Shabak people

Shabaks (, ) are a group native to the Nineveh Plains in Iraq. They speak Shabaki, a branch of the Zaza–Gorani languages, and largely follow Shia Islam. Their ethnic origin is uncertain and disputed, although they were largely considered Kurds by scholars.

==Origins== The origins of the word Shabak are not clear. One theory is that Shabak is an Arabic word that means intertwine, indicating that the Shabak people originated as a confederation of many tribes of different ethnicities. Others claim that the word Shabak came from the Persian "shah" and Turkish "bek", meaning "master of kings", eventually being Arabized to "Shabak". Austin Henry Layard considered Shabaks to be descendants of Kurds who originated in Iran, and believed that they possibly had affinities with the Ali-Ilahis. Anastase-Marie al-Karmali also argued that Shabaks were ethnic Kurds. Another theory claimed that Shabaks were local ethnic Kurds who were influenced by many cultures due to the ethnic and religious diversity of the Nineveh Plains, which was historically one of the most diverse regions in Iraq. In 2019, Hussein al-Shabaki, a Shabak politician, claimed that the Shabaks were simply Kurds of various Kurdish tribes, and that the term "Shabak" in reality was the historical name of the region they lived in. Another theory suggests that the Shabaks originated from Anatolian Qizilbash Turkomans, who were forced to settle in the Mosul area after the defeat of Ismail I by the Ottomans at the Battle of Chaldiran. Other theories supported the Qizilbash theory, although claimed that the Shabaks specifically descended from Qizilbash Kurds, as the Qizilbash confederation did include Kurds and other Non-Turkic minorities. Historians also stated that it was possible that the Shabaks descended from an ancient Kurdish tribe known as "Shanbakiyya", and also added that it was possible that the Shabaks had affinities with Shabankara. In the 1990s, Turkish sources began denying the existence of the Shabaks, claiming they were simply part of the Iraqi Turkmen. Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, the historian of the British mandate of Iraq, described the language of the Shabaks as "a Kurdish dialect" and their religion as "a heretical type of Shi'ism".