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The Republic of Iraq[2] (conventional short form: Iraq) (Arabic: ‎ العراق(help·info) transliteration: 'al-‘Irāq,Turkish: Irak, Kurdish: عيَراق), is a country in Southwest 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 to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf. Iraq has a rich history. Today, it is a developing nation that has gained international attention due to the Iraq War.

Contents [hide] 1 Name 2 History 2.1 Ancient history 2.2 Arab Empire 2.3 Ottoman Empire 2.3.1 World War One 2.3.2 Partitioning 2.4 British Mandate of Mesopotamia 2.5 Hashemite monarchy 2.6 Republic of Iraq 2.6.1 Saddam Hussein 2.7 Occupation by Coalition Forces 2.8 Iraqi diaspora 3 Government 3.1 Politics 3.1.1 Minority politics 3.2 Administrative divisions 4 Geography 5 Economy 5.1 Reconstruction 6 Demographics 7 Culture 7.1 Music 8 Gallery 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

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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." Another suggestion is Iraq is a reference to the root of a palm tree, as they are numerous in the country. Under the Persian Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Erak Arabi" referring to part of the south western region of the Persian Empire, which now is part of southern Iraq. Al-Iraq was the name used by the Arabs themselves for the land since the 6th century. Pronunciation of Iraq - (1) [ɪ.ˈɹɑ(ː)k], (2) [ɪ.ˈɹæk], (3) [aɪ.ˈɹæk] (1) is the preferred pronunciation in most dictionaries, and the only pronunciation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. MQD lists (2) first. (3) is considered uneducated or unacceptable to some. It is the pronunciation which is least like the original Arabic pronunciation [ʕiˈrɑːq].

History

Ancient history

Iraq was historically known as Mesopotamia, which literally means "between the rivers" in Greek. This land was home to the world's first known civilization, the Sumerian culture, followed by the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. These civilizations produced the earliest writing and some of the first sciences, mathematics, laws and philosophies 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. In the sixth century BC, the region became a part of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great for nearly 4 centuries, before it was conquered by Alexander the Great and remained under Greek rule for nearly two centuries. A Central Asian tribe of Iranian peoples called Parthians then annexed the region, followed by the Sassanid Persians for nine centuries, until the 7th century.

Arab Empire

Beginning in the seventh century AD, Islam spread to what is now Iraq during the Islamic conquest of Persia. The prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law moved his capital to Kufa "fi al-Iraq" when he became the fourth caliph. The Umayyad Caliphate 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.

Ottoman Empire

In 1258, Baghdad was devastated by the Mongols. The Ottoman Turks took Baghdad from the Persians in 1535. The Ottomans lost Baghdad to the Iranian Safavids in 1509, and took it back in 1632. Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. World War One During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian campaign. Ottoman losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000 prisoners of war. By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men into the area though only 112,000 of them were combat troops. Partitioning During World War I, the British and French divided the Middle East in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Treaty of Sèvres which was ratified by Treaty of Lausanne led to the creation of the modern Middle East and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over the Syria and the Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over the Iraq and the Palestine (which was comprised of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

British Mandate of Mesopotamia

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. For three out of four centuries of Ottoman rule, the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra were administered from Baghdad. During the British mandate, the country was ruled by British colonial administrators who used the British armed forces to put down rebellions against the government. They selected the Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, to be their client ruler. Also, the government and ministries' officers were likewise appointed by the British authorities. They were selected from the Sunni Arab elite in the region.[3]

Hashemite monarchy

Iraq was granted independence in 1932 by the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces in the country. King Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal died in 1933, while Iraq suffered from military coups (dictatorships) until he died in 1939. Iraq was invaded by the United Kingdom in 1941, for fears that the government of Rashid Ali might cut oil supplies to Western nations and because of his strong leanings to Nazi Germany. A military occupation followed after the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on October 26, 1947. The rulers of the country during the occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy period were the autocratic prime minister Nuri al-Said who also ruled from 1930-1932 and the advisor 'Abd al-Ilah to the king Faisal II.

