also called Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster (). Among the world's oldest organized faiths, its adherents exalt an uncreated, benevolent, and all-wise deity known as Ahura Mazda (), who is hailed as the supreme being of the universe. Opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu (), who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things that are good. As such, the Zoroastrian religion combines a dualistic cosmology of go

Arabs () are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Before the spread of Arabic language in the wake of the Arab conquests, "Arab" largely referred to the Semitic inhabitants—both settled and nomadic—of the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert. In modern usage, it includes people from across the Greater Middle East that share Arabic as a native language.

The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; , ), are a nation and Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Georgian kingdoms. Significant Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union.

Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria. Consisting of 30–45 million people, the global Kurdish population is largely concentrated in Kurdistan, but significant communities of the Kurdish diaspora exist in parts of West Asia beyond Kurdistan and in parts of Europe, most notably including: Turkey's Central Anatolian Kurds (these spread through Eastern Anatolia in 1923 following the Armenian genocide in what was

Turkic ethnic group

The Druze, who call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an esoteric religious group of Arabs who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and syncretic religion whose main tenets assert the unity of God, reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul.

Persians, or the Persian people, are an Iranian ethnic group indigenous to the Iranian plateau in West Asia that comprise the majority of the population of modern-day Iran. They have a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language. In the Western world, "Persian" was largely understood as a demonym for all Iranians rather than as an ethnonym for the Persian people, but this understanding shifted in the 20th century.

Assyrians () are a distinct ethnic group native to Mesopotamia, with historical roots in the ancient Assyrian Empire. They speak varieties of Neo-Aramaic, a branch of the Semitic language family, and the majority adhere to Syriac Christianity. Some members of the community identify alternatively as Chaldeans or Arameans, based on religious, regional, and historic traditions.

ethnic group native to South and Central Asia

Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the North Caucasus (Stavropol Krai). They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages.

Copts (; ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to Egypt who have inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptian population, descended from the ancient Egyptians. Copts predominantly follow the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Alexandrian Greek Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. They are the largest Christian population in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as in Sudan and Libya. Copts account for roughly 5 to 15 percent of the population of Egypt.

ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, the Riau Islands and the coast of Borneo

thumb|alt=Bedouins in Sinai, 1967|Bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula|Sinai Region, 1967

The Circassians, also known as the Cherkess or the Adyghe (Adyghe and , ), are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, a region and former country in the North Caucasus. As a consequence of the 19th-century Russo-Circassian War and the Circassian genocide, most Circassians were exiled from their homeland and scattered in what was then the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey, Southeastern Europe and the Middle East). The two Circassian languages natively spoken by the Circassian people are western Adyghe and eastern Kabardian. The Ubykh language fell out of use and went extinct in

Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean and enclosed by desert both to the east and to the west. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity.

descendants of the local Jewish populations of North Africa and the Middle East

Iranian ethnic group

thumb|Areas with a Lur majority.

Arabs who follow Christianity

Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic. In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic gradually became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians (pa

Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.

ethnic group

The Bahārna (, or ), are an ethnoreligious group of Shia Muslim Arabs and Persians indigenous to the historical region of Bahrain. Regarded by some scholars as the original inhabitants of Eastern Arabia, most Bahraini citizens are Baharna. They inhabited the region before the arrival of the Banu Utbah, from which the Bahraini royal family descends, in the 18th century.

Armenian community in Iran

a Turkic people of Oghuz origin

Yemenis, Yemenites (), or South Arabians are an ethnographic group indigenous to Yemen.

Afro-Arabs, African Arabs, or Black Arabs are Arabs who have substantial or predominant non-Berber and non-Coptic Indigenous African ancestry. These include primarily minority groups in the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. The term may also refer to various Arab groups in certain African regions.

Omanis () are the nationals of Sultanate of Oman, located in the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Omanis have inhabited the territory that is now Oman. In the eighteenth century, an alliance of traders and rulers transformed Muscat (Oman's capital) into the leading port of the Persian Gulf. Omani people are ethnically diverse; the Omani citizen population consists of many different ethnic groups. The majority of the population consists of Arabs who speak Omani Arabic, and known as Omanis.

The Bedoon or Bidoon or Bidoun (), fully Bidoon jinsiya, are stateless people in several Middle Eastern countries, but particularly in Kuwait, where there is a large population of stateless people who lack access to many of the country's basic services. It is widely believed that the Bedoon issue in Kuwait is sectarian in nature.

Turks living in the Arab world

Generically, a Galilean (; ; ; ) is a term that was used in classical sources to describe the inhabitants of Galilee, a region today in northern Israel and much of southern Lebanon, that extends from the Mediterranean with the coastal plain in the west, to the Jordan Rift Valley with the Hulah Valley and the Sea of Galilee in the east. Initially the majority of them were Jews.

Armenian community in the Middle East