The Republic of Iraq (officially: Arabic جمهورية العراق, DMG
Ǧumhūriyyat al-'Irāq , Kurdish كۆماری عێراق Komarî Êraq), or Iraq
for short, is a state in the Middle East. Iraq is bordered by
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and the Persian
Gulf, and includes most of the Mesopotamia "Mesopotamia"
located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, where the earliest
advanced civilizations of the Near East emerged, as well as parts
the adjacent desert and mountain regions. The northern part of the country is formed
by the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, which has its own parliament,
its own armed forces and its own official language Kurdish.
With about 38 million inhabitants, Iraq is one of the five largest
countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is the
metropolis of Baghdad, other megacities are Basra, Mosul,
Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Najaf, Kirkuk and Kerbela. Refugee movements
in the 20th and 21st centuries led to rapid urbanization in the
country. Iraq ranks fourth in the world ranking of most
resource-rich countries, and its economy is based primarily on oil
exports and to a lesser extent on agriculture.
Today's Iraq
emerged in 1920 from the three Ottoman provinces of Baghdad, Mosul
and Basra. From 1921 to 1958, consisted Kingdom of Iraq, in 1958
the king was a military coup deposed and proclaimed a republic. From
1979 to 2003, the country was ruled by Saddam Hussein dictatorial,
the country waged war against its neighbors Iran and Kuwait. The
Irankrieg was supported by the Soviet Union and the USA. A
multinational invasion force ("Coalition of the Willing ") led by
the United States overthrew regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, but
failed to build stable structures for the post-war era. The
infrastructure of the country was largely destroyed.
After
the declared end of the war, during the occupation of Iraq in
2003-2011, there were civil war-like conditions, thousands of
terrorist attacks, acts of war and violent crime, both of different
Iraqi groups against each other and against the Western occupation
forces. Above all, they demanded an unknown number of casualties and
casualties among Iraqi civilians. In 2010, most of the foreign
troops were withdrawn after a relative stabilization of the country
had been achieved. The deduction was completed on 18 December 2011.
In June 2014, Islamic ISIS militants conquered parts of the national
territory as part of the 2014 Iraq crisis. According to the
Pentagon, about 55,000 square kilometers were under IS control in
January 2015, which corresponds to about 13% of the national
territory. In December 2017, the Iraqi government announced that the
Iraqi forces had taken complete control of the Syrian-Iraqi border
and that the war against ISIS was over.
The name appeared in the 7th-8th centuries after the Arab conquest of the territory along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, inhabited in ancient times. The Arabic word العراق al-ʿIrāq means "shore, coast".
The territory of Iraq was inhabited already in the
period of the Middle Paleolithic, as evidenced by the finds of
Neanderthals in the Shanidar cave.
Ancient period
The fertile
region of Mesopotamia, in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, became
one of the first places of origin of human civilization. At first,
Sumerian city-states appeared here (Ur, Uruk, Babylon, etc.), then
Semitic tribes migrated here, the leader of one of which Sargon the
Ancient creates the Akkadian Empire. Babylon gradually became the center
of ancient Mesopotamia. In I millennium BC. Assyria arose in Mesopotamia
with its center in Nineveh. The dominant language at that time was
Aramaic. After the death of Assyria, hegemony passed to the Chaldeans.
The Persian king Cyrus II the Great conquers Babylon and includes
Mesopotamia in his state, the end of which is put by the conquest of
Alexander the Great. Then the power over these lands passes to the
Hellenistic state of the Seleucids. In the II century BC. Mesopotamia
was invaded by the Parthians and then by the Romans of Trajan, resulting
in the Roman province of Mesopotamia. In the 3rd century, the Romans
were forced out of Mesopotamia by the Sassanids.