Republic of Iraq

The reinstalled Hashemite monarchy 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 to power. He withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union but his government lasted only until 1963, when it 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 Baath Party. This movement gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein al-Majid al Tikriti who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979, killing off many of his opponents in the process. Many feel that all or at least some of these changes in the government beginning in 1958 were at least partially orchestrated by Egyptian President Nasser as part of his goal to draw Iraq into the United Arab Republic . Saddam Hussein Saddam's rule lasted throughout the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), a war that involved Iraqi forces attacking Iranian military personnel and civilians with chemical weapons; and ended in stalemate. This period is notorious for the regime's human rights abuses, such as those during the Al-Anfal campaign.[4][5][6] Osirak, also spelled Osiraq, was a 40 MW light-water nuclear materials testing reactor (MTR) in Iraq. It was constructed by the Iraqi government at the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, 18 km (11 miles) south-east of Baghdad in 1977. It was crippled by Israeli aircraft in 1981 in a preventive strike to prevent the regime of Saddam Hussein from using the reactor for the creation of nuclear weapons. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait resulting in the Gulf War, and the United Nations imposed economic sanctions at the urging of the U.S. The economic sanctions were designed to compel Saddam to dispose of weapons of mass destruction.[7] Critics estimate that over 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.[8] The U.S. and the UK declared no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to oversee the Kurds and southern Shiites.

Occupation by Coalition Forces

Iraq was invaded in March 2003 by a United States-organized coalition with the stated reasons that Iraq had not abandoned its nuclear and chemical weapons development program according to United Nations resolution 687. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted resolution 678, authorizing armed action against Iraq. Resolution 678 contained vague language authorizing U.N. member states to use "all necessary means" to "restore international peace and security in the area." After Iraq was expelled from Kuwait, the United Nations passed a cease-fire resolution 687. The agreement included provisions obligating Iraq to discontinue its nuclear weapons program. United States asserted that because Iraq was in "material breach" of resolution 687, the armed forces authorization of resolution 678 was revived. The public justifications, given for invasion included purported Iraqi government links to Al Qaeda, claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the opportunity to remove an oppressive dictator from power, and the bringing of democracy to Iraq. In his State of Union Address on January 29, 2002, the American President George W. Bush declared Iraq as being a member of the "axis of evil". Like North Korea and Iran, Iraq's attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction gave credentials to claim that the Iraqi government caused a serious threat to America's national security. "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections--then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."[9] The United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq. Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in 2004 and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. Over 140,000 Coalition troops remain in Iraq in order to assist the government. Studies have placed the number of civilians deaths as high as 655,000 (see The Lancet study), though most studies have put the number much lower, such as the Iraq Body Count project, which uses a figure at less than 10% of The Lancet Study. However, the Iraq Body Count website points out "Our maximum therefore refers to reported deaths - which can only be a sample of true deaths unless one assumes that every civilian death has been reported. It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media." [6]. After the invasion, al-Qaeda was able to exploit the insurgency to establish its organization in the country[10] in concurrency with a Arab-Sunni led insurgency and sectarian violence. In 2006, Foreign Policy Magazine named Iraq as the fourth most unstable nation in the world. On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged to death. [7] Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar were similarly executed on January 15, 2007. [8] Later, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former deputy and former vice-president (originally sentenced to life in prison but later to death by hanging), was likewise executed on March 20, 2007, the fourth and last man in the al-Dujail trial to die by hanging for crimes against humanity. [9]

Iraqi diaspora

The Iraqi diaspora is the dispersion of native Iraqis to other countries. There have been many large-scale waves of emigration from Iraq, beginning early in the regime of Saddam Hussein and continuing through 2007. The UN High Commission for Refugees has estimated that nearly two million Iraqis have fled the country in recent years, mostly to Jordan and Syria. [10] Although some expatriates returned to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, the flow had virtually stopped by 2006. [11]

