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Republic of Iraqالجمهورية العراقية Al-Jumhuriyah Al-Iraqiyah كۆماری عێراق Komara Iraqê
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Arabic: الله أكبر (Transliteration: Allahu Akbar) (Translation: "God is the Greatest")
Anthem: Mawtini (New); Ardh Alforatain (Old)
Capital	Baghdad
Largest city	Baghdad
Official languages	Arabic, Kurdish
Government	Republic
Independence
• Water (%)	1.1%
Population
• 2005 estimate	26,074,906 (45th)
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$89,800,000,000 (58th)
• Per capita	$3,500 (122nd)
Currency	Iraqi dinar (IQD)
Time zone	UTC+3
• Summer (DST)	UTC+4
Calling code	964
ISO 3166 code	IQ
Internet TLD	.iq
1 The Kurds use Ey Reqîb 2 The capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region is Arbil 3 Official language in three Kurdish regions

The Republic of Iraq (Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq or al-Erāq, العراق, Kurdish: عيَراق), is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia encompassing most of Mesopotamia as well as the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. It shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran (Persia) to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf.

Name

There are several suggestions for the origin of the name of Iraq; one dates back to the Sumerian city of Uruk (or Erech). Another suggestion is that Iraq comes from the Aramaic language, meaning "the land along the banks of the rivers."

Under the Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Iraq Arabi" which referred to the southern part of modern Iraq. Al-Iraq was the name used by the Arabs themselves for the land since the 6th century.

History

Ancient history

The Republic of Iraq sits on land that is historically known as Mesopotamia (Al-Rafidayn in Arabic and Beth Nahrain in Aramaic), which means 'land between the rivers' in Greek, also largely comprising the eastern and bigger arm of the Fertile Crescent. This land was home to some of the world's first civilizations, including the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC, and Median (Medes) cultures. These civilizations produced some of the first writing, science, mathematics, law and philosophy in the world, making the region the center of what is commonly called the "Cradle of Civilization". Ancient Mesopotamian civilization dominated other civilizations of its time.

Beginning in the seventh century AD, Islam spread to what is now Iraq. The prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law moved his capital to Kufa "fi al-Iraq" when he became the fourth caliph. The Umayyads ruling from Damascus in the 7th century ruled the province of Iraq.

Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, was the leading city of the Arab and Muslim world for five centuries. In 1258, Baghdad was devastated by the Mongols and was later occupied by the Ottoman Turks. Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until the Great War (World War I) when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

Modern history

At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It was formed out of three former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, under the control of King Faisal. However, for three out of four centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule, the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra were administered from Baghdad.

Iraq was granted independence in 1932, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces in the country. In response to a pro-Nazi coup d'etat by former Prime Minister Rashid Ali the British invaded Iraq in 1941. A military occupation followed, ending on October 26, 1947.

The Hashemite monarchy was reinstalled by the British and lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown through a coup d'etat by the Iraqi army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim's government to power (which withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union) from 1958 till 1963. In 1963, he was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party led by General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. The Ba'ath's ruling clique named Saddam Hussein vice-chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council and vice president of Iraq. In 1979 Hussein acceded to the presidency and took control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), Iraq's supreme executive decision making body, executing many of his opponents in the process.

Saddam Hussein's rule lasted throughout the devastating Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988); the al-Anfal campaign of the late 1980s, which led to the death of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq; Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 resulting in the Gulf War; and the ensuing United Nations economic sanctions ostensibly designed as leverage to press for Iraqi disarmament. Some estimates assess that between 400,000 and 800,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions . During the period of the sanctions the U.S. and the U.K. declared no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to protect the Kurds and southern Shiites.

Iraq was invaded and occupied in March 2003 by the United States and allies, who established a Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq. Government authority was transferred by the U.S. led "Coalition Authority" to the Iraqi Interim Government in 2004, although over 140,000 U.S. and allied troops continued to remain in the country, what fostered accusations among critics that Iraq was an American puppet state.

Elections were held in May 2005 for the Iraq Transitional Government, and then in December 2005 to elect a permanent government for 2006-2010. Insurgencies, US military assaults on Sunni areas, frequent terrorist attacks and sectarian violence has plagued the country since the coalition's invasion.

