Portal:Iraq

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The Iraq Portal

A view of Baghdad, Iraq

Iraq (Arabic: الْعِرَاق, romanized: al-ʿIrāq; Kurdish: عێراق, romanized: Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جُمْهُورِيَّة ٱلْعِرَاق Jumhūriīyah al-ʿIrāq; Kurdish: کۆماری عێراق, romanized: Komarî Êraq), is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, Persians, Shabakis, Sabian-Mandaeans, Circassians, and Kawliya, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. The majority of the country's 40 million citizens are Muslims, and other recognized religions include Christians, Yarsans, Yezidis, Zoroastrianism and Mandaeans. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, with other recognized regional languages being English, Neo-Aramaic, Turkish and Armenian.

During ancient times, lands that now constitute Iraq were known as Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”), a region whose extensive alluvial plains gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations and empires since the 6th millennium BC, including those of Akkad, Babylon, Assyria and Sumer, the earliest known civilisation. The "Cradle of Civilisation" is a common term for the area comprising modern Iraq and was the birthplace of many valuable inventions and discoveries, including writing system, mathematics, time, calendar, astrology and law code. It was here that mankind began first to read, write, create laws and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk. Following the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, Baghdad became the capital and the largest city of the Abbasid Caliphate, and during Islamic Golden Age, the city evolved into a significant cultural and intellectual center, and garnered it a worldwide reputation for its academic institutions, including House of Wisdom. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258 during the Siege of Baghdad, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires.

Modern Iraq dates back to 1920, when the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, joining three Ottoman vilayets, was created under the authority of the League of Nations. A British-backed Kingdom was established in 1921 under Faisal I of Iraq. The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from the UK in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, sparking a protracted war which would last for almost eight years, and end in a stalemate with devastating losses for both countries. After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power, and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The US presence in Iraq ended in 2011. But the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian civil war spilled into the country. On 9 December 2017, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over ISIL and announced full liberation of borders with Syria from Islamic State militants. Remnants of ISIL still conduct an ongoing insurgency in the country.

Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic. The president is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government, and the constitution provides for two deliberative bodies, the Council of Representatives and the Council of Union. The judiciary is free and independent of the executive and the legislature.

Iraq is considered an emerging middle power with a strategic location and a founding member of the United Nations, the OPEC as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF. Since its independence, Iraq's political history has been characterized by periods of significant economic and military growth, as well as periods of political and economic instability. (Full article...)

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The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq. The capital city of Baghdad was captured by Coalition forces on 9 April 2003 after the six day long Battle of Baghdad. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May 2003 when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the "end of major combat operations" in his Mission Accomplished speech, after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of several successive transitional governments leading up to the first Iraqi parliamentary election in January 2005. U.S. military forces later remained in Iraq until the withdrawal in 2011.

The U.S.-led coalition sent 177,194 troops into Iraq during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 1 May 2003. About 73% or 130,000 soldiers were American, with about 45,000 British soldiers (25%), 2,000 Australian soldiers (1%), and 194 Polish soldiers (0.1%). Thirty-six other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops assembled in Kuwait by 18 February. The coalition forces also received support from the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan. (Full article...)

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Date palm orchards in Babylon

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Did you know...

...that the oldest known writing system, known as cuneiform, was developed in southern Iraq during the Sumerian civilization.
...that the oldest laws were written in Iraq by the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu.
...that Iraq is second only to Saudi Arabia in oil reserves.
...that the national soccer team of Iraq won the AFC Asian Cup in 2007.
...the wheel was invented in the southern Iraqi city of Ur.
...that Iraq is the largest producer of dates with more than 400 types and more than 22 million date palms.
...that Iraq’s national dish is Masgouf (impaled fish) and its national cookie is Kleicha (meaning circle or wheel), both of which can be traced back to antiquity.
...in the 1940s and 1950s, Iraq had 4/5 of the world's Arecaceae population, these numbers have drastically decreased in the last few decades.

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Saddam in August 1998, preparing to deliver a speech for the 10th anniversary of the end of the Iran–Iraq War

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (/hʊˈseɪn/; Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي, romanized: Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party—which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism—Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup (later referred to as the 17 July Revolution) that brought the party to power in Iraq.

As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflicts between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalised the Iraq Petroleum Company and independent banks, eventually leaving the banking system insolvent due to inflation and bad loans. Through the 1970s, Saddam consolidated his authority over the apparatus of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy grow rapidly. Positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population. (Full article...)