Arab Caliphate
Arabs begin to penetrate into the territory of Iraq in the period of
late Antiquity (Lahmids). In 636, Caliph Umar finally conquers
Mesopotamia, bringing Islam here. The first Arab centers of Iraq were
the cities of Al-Kufa and Basra. Under Caliph Ali, Iraq becomes the
scene of a civil war (First Fitna), and Al-Kufa becomes the residence of
the Caliph. The name of Caliph Ali is associated with the emergence of
Shiites, who now constitute the religious majority in Iraq. In 762
Caliph Al-Mansur builds Baghdad and makes it the capital of the Arab
Caliphate (Abbasids). The Caliphate of Baghdad reached its peak under
Harun al-Rashid, whose image was idealized in the fairy tale "1001
Nights". In 945, power in Iraq passes to the Iranian Buyids, which ends
with the Seljuk Togrul-bek. The fall of the Caliphate comes with the
Mongol invasion in 1258, when Baghdad was destroyed and the Caliph
killed.
Turkic period
After the Mongol invasion, Iraq entered
the state of the Hulaguids, in which the Turkic element gradually
increased. In 1340, the Jalairids began to rule Iraq, which ended in
1393 with the campaign of Tamerlane. Then the power here is divided by
various Turkic groups Kara-Koyunlu, Ak-Koyunlu and Safavids (Kizilbash).
In 1534, the territory of Mesopotamia was conquered by the Ottoman Turks
and was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1914, British troops invaded
southern Iraq. By 1918, they had taken control of almost all of Iraq.
Kingdom of Iraq
In 1921, the Kingdom of Iraq was proclaimed
(Arabic for “land between the shores”). The League of Nations Mandate
for the territory of Mesopotamia, issued by Great Britain, was valid
until 1932.
In 1932, the independence of Iraq was proclaimed, but
the real power largely remained with Great Britain, the oil fields were
in the concession of the Turkish petroleum consortium. In 1948, the
British government imposed the Treaty of Portsmouth on Iraq, which gave
the UK the right to occupy the country in the event of a military
threat.
During the existence of the kingdom, it twice joined the
Middle Eastern regional military-political pacts created with the
assistance and influence of Great Britain: in 1937 - the Middle Eastern
Entente, which formally existed until 1948, and in 1955 Iraq signed the
Baghdad Pact.
In 1958, a single Arab Federation was formed with the
Kingdom of Jordan.
Iraqi revolutions
On July 14, 1958, as a
result of a conspiracy of officers and a revolution, the king, regent
and prime minister of the country were killed, the monarchy was
destroyed, Iraq was proclaimed a republic. Iraqi army brigade commander
Abdel Kerim Qasem became head of the new regime. The Arab Federation is
disintegrating. In 1961, Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact, British
military bases in the country are closed. The rule of General Kasem
develops into a dictatorship and politically draws closer to the
communists.
On September 11, 1961, a new Kurdish uprising begins
under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani.
1962 Barzani rebels
establish control over the entire mountainous part of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The so-called Free Kurdistan arises, which lasted until March 1975.
On February 8, 1963, the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Baath) came
to power as a result of a coup. The former Prime Minister Abdel Kerim
Kasem was executed, mass repressions against the communists were
launched. Saddam Hussein returned from exile from Cairo and condemned
the then Ba'ath leadership for these repressions.
November 18, 1963 -
power passed to the military junta led by Abdel Salam Aref. A number of
Baath leaders were executed, Saddam Hussein was arrested and tortured in
prison.
July 17, 1968 - The Ba'ath Party regained power. The country
was headed by General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, who was the cousin of Saddam
Hussein. Ba'ath allies with the Iraqi Communist Party.
On March 11,
1970, a Kurdish-Iraqi treaty was concluded on the formation of an
autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, the boundaries of which were to be
determined within a four-year period on the basis of a population census
(actually never carried out).
On April 9, 1972, an agreement was
signed between Iraq and the USSR on friendship and cooperation.
In
March 1974, without the consent of the Kurds, the government version of
the law on autonomy was published. In response, the Kurds, led by
Massoud Barzani, start a new uprising.
On March 5, 1975, in the city
of Algiers, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran conclude an agreement
that satisfies the Shah's claims regarding the border regime of the
Shatt al-Arab River. After that, the Shah stops supporting Barzani. The
Kurdish uprising fails, Free Kurdistan is liquidated.
In January
1977, repression began against the Iraqi Communist Party, a junior
partner of the Ba'ath Party in the Popular Front.