Politics

Iraq is a parliamentary democracy as of 2005. The current constitution of Iraq was approved by a referendum in October 2005. Under the terms of the constitution, the country conducted fresh nationwide parliamentary elections on December 15, 2005 to elect a new government. The election was boycotted by many Sunnis, although more participated in December than had in the January 2005 election. After the election, there were widespread allegations of election fraud. Sunni and secular groups demanded a new vote, threatening to boycott the new legislature. Shi'ite religious parties won the largest share of votes.

Iraqi politicians have been under significant threat by the various factions that have promoted violence as a political weapon. The ongoing violence in Iraq has been incited by factional assassinations by Shia death squads associated with the government, by Sunni religious extremists that believe an Islamic caliphate should rule, old regime secular groups that had privileges under Saddam and want back the power they had, and Iraqi nationalists that are fighting against the foreign occupation.

The Prime Minister as of April 21, 2006, Jawad al-Maliki, was elected by his Shi'ite majority, the United Iraqi Alliance a day after former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari relinquished his post.

Minority situation

There are a number of ethnic minority groups in Iraq:Kurds (Muslim and Yezidi), Assyrians, Mandeans, Turkmens and Roma. These groups have not enjoyed equal status with the majority Arab populations throughout Iraq's eighty-five year history. Since the establishment of the "no-fly zones" following the Gulf War, the situation of the Kurds has changed as they have established their own autonomous region. The remainder of these ethnic groups continue to suffer discrimination on religious or ethnic grounds.

The Ba'ath party harshly oppressed minorities during its rule of Iraq. Since the 1977 census, citizens had to answer the question about ethnicity with either "Arab" or "Kurd.". The Ba'ath party also harshly oppressed the majority of shiaa muslims.

Turkmens claim to be the 3rd largest ethnic group in Iraq, numbering a little over 1 million. They reside only in the north. When the Ba'ath party took over Baghdad, it declared in the constitution that schools were prohibited from using the Turkish language and banned Turkish-language media in Iraq. By the 1980s, Hussein prohibited the public use of the Turkish language completely. After the toppling of the Baath party, tensions started to rise between the Kurds and the Turkmens. Assignations and acquisitions between the two sides made Kirkuk the only violent non-Arab city in Iraq during the aftermath of the U.S-led war. The violence has slowly died down and on January 30, 2006, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, said "Kurds are working on a plan to give Turkmens autonomy in areas where they are a majority in the new constitution they're drafting for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq."

Yezidis are ethnically Kurdish, but many of those in Iraq do not see themselves as Kurdish in terms of ethnicity, culture, and religion. This has led to Kurdish authorities forcing Yezidis to register as Kurdish during the 2005 elections. Peshmerga troops have controlled Yezidi areas near Mosul since 2003. A predominant Yezidi politician that spoke out against Kurdish leaders was assassinated in the spring of 2005. Last year, Yezidi representatives complained that the $12 million approved for projects in Yezidi areas in Sinjar had been blocked by the intervention of Kurdish political leaders in Mosul and instead was used for a smaller Kurdish village.

Iraq's Kurds overwhelmingly favor becoming an independent nation. "In the January 2005 Iraqi elections, 98.7 percent of Kurds voted for full independence rather than reconciliation with Arab Iraq." Almost no other political or social group in the region is agreeable to the idea of Kurdish independence. Iraq's neighboring countries are particularly opposed to the movement because they fear that an independent Iraqi Kurdistan would enkindle Kurdish independence movements in their own territories.

The Kurds and other non-Arabs living in the North were subjected to Iraq's worst instance of minority persecution in 1987-89, in what is now referred to as the al-Anfal Campaign. Anywhere from 100,000 to 182,000 were massacred in a genocidal offensive mostly in and around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and elsewhere in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Governorates

Iraq is divided into eighteen governorates or provinces (Arabic: muhafadhat, singular - muhafadhah, Kurdish: پاریزگه Pârizgah). Particularly in Iraqi government documents the term "governorate" is preferred. During the Gulf War the Iraqi Government repeatedly referred to the occupied sovereign country of Kuwait as "the Nineteenth Governorate".