Government

Politics

Iraq was under Baath Party rule from 1968 to 2003; in 1979 Saddam Hussein took control and remained president until 2003 after which he was unseated by a US-led invasion. On October 15, 2005, more than 63% of eligible Iraqis came out across the country to vote on whether to accept or reject the new constitution. On October 25, the vote was certified and the constitution passed with a 78% overall majority, with the percentage of support varying widely between the country's territories.[11] The new constitution had overwhelming backing among the Shia and Ķurdish communities, but was overwhelmingly rejected by Arab Sunnis. Three majority Arab Sunni provinces rejected it (Salah ad Din with 82% against, Ninawa with 55% against, and Al Anbar with 97% against). Under the terms of the constitution, the country conducted fresh nationwide parliamentary elections on December 15 to elect a new government. The overwhelming majority of all three major ethnic groups in Iraq voted along ethnic lines, turning this vote into more of an ethnic census than a competitive election, and setting the stage for the division of the country along ethnic lines. 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 an amalgam of religious extremists that believe an Islamic Caliphate should rule, old sectarian regime members that had ruled under Saddam that want back the power they had, and Iraqi nationalists that are fighting the U.S. military presence. Minority politics There are a number of ethnic minority groups in Iraq: Kurds, Assyrians, Mandeans, Iraqi Turkmen, Shabaks 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 of 1990-1991, 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.

Administrative divisions

See also: Districts of Iraq Iraq is divided into eighteen governorates (or provinces) (Arabic: muhafadhat, singular - muhafadhah, Kurdish: پاریزگه Pârizgah). The governorates are subdivided into qadhas (or districts).

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

The new constitution of Iraq provides for regions to be created by combining one or more governorates. There is currently only one Region in existence - Iraqi Kurdistan - and there are proposals for one or more further regions to be created in the south.

Geography

At 168,743 sq.mi (437,072 km²), Iraq is the 58th-largest country in the world, after Morocco. It is comparable in size to the US state of California, and somewhat larger than Paraguay. 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. While its proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks Iraq second in the world behind Saudi Arabia, the United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90 percent of the country remains unexplored. Unexplored regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100 billion barrels. Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world. However, only about 2,000 oil wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared to about 1 million wells in Texas alone.[12]

Economy

Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95 percent 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%.[13] At the end of 2005, and in the first half of 2006, Iraq implemented a restructuring of about $20 billion of commercial debt claims on terms comparable to that of its November 2004 Paris Club agreement (i.e. with an 80% writeoff). Iraq offered to its larger claimants a U.S. dollar denominated bond maturing in 2028. Smaller commercial claimants received a cash settlement of comparable value.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction of Iraq has been difficult mainly due to the amount of damage done to Iraq's basic infrastructure, the influx of the US invasion and strife among factions within the native populace. Large-scale reconstruction efforts have had, at best, limited success.

Demographics

A July 2006 estimate of the total Iraqi population is 26,783,383. Seventy-five to eighty percent of Iraq's population are Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the Kurds at 15-20%, Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen and others (5%), who mostly live in the north and northeast of the country. Other distinct groups are Persians and Armenians (possible descendants of the ancient Mesopotamian culture). About 25,000–60,000 Marsh Arabs live in southern Iraq. Arabic and Kurdish are official languages. Assyrian and Turkmen are official languages in areas where the Assyrians and Iraqi Turkmen are located respectively. Armenian and Persian are also spoken but to a lesser extent. English is the most commonly spoken Western language. Ethnic Composition:

• Ethnic groups: Arab, 75–80%; Kurdish, 15-20%; Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%.
• Religions: Muslim, 97%; Christian or other, 3%.

Proportions: There are no official figures available, mainly due to the highly politically charged nature of the subject. Source: Britannica: Shi'a 60%, Sunni 40% Source: CIA World Fact Book: Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%

• Shi'a: mostly Arabs some Turkmen and Faili Kurds almost all are Twelver school
• Sunni: composed of Arabs, Turkmen who are Hanafi school and Kurds who are Shafi school

According to most western sources the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ite Arab Muslims (around 60%), and Sunnis represent about 40% of the population made up of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Sunnis hotly dispute these figures, including an ex-Iraqi Ambassador,[14] referring to American sources.[15] They claim that many reports or sources only include Arab Sunnis as 'Sunni', missing out the Kurdish and Turkmen Sunnis. Some argue that the 2003 Iraq Census shows that Sunnis were a slight majority.[16] Ethnic Assyrians (most of whom are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with Armenians. Bahá'ís, Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis also exist. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, although the Faili (Feyli) Kurds are largely Shi'a.

Culture

In the most recent millennium, what is now Iraq has been made up of five cultural areas: Kurdish 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. 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 lyrics.

Gallery

Tigris River near Mosul

Ishtar Gate (Bab Ishtar) 604 to 562 B.C. Ancient Babylon

The Malwiya Minaret in Samarra

Hatra ruins

Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf

Boat on the Euphrates River