July 16, 1979 -
palace coup in Baghdad - resignation of President al-Bakr; 1979-2003 -
President of Iraq - Saddam Hussein.
In 1979, the Iraqi Communist
Party goes underground and starts a guerrilla war in the mountains of
Iraqi Kurdistan, in which Kurdish nationalists gradually begin to
participate.
1980-1988 - Iran-Iraq war started by Iraq.
On June 7,
1981, 14 Israeli fighter-bombers destroy two Iraqi nuclear reactors
(Operation Opera), operating and under construction, as well as related
research laboratories. The reactors were created with the help of
France.
1987-1989 - the Iraqi army is conducting an Anfal military
campaign against guerrilla groups of Kurds and Iraqi communists in the
north of the country, which included the widespread use of chemical
weapons. According to various estimates, from 100 to 180 thousand
civilians were killed during the operation (on March 16, 1988, 5
thousand Kurds of the city of Halabja died from a gas attack. Kurds and
Iranians blamed Saddam Hussein for this attack. According to the Iraqi
version, supported by the US State Department , the attack on the
civilian population was inflicted by Iran during the offensive (although
in fact the attack was carried out after Halabja was occupied by the
combined forces of Iranians and Kurdish rebels).However, the
investigation of international human rights organizations (primarily
Human Rights Watch) confirmed the guilt Saddam Hussein In January 2010,
Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was convicted and sentenced to death
by an Iraqi court of gas attack and sentenced to death, the gas attack
itself was recognized as an act of genocide.The attack was carried out
using sarin, tabun and VX, and that Iraq was producing sarin and tabun
during the war.According to other sources, only cyanogen chloride was
used, which Iraq did not have, but was in service with Iran. The attack
was carried out using MiG and Mirage aircraft, which the Iraqi Air Force
had and the Iranian Air Force did not have.
August 2, 1990 - The
Iraqi army invades Kuwait. The country is occupied and annexed by Iraq.
Confrontation with the West
January 17 - February 28, 1991 - Gulf
War; after five weeks of aerial bombardment and four days of ground war,
Kuwait was liberated by the forces of an international coalition led by
the United States.
March 1991 - Kurdish uprising in the north and
smaller scale Shiite unrest in southern Iraq (Basra) are brutally
suppressed by the Iraqi army with thousands of victims. This led to a
humanitarian catastrophe - more than 1 million refugees (mostly Kurds)
arrived in Turkey and Iran. International troops were sent to the
northern regions of Iraq to provide humanitarian assistance (Operation
Provide Comfort).
Summer-autumn 1991 - the operation of the NATO
forces "Restoring comfort", as a result of which the Iraqi troops, and
behind them the authorities, were withdrawn from the three provinces of
Kurdistan (Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Dohuk). Kurdish power is established in
these provinces and, in fact, a semi-independent entity is emerging,
called "Free Kurdistan". The Iraqi Communist Party was given the
opportunity to operate legally in the region.
1994-1998 - Civil war
in Free Kurdistan between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. In 1995, Iran intervenes in the war on the
side of the PUK and Saddam Hussein on the side of the KDP. Two separate
administrations are formed: Erbil (government of the KDP, provinces of
Erbil and Dohuk) and Sulaimaniya (PUK). In the end, Americans reconcile
both opposing parties (Washington Treaty of 1998).
1998 - Operation
"Fox in the Desert" (American air raids on Baghdad).
2001 - After the
events in New York on September 11, 2001, US President George W. Bush
accused Iraq, among other "rogue states" of supporting international
terrorism and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Iraqi War
March 20 - May 1, 2003 - the invasion of
the international coalition troops (the main participants are the United
States and Great Britain) into Iraq without a mandate from the UN
Security Council in order to overthrow Saddam Hussein, as well as to
destroy weapons of mass destruction, which were subsequently never
discovered. On May 1, George W. Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln
proclaims: "The tyrant has fallen, Iraq is free!" and declares the war
won. The American Jay Garner, then Paul Bremer, becomes the head of the
interim administration of Iraq.
2003 - Shiite extremist groups and
the Iraqi Communist Party come out of the underground. The Ba'ath Party
goes underground and organizes a guerrilla war.
