The Iraqi Turkmen are an Turkic ethnic group and the third largest ethnic group in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds.

They mainly reside in northern Iraq and share close cultural ties with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iranian Azerbaijan, and other Turkic countries.

Their language is closely related to Azerbaijani Turkish, a Turkic language mutually intelligible with Istanbul Turkish, spoken mainly in Azerbaijan Republic and Iranian Azerbaijan.The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia beginning from the seventh century until Ottoman rule.

The first wave of migration dates back to the seventh century, followed by migrations during the Seljuk Empire (1037–1194), the fleeing Oghuz during the Mongol destruction of the Khwarazmian dynasty (Kara Koyunlu and Ag Qoyunlu), and the largest migration, during the Ottoman Empire.

With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settle in the region.

Thus, most of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Iraqi Turkmen want Turkey to annex the Mosul Vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded Turkish state.

However, due to the end of the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmen find themselves increasingly discriminated against by policies of successive regimes, such as the Kirkuk Massacre of 1923, 1947, 1959 and in 1979 when the Ba'th Party increasingly discriminates against the community.

Although they are recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq (alongside the Arabs and Kurds) in the constitution of 1925, the Iraqi Turkmen are later denied this status.

Claims of their population range between hal a million to three million.

Regardless of this uncertainty, the Iraqi Turkmen are considered to be the third or the fourth largest ethnic group in Iraq.

According to the 1957 census, which is recognized as the last reliable census, as later censuses are reflections of the Arabization policies of the Ba'ath regime, Arabs form the largest ethnicity followed by Kurds (21%) and Iraqi Turkmen (5%).

The Iraqi Turkmen predominantly live in the north of Iraq, especially in Tal Afar, Mosul, Arbil, Altunkupri, Kirkuk, and Baghdad.