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Louis Raphaël I Sako Rifat Chadirji Nebuchadnezzar II Sennacherib Al-Mu'tasim Al-Mu'tadid Sargon II Justin Meram Gilgamesh Zaha Hadid Ashurbanipal Shalmaneser V Nabonidus Barham Salih Sassoon Eskell Sargon Of Akkad Ilham al-Madfai Kadim Al Sahir Rida Al Abdullah Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi

General images

The following are images from various Iraq-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Iraq national football team pose ahead of their 2019 AFC Asian Cup match against Iran in Dubai. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 2Saddam Hussein promoting women's education in the 1970s (from History of Iraq)
Image 3Muhammad al-Qubbanchi performing Maqam. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 4Al-Mutanabi, regarded as one of the greatest, most prominent and influential poets in the Arabic language, much of his work has been translated into over 20 languages worldwide (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 5Younis Mahmoud is Iraq's all-time most capped player in international matches, having played in 148 official games. (from Sport in Iraq)
Image 6a list of gifts, Adab, 26th century BC (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 7British ruled Mesopotamia in pink (from History of Iraq)
Image 8Iraqi music group led by Yusuf Za'arur in Baghdad, wearing the sidara, ca 1930. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 9Zaha Hadid was an Iraqi architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She is known for being influenced by Sumerian ancient cities. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 10"Entry of Alexander into Babylon", a 1665 painting by Charles LeBrun, depicts Alexander the Great's uncontested entry into the city of Babylon, envisioned with pre-existing Hellenistic architecture. (from History of Iraq)
Image 11Hammurabi (standing), depicted as receiving his royal insignia from Shamash (or possibly Marduk). Hammurabi holds his hands over his mouth as a sign of prayer (relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws). (from History of Iraq)
Image 12Munir Bashir, an acclaimed musician. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 13U.S. Army soldier searches an Iraqi boy, March 2011 (from History of Iraq)
Image 14Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq 1932–1959 (from History of Iraq)
Image 15Colossal statue of the god Nabu, 8th century BC, from Nimrudis the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes and wisdom, on display in the National Museum of Iraq (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 16The Tower of Babel is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 17Kuwait became a Governorate of Iraq (from History of Iraq)
Image 18Riyadh Alazzawi fighting for his seventh world heavyweight kickboxing title in his hometown of Baghdad, Iraq. (from Sport in Iraq)
Image 19Sumerian Cuneiform (from History of Iraq)
Image 20An Assyrian lamassu, from Sargon's palace at Dur-Sharrukin. (from History of Iraq)
Image 21Occupation zones in Iraq in September 2003 (from History of Iraq)
Image 22Facade of Temple at Hatra, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 23Nazem Ghazali was one of the most popular singers in the history of Iraq and in the arab world. His songs are still heard by many in the Arab world. He was known by his maqam songs. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 24Inside the Shanidar Cave (from History of Iraq)
Image 25Ilham Madfai, "The Baghdad Beatle". Madfai's synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a popular performer in his native country and throughout the Middle East. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 26Iraq Museum (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 27Masghouf fish, one of Iraq's national dishes, a Mesopotamian cuisine dating back to ancient times, typically fish caught from the rivers of Euphrates and Tigris, and grilled near the river bed (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 28Iraqi market in Mosul, 1932 (from History of Iraq)
Image 29The Age of the Caliphs
  Prophet Mohammad, 622–632

  Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661

  Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750
(from History of Iraq)
Image 30Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent (from History of Iraq)
Image 31A Lamassu, from the entrance into the kings private apartments; 865–860 BC (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 32Flood Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 33The Mongol Empire's expansion (from History of Iraq)
Image 34This earthenware dish was made in 9th-century Iraq. It is housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (from History of Iraq)
Image 35Parts of Iraq and neighbouring countries formed a part of the Roman Empire (from History of Iraq)
Image 36The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Iraq Museum, Baghdad. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 37Kadim Al Sahir known as "The Caesar" of Arabic songs. Considered as one of the most successful singers in the history of the Arab World. (from Music of Iraq)
Image 38The Lion of Babylon of The Ishtar Gate has remained a prominent symbol of Iraqi culture throughout history. (from Culture of Iraq)
Image 39Soldier in the ruins of the Ministry of Defence in the aftermath of the Ramadan Revolution (from History of Iraq)