On July 22, 2003, in
the suburbs of Mosul, the Americans killed two of Saddam's sons and his
14-year-old grandson, first in a shootout and then by bombing the house
where they were hiding.
Since the summer of 2003, a guerrilla war
began, which reached its maximum by the summer of 2007.
2004 - Mahdi
Army uprising.
On December 30, 2006, former Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein was executed by hanging.
By the end of 2008, attacks on
international forces and the Iraqi police had almost ceased. Terrorist
acts continued, as a result of which the civilian population suffered.
Part of the rebels legalized and received salaries as members of the
so-called "Sunni militia". The commander of the Iraqi Resistance, Izzat
Ibrahim al-Douri, remained in hiding despite all efforts to capture him.
On March 7, 2010, parliamentary elections were held, but as a result of
the behind-the-scenes struggle around the election results, the
parliament did not meet and the government was not formed. It was only
on November 10 that a fragile agreement was reached regarding the
distribution of power in the country between parties and groups.
On
December 15, 2011, a ceremony was held at Baghdad International Airport
to complete the mission of the US military forces in Iraq (Eng. United
States Forces - Iraq). After a speech by US Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta, the bilingual flag of the US military in Iraq was lowered and
folded, symbolically ending the military campaign in Iraq, which lasted
almost 9 years.
Civil War
As a result of the expansion of the
Islamic State terrorist organization, a civil war broke out in Iraq. On
June 5, 2016, government troops liberated most of the territory of the
state.
During the conflict, the armed forces of Iraqi Kurdistan
liberated from the armed gangs of ISIS and temporarily occupied several
settlements in Sinjar, including the oil-bearing Kirkuk.
On
December 9, 2017, Iraq announced the end of the war with the Islamic
State.
The territory of Iraq is 435,052 km² (58th in terms of
area among the countries of the world). It is located in the north of
the Arabian Peninsula and is washed by the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Most of Iraq is located within the Mesopotamian lowland, which is a
foredeep separating the Precambrian Arabian platform and the young
highlands of the Alpine-Himalayan mobile belt.
Relief
The
northern part of the Mesopotamian lowland is a denudation-accumulative
plain 200–500 m high, complicated by individual remnant massifs up to
1460 m high (Sinjar Mountains), the southern part of Mesopotamia is a
swampy alluvial lowland no more than 100 m high. southwest, located
within the Syrian-Arabian stratal plateau up to 900 m high, occupied by
the Syrian desert and the El-Hijar desert. In the north of Iraq, low
ridges of the Armenian Highlands stretch, passing in the north-east of
the country into the medium-altitude ridges of the Iranian Highlands
with the highest point of Iraq - Mount Haji Ibrahim (3587 m). These
mountainous regions are characterized by increased seismicity.
Inland waters
The main water arteries of the country are the Tigris
and Euphrates, crossing the Mesopotamian lowland from the northwest to
the southeast and merging in the lower reaches of the Shatt al-Arab,
which flows into the Persian Gulf. The waters of the Euphrates, which
has no significant tributaries in Iraq, are used for irrigation. The
Tigris with tributaries Big Zab, Little Zab and Diyala has hydroelectric
power stations. Regular navigation is possible mainly along the Shatt
al-Arab river. In the spring, floods occur on the rivers, to combat
which flood reservoirs have been created, allowing the use of
accumulated water in the dry season. The depressions of the Mesopotamian
lowland are replete with lakes: El Milh, El Hammar, Es Saadia, El
Habbaniya. In the deserts, temporary streams flow during the rains.
Used since the civilization of Ancient Mesopotamia, the fertile
alluvial soils of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, as a result of
centuries of irrational practice of irrigated agriculture, in many
places have turned into salt marshes, takyrs, and sandy deserts. But
even now irrigated lands predominate here. Most of the rest of the
territory of Iraq is occupied by desert grass-wormwood steppes,
semi-deserts and tropical deserts (in the south). Forests, occupying 2%
of the country's area, grow in the mountains (oaks, pistachios,
junipers, changing to the foothills of maquis and thorny bushes) and
along the valleys of large rivers (tamarisk, willow, Euphrates turanga).