Baghdad Salah ad Din Diyala Wasit Maysan Al Basrah Dhi Qar Al Muthanna Al-Qādisiyyah

Babil Karbala An Najaf Al Anbar Ninawa Dahuk Arbil At Ta'mim (Kirkuk) As Sulaymaniyah

Geography

Large parts of Iraq consist of desert, but the area between the two major rivers (Euphrates and Tigris) is fertile, with the rivers carrying about 60 million cubic metres (78 million cu. yd) of silt annually to the delta. The north of the country is largely mountainous, with the highest point being a 3,611 metres (11,847 ft) point, unnamed on the map opposite, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline with the Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and along the Shatt al-Arab (known as arvandrūd: اروندرود among Iranians) there used to be marshlands, but many of these were drained in the 1990s.

The local climate is mostly desert with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions experience cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding. The capital of Baghdad is situated in the centre of the country, on the banks of the Tigris. Other major cities include Basra in the south and Mosul in the north.

Economy

Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the government to implement austerity measures, borrow heavily, and later reschedule foreign debt payments. Iraq suffered economic losses from the war of at least US$100 billion. After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. A combination of low oil prices, repayment of war debts (estimated at around US$3 billion a year) and the costs of reconstruction resulted in a serious financial crisis which was the main short term motivation for the invasion of Kuwait.

On November 20 2004, the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed to write off 80% ($33 billion) of Iraq's $42 billion debt to Club members. Iraq's total external debt was around $120 billion at the time of the 2003 invasion, and had grown by $5 billion by 2004. The debt relief will be implemented in three stages: two of 30% each and one of 20%.

After the period of economic sanctions many of Iraq's state-owned enterprises were next to collapse. In 2003 the US led Coalition Provisional Authority drew up a framework for largescale privatization and opened up state-owned services to foreign investors. The insurgency campaign over recent years has hugely dampened US and British efforts to bring in such foreign investment and frequent attacks on the oil infrastructure have also had a major economic impact.

Demographics

Around 80% percent of Iraq's population are Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the Kurds, at around 15%, Assyrians, Turkomans and others around 5%. The minority groups mostly live in the north and northeast of the country. The Assyrians, Kurds, and Turkomans differ from Arabs in many ways, including culture, history, clothing, and language. Other distinct groups are Persians and Armenians. About 100,000–150,000 Mandians live in the southern Iraqi marshlands.

Arabic and Kurdish are official languages; English is the most commonly spoken Western language. Assyrian is also used by the country's Assyrian population.

Religious information from the 2006 edition of the CIA's The World Factbook : There are more members of the Shiite sect (60-65%), mostly Arab, than there are of the Sunni sect (32 - 37%) which is made up of both Arabs and Kurds. Iraqi Christian comprise nearly 3% of the population, about 800,000 people. These are mostly ethnically Assyrian of the Chaldean rite. Bahá'ís, Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis also exist. Iraq used to have a significant Jewish minority but emigration has reduced this to a very small number.

Demographic information from the 2006 edition of the CIA's The World Factbook :

• Ethnic groups: Arab, 75–80%; Kurdish, 15-20%; Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%.
• Religions: Muslim, 97% (Shi'ite, 70-75%; Sunni 22-27%); Christian or other, 3%.

Culture

In the most recent millennium, what is now Iraq has been made up of five cultural areas: Sunni Islamic Kurds in the north centered on Arbil; Sunni Islamic Arabs in the center around Baghdad; Shi'a Islamic Arabs in the south centered on Basra; the Assyrians, a Christian people, living in various cities in the north; and the Marsh Arabs, a nomadic people, who live on the marshlands of the central river. Markets and bartering are the common form of trade.

Music

Iraq is known primarily for an instrument called the oud (similar to a lute) and a rebab (similar to a fiddle); its stars include Ahmed Mukhtar and the Assyrian Munir Bashir. Until the fall of Saddam Hussein, the most popular radio station was the Voice of Youth. It played a mix of western rock, hip hop and pop music, all of which had to be imported via Jordan due to international economic sanctions. The Corrs and Westlife are especially popular. Iraq has also produced a major pan-Arab pop star-in-exile in Kazem al-Saher, whose songs include Ladghat E-Hayya, which was banned for its racy lyrical content.

