Armenians have been arriving in Iraq since the 7th-12th centuries, during the Abbasid Caliphate, and have established their communities in Basra and Baghdad. In 1638, after conquering Baghdad, the Ottoman sultan Murad IV granted Armenians the privilege of living in the city, after which the Armenian community was formed. It was one of the traditional and prosperous communities of the Middle East. The first Armenian printing house in Iraq was established by the Tadevosyan brothers in 1874 in Baghdad. 

The Iraqi Armenian community mainly grew and was formed by the refugees who had survived the Armenian Genocide. In the 1920s, around 90 thousand Armenians took refuge in Iraq. Later, some of them left the country and some were repatriated to Armenia. 

Before the Iraq War (2003), the number of the Iraqi Armenians was about 25.000: around 15-17.000 of them lived in Baghdad, the rest – mainly in Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk and the northern border town of Zakho. 

Nowadays, there are 7000-8000 Armenians living in Iraq. All of them are citizens of Iraq, who work mainly in the fields of construction, science, commerce, education, health, finance, management, and sports. Armenians speak Armenian as their mother tongue, and Arabic, as an official language. They are of similar social status. Armenians living in Northern Iraq find it difficult to speak Armenian, thus Kurdish is predominantly used. 

In 2004, the Armenian National United School in Baghdad was reopened. One-day schools operate in almost all cities (except Mosul). 

The Iraqi Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church was formed in 1944. The seat of the primate is the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Sourp Krikor Loussavoritch (Saint Gregory the Illuminator) in Baghdad (1957). Whereas, still in 1640, the first Armenian church in Iraq, the Armenian Church Sourp Asdvadzadzin (Holy Mother of God, also called Miskinta) was built in Baghdad. It is a place of pilgrimage not only for Armenians but also for other local Christians. Next to the Prelacy, there is a national nursing home, a kindergarten, and a school, where Armenian language and literature, religion, and Armenian history are taught. 
 

The Armenian Diocese of Iraq is a part of the Etchmiadzin Diocese, and it has 10 functioning churches, four of which are located in Baghdad. 

The governing body of the Iraqi Armenians is the National Central Bureau that coordinates the religious and national activities of the community. All district committees in Iraq are subject to the bureau. Since 1932, the community has been operating under the Charter (or the National Constitution) which is ratified by the state. 

The small Armenian Catholic community in Iraq was formed in the 17th-18th centuries. The center of the predominantly Arabic-speaking Iraqi Armenian Catholic community has always been in Baghdad. The community has two churches in Baghdad: the Armenian Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1937) and the Armenian Catholic Church of Assumption (1844). In 1997, the Armenian Catholic Cathedral, which is the largest Christian church in Baghdad, was reconstructed. Today, there are 200-250 Armenian Catholic families left in Iraq.
 
The Armenian Evangelical community in Iraq was formed as a result of the emigration of the Evangelical Armenians from other parts of the Ottoman Empire to Iraq following the Armenian Genocide. 

Apart from emigrating to other countries, many Iraqi Armenians (particularly from Baghdad and Basra), as a result of the internal movement that occurred during the war, moved to and settled in safer, northern Kurdish-populated rural areas. Almost all Armenians of Northern Iraq are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Catholics are much smaller in number. 

There is a ban on the activities of political parties in Iraq (though the ARF and ADL offices are operating), and the activity of the community is limited to charitable and cultural programs. Currently, the following organizations operate in Iraq: the National Central Bureau, the Iraqi branch of the AGBU (1911), the Iraqi branch of the Homenetmen (1951), the Armenian Mixed Youth Union of Baghdad (1926), the AMYU branch in Basra (1930), the Armenian Women's Cultural Union (AWCU) (1960).

Despite the fact that the Armenian community in Iraq underwent essential transformations during the war, and the number of the community members abruptly plummeted, the Armenian community continued its existence, maintaining good relations with the Sunni and Shia communities and their leaders, with the Christian communities, as well as with other ethnic groups, including Kurds and Turkmens.