Feyli Kurds
فهیلی | |
|---|---|
Feylis and their dialect | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Baghdad, Maysan, Diyala, Wasit, Sulaymaniyah, in Iraq, and provinces of Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah in Iran. | |
| Iraq | 1,500,000 (7,000 refugees still in Iran) |
| Languages | |
| Feyli or Ilami (sub-dialect of Southern Kurdish) | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Shia Islam (minority Sunni Islam and Yarsanism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Kurds | |
Feyli Kurds (Kurdish: فهیلی/فەێلی, romanized: Feylî) are a collection of Kurdish tribes in the borderlands between Iraq and Iran. They descend from Kurdish tribes who were historically under the influence of the Feyli Lur Vali dynasty. They speak Feyli, which is classified as a sub-dialect of Southern Kurdish, and is also known as "Ilami" to avoid confusion with the neighboring but distinct Feyli dialect of northern Luri. Linguist Ismaïl Kamandâr Fattah argues that the Kurdish Feyli dialect and other Southern Kurdish sub-dialects are 'interrelated and largely mutually intelligible.' The term Feyli was sometimes incorrectly used as a name for all Southern Kurdish dialects.
Feylis are recognized as ethnic Kurds in the Iraqi constitution. In January 2019, Feyli Kurds received a reserved minority seat in Wasit Governorate, which was won by Mazen Abdel Moneim Gomaa with 5,078 votes in the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election.
Today, the 1,500,000 Feylis live mainly in Baghdad, Maysan, Diyala, Wasit, Sulaymaniyah, in Iraq, and provinces of Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah in Iran.