View of Iraq

See also

• Economy: Iraq Stock Exchange, Iraqi Dinar, Economy of Iraq
• Events: 2005 in Iraq, 2004 in Iraq, 2003 Invasion of Iraq, Post-invasion Iraq, 2003-2006, Iraqi insurgency, Iraq War
• Geography: List of places in Iraq, Communications of Iraq, Transportation in Iraq
• Groups: Kurds, Shiites, Sunni, Assyrians, Arab Tribes in Iraq, Maslawi
• Politics: Politics of Iraq, New Iraqi Army, Foreign relations of Iraq, Human rights violations in Iraq, Iraqi insurgency, M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Religion and Politics in Iraq. Shiite Clerics between Quietism and Resistance, with a foreword by Professor Hamid Algar of the University of California at Berkeley. Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2004 (ISBN 9971775131) The Law of Iraq
• History: List of Kings of Iraq, List of Presidents of Iraq, List of Prime Ministers of Iraq, British Mandate of Iraq, History of the Jews in Iraq, Iran-Iraq War, History of astrology, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, Babylon
• Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish, Atra-Hasis
• Others: Postage stamps and postal history of Iraq, Gay rights in Iraq, Mesopotamian mythology, Scouting in Iraq, Assyrian Independence

Notes

Viviano, Frank. "The Kurds in Control." National Geographic, January 2006 pg 26.
Simons, Lewis. "Genocide and the Science of Proof." National Geographic, January 2006 pg 32.

The New York Times, March 14, 2003, "A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making " (free archived version); Hanna Batatu, "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq", Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978; Peter and Marion Sluglett, "Iraq Since 1958" London, I.B. Taurus, 1990; regarding the work of the CIA's "Health Alteration Committee" in Iraq, see also, U.S. Senate's Church Committee Interim Report on Assassination, page 181, Note 1.
"A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making": "Again, this coup...came with C.I.A. backing".

Further reading

• Shadid, Anthony 2005. Night Draws Near. Henry Holt and Co., NY, USA. ISBN 0805076026
• Hanna Batatu, "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq", Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978
• Iraq was one of the major settings for the John J. Rust science fiction novel "Epsilon"

External links

Government

• Iraqi Interim Government official government site
• Kurdistan Regional Government

News

• Iraq Media Center
• Yahoo! News Full Coverage - Iraq news headline links
• Iraq - News and Rss-feed by NewsXS
• News in Depth from the Financial Times

Overviews

• al-Bab - Iraq
• al-Bab - Iraq
• BBC News Country Profile - Iraq
• CIA World Factbook - Iraq
• LexicOrient - Iraq
• Open Directory Project - Iraq directory category
• US State Department - Iraq includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
• Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Iraq
• Yahoo! - Iraq directory category

Tourism

• Template:Wikitravel

Other

• Iraq's location on a 3D globe (Java)
• Lawk Salih News updates, Iraqi Music and Video Clips, Kurdish News, Kurdish Music and Video Clips
• ACTivist Magazine Iraq Article Archive
• H-Museum Iraq site
• Canadian Content - Iraq updated section on security issues
• Schema-root.org: Iraq 300 Iraq related topics, each with its own current news feed
• Dahr Jamail Iraq Dispatches News From Inside Iraq
• International Freedom of Expression eXchange monitors
• A DWELLER IN MESOPOTAMIA, being the adventures of an official artist in the garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921. (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format)
• BY DESERT WAYS TO BAGHDAD, by Louisa Jebb (Mrs. Roland Wilkins) With illustrations and a map, 1908 (1909 ed). (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format)
• Iraq: Relief and Recovery Development Gateway's knowledge sharing community on Iraq's development needs and efforts.
• Iraq Analysis Information Source Listings and analysis on post-invasion Iraq
• Jubilee Iraq Campaign to eliminate Iraq's pre-war debt and reparations
• Amnesty International Report on Iraq
• Iraq Theocracy Watch
• Coalition Provisional Authority Now-defunct occupation authority; site is archived
• Multimedia Operation Iraqi Freedom museum
• US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
• Air Bravura - Online eTicketing Services For Iraq Flights
• AME Info - Country Guide: Iraq
• Pictures of Iraq (Mesopotamia) during World War One, showing the peoples, Red Cross River Ambulances and British Army/Indian taken by Captain Weaver
• 1900 - 2000 a history of Iraq
• Iraq Country Profile from Reuters AlertNet
• Iraq Law from the University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist project

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