الجمهورية العراقية
Al-Jumhuriyah Al-Iraqiyah
كۆماری عێراق
Komara Iraqê
Republic of Iraq
|
|
| Motto: Allahu Akbar (Arabic: God is great) |
| Anthem: Mawtini (New), Ardh Alforatain (Old) 1 |
 |
| Capital |
Baghdad2
33°20′ N 44°26′ E |
| Largest city |
Baghdad |
| Official language(s) |
Arabic, Kurdish3 |
| Government
|
Parliamentary democracy
Jalal Talabani
Ibrahim al-Jaafari |
Independence
Fr. the Ottoman Empire
Fr. the United Kingdom
Fr. the CPA |
October 1, 1919
October 3, 1932
June 28, 2004 |
Area
• Total
• Water (%) |
437,072 km² (58th)
168,754 mi²
1.1% |
Population
• 2005 est.
• [[As of |]] census
• Density |
26,074,906 (45th)
59/km² (112th)
153/mi² |
GDP (PPP)
• Total
• Per capita |
2005 estimate
$89,800,000,000 (58th)
$3,500 (122nd) |
| HDI (2003) |
(n/a) – unranked |
| Currency |
Iraqi dinar (IQD) |
Time zone
• Summer (DST) |
(UTC+3)
(UTC+4) |
| Internet TLD |
.iq |
| Calling code |
+964 |
1The Kurds use Ey Reqîb
2The capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region is Arbil
3Official language in three Kurdish regions |
The Republic of Iraq (Arabic: العراق (help·info); 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 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
- Main article: History of Iraq
Ancient history
The Republic of Iraq sits on land that is historically known as Mesopotamia, which means 'land between the rivers' in Greek. This land was home to some of the world's first civilizations, including the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. 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 Mohammed'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
U.S. troops topple a giant statue of
Saddam Hussein in
Baghdad, following the capture of the city in April.
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. 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.
Saddam's dictatorial and particularly bloody rule lasted throughout the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), in which the United States, Soviet Union, and France backed Saddam after 1982, a war that ended in stalemate; the al-Anfal campaign of the late 1980s, which led to the alleged gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq; Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 resulting in the Gulf War; and the United Nations economic sanctions imposed at the urging of the U.S. The economic sanctions were designed to compel Saddam to dispose of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). [1]. Critics estimate that between 400,000 and 800,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions [2]. 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 in March 2003 by the United States and allies, who established a Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq. The invasion met strong criticism from around the world, and its legality is still debated. (Cf. Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq) Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in 2004, but over 140,000 U.S. and allied troops remain in Iraq, and they continue to exert significant influence over the country. Insurgencies, frequent terrorist attacks and sectarian violence has plagued the country since then and lead to harsh criticism of US Iraq policy.. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Politics
- Main article: Politics of Iraq
Iraq was under Ba'ath Party rule from 1968 to 2003; in 1979 Saddam Hussein took control and remained president until 2003, when 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% majority. [8] The new constitution had overwhelming backing among the Shia and Kurdish communities, as well as among a sizeable minority of the Sunni Arabs of Western Iraq. Three provinces rejected it (Salah ad Din with 82% against, Ninawa with 55% against, and Al Anbar with 97% against), but the final vote against the constitution was not 67%, which would have defeated the constitution. Although fraud is widely believed in the Ninawah results, the results are unlikely to be overturned.
Under the terms of the constitution, the country conducted fresh nationwide parliamentary elections on December 15 to elect a new government. The election was boycotted by most Sunnites.
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 regime Sunnis that had ruled under Saddam that want back the power they had, and Iraqi nationalists that are fighting against what they view as a foreign occupation.
Minority situation
- Main article: Minority politics in Iraq
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 First 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." [citation needed]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, Hussien 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 inIraq 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." [9]
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 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."[10] 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
- Main article: Governorates of Iraq
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:
Geography
- Main article: Geography of Iraq
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.
Snowy mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan
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
- Main article: Economy of Iraq
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%.[11]
Demographics
Distribution of Religious and Ethnic Groups in Iraq
- Main article: Demographics of Iraq
Seventy-five to eighty percent of Iraq's population are Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the Kurds at 15-20%, Assyrians, Turkomans and others (5%), who 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 (possible descendants of the ancient Mesopotamian culture). About 20,000–50,000 Marsh Arabs live in southern Iraq.
Arabic and Kurdish are official languages; English is the most commonly spoken Western language. Assyrian is also used by the country's Assyrian population.
There are more Arab Iraqi Muslim members of the Shiite sect than there are Arab Iraqi Muslims of the Sunni sect; but there is a large Sunni population as well, made up of mostly Arabs and Kurds. (Shiites: 60% of total population made up of mostly Arabs). Iraq's sizable Christian population numbers some 750,000; most are of the Chaldean rite, almost all of whom are Chaldeo-Assyrian people. Bahá'ís, Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis also exist. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
Demographic information from the 2006 edition of the CIA's The World Factbook [12]:
- Ethnic groups: Arab, 75–80%; Kurdish, 15-20%; Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%.
- Religions: Muslim, 97% (Shi'ite, 60-65%; Sunni 32-37%); Christian or other, 3%.
Culture
- Main article: Culture of Iraq
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. 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
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Ishtar Gate (Bab Ishtar) 604 to 562 B.C. Ancient Babylon
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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, 2003-2005, 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)
- 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
Notes
^ Viviano, Frank. "The Kurds in Control." National Geographic, January 2006 pg 26. [13]
^ 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
- Thompson, Dan 2006. American, Interrupted: 14 Months in Iraq. A U.S. Army corporal details American-Iraqi relationships from May 2003 until July 2004.[14]
- 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
News
Overviews
Tourism
Other
- ACTivist Magazine Iraq Article Archive
- Mourningthevote.com Information on US troops in Iraq
- American, Interrupted An American Soldier's Life in Iraq
- H-Museum Iraq site
- Canadian Content - Iraq updated section on security issues
- Lawk Salih News updates, Iraqi Music and Video Clips, Kurdish News, Kurdish Music and Video Clips
- Schema-root.org: Iraq 300 Iraq related topics, each with its own current news feed
- Informed Comment Commentary on war in Iraq from Middle East scholar Juan Cole
- Dahr Jamail Iraq Dispatches News From Inside Iraq
- International Freedom of Expression eXchange monitors attacks on journalists in Iraq
- 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.
- Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) temporary federal agency serving the American public as a watchdog for fraud, waste, and abuse of funds intended for Iraq reconstruction programs.
- Sourcewatch on reconstruction of Iraq contractors.
- Iraq Wiki
- 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
- 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
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq under GFDL
