^ a: The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia dating from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. Most of today's descendants of the 7th century migrants have been assimilated into the local Arab population.[4] Thus, the majority of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.[24][25][26][4]