Iraq

Iraq,[a] officially the Republic of Iraq,[b] is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Saudi Arabia to the south, Iran to the east, Syria to the west, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, and Jordan to the southwest. With a population exceeding 45 million, it is the 35th-most populous country, with the largest city being Baghdad, its capital, and consists of 18 governorates. Iraqi people are diverse; mostly Arabs, as well as Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis, Assyrians, Armenians, Mandaeans, Persians and Shabakis with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Most Iraqis are Muslims – minority faiths include Christianity, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Yarsanism and Judaism.[12][3][13] The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish; others also recognized in specific regions are Assyrian, Turkish, and Armenian.[14]

Starting as early as the 6th millennium BC, the fertile alluvial plains between Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, referred to as the region of Mesopotamia, gave rise to some of the world's earliest cities, civilizations, and empires. It was known as a "Cradle of Civilisation" that saw the inventions of a writing system, mathematics, timekeeping, a calendar, astrology, and a law code. Following the Muslim conquest, Baghdad became the capital and the largest city of the Abbasid Caliphate. During the time of the Islamic Golden Age, the city evolved into a significant cultural and intellectual center, and garnered a worldwide reputation for its academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom.[15] It 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.[16][17][18][19]

Since its independence, Iraq has experienced spells of significant economic and military growth alongside periods of instability and conflict. It was a part of the Ottoman Empire until the end of World War I, after which Mandatory Iraq was established by the British Empire in 1921, followed by independent Kingdom of Iraq in 1932. Following a coup d'état in 1958, it became a republic, led by Abdul Karim Qasim followed by Abdul Salam Arif and then Abdul Rahman Arif. The Ba'ath Party came to power in 1968 and ruled as one-party state, under the leadership of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and then by Saddam Hussein, who started major wars against Iran and Kuwait. In 2003, the Iraq War started after the United States-led coalition invaded Iraq and overthrew the Ba'ath Party. The war subsequently turned into an insurgency and sectarian civil war, with American troops withdrawing in 2011. Between 2013 and 2017, Iraq was once more in a state of war, with the rise and subsequent fall of Islamic State. Today post-war conflict in Iraq continues at a lower scale, which has been an obstacle to the country's stability alongside the rising influence of Iran.[20][21]

A federal parliamentary republic country, Iraq is considered an emerging middle power. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the OPEC as well as of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Aligned Movement, and the International Monetary Fund. With a strategic location, the country has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and is among global centers for oil and gas industry. In addition, the country has been popular for its agriculture and tourism. Since its independence, it has experienced spells of significant economic and military growth alongside periods of instability and conflict. The country is putting efforts to rebuild after the war with foreign support.[22][23][24][25][26]