The upper slopes of the highest ranges are occupied by alpine meadows.
Date palms are cultivated in southern Iraq.
Minerals
The main
minerals of Iraq are oil and gas, the deposits of which stretch from the
northwest to the southeast of the country along the Mesopotamian
foredeep and belong to the oil and gas basin of the Persian Gulf. In the
Syrian Desert, there are industrially significant phosphorite deposits
belonging to the East Mediterranean phosphorite-bearing basin. The
country also has deposits of sulfur, gypsum, talc, asbestos, salt, clay,
limestone, chromite, iron, lead-zinc, copper, nickel ores and other
minerals.
Climate
The climate in Iraq is continental, with dry
and exceptionally hot summers and relatively rainy cool winters,
subtropical in the north and tropical in the south. The average January
temperatures increase from north to south from 7 to 12 °С (there is snow
in the mountains), the average July temperatures are 34 °С everywhere
(on some days they can reach 50 °С). The annual rainfall is 50-150 mm in
the plains and up to 1500 mm in the mountains. Dust storms are frequent
in the south in summer.
Animal world
The fauna of Iraq, as a
result of degradation of habitats and military operations, is severely
depleted, and protected areas (having a low status of protection) occupy
only 0.001% of the country's area. Of the large mammals, the wolf,
hyena, Persian antelope, gazelle, caracal, and jackal have been
preserved. There are many rodents, reptiles and dangerous arthropods
(scorpion, phalanx, locust). In the deltas of the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, as well as in the swamps along their course and in Lake Tartar,
marsh crocodiles live. 170 species of birds nest in the country
(including the almost extinct endemics of Iraq - the Iraqi warbler and
the Iraqi thrush-thrush) and 230 species of birds winter (rare Dalmatian
pelican, pink flamingo and others). The International Union for the
Conservation of Birds proposes to include 3.5 million hectares of bird
areas of international importance in the protected areas of Iraq.
According to estimates for 2009, there are
approximately 31 million inhabitants in Iraq.
According to some
sources, Shiites in Iraq represent 65% of the population, Sunnis - 35%
(obviously, only the Muslim population is meant). According to other
sources (the 1997 census, the results of which were submitted to the
UN), in the country, on the contrary, there are 66% Sunnis, and 34%
Shiites.
The 1997 census was not conducted in the three provinces
of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is why its results are called into question by
a number of experts.
Shiites live in the south, Kurds - in the
north, Christians - dispersed.
Under Saddam Hussein, the Shiites
were less represented in government, and the United States counted on
their support before the invasion. However, despite the calls of most of
the Shiite clergy for neutrality in relation to the occupying power, the
Shiite population began to gradually become politicized and began jihad
against the Americans and collaborators. The center of the
crystallization of the Shiite Resistance was the so-called Mahdi Army,
formally headed by the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
There are
850,000 Assyrians in Iraq. After the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in
2003, Assyrians were abducted and killed, and their temples were set on
fire.
The vice-presidents of Iraq during Saddam Hussein's
time were Taha Yassin Ramadan and Taha Mohi ed-Din Ma'ruf, who were
Kurds by origin.
The most peaceful Iraqi region remains the
semi-independent "Kurdistan Region", in which the previously warring
Kurdish parties finally came to an agreement: the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) (leader - Masoud Barzani), which controls most of the
provinces of Erbil and Dahuk and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK )
(Jalal Talabani), under whose authority is the southern part of Iraqi
Kurdistan, the main city of which is Sulaymaniyah. Despite formal unity,
both parts of Iraqi Kurdistan are completely separate and differently
administered territories.
These organizations have taken control
of Iraqi Kurdistan since the defeat of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf
War.
With the defeat of the Iraqi army in March-April 2003,
Kurdish Peshmerga detachments, controlled by the PUK and KDP, moving
from Free Kurdistan, took control of Kirkuk, Mosul and some adjacent
territories, to some extent also inhabited by Kurds, and carried out
large-scale purges there, expelling Arab settlers who were given lands
taken from the Kurds in the course of Saddam's "Arabization" policy.
This caused violent protests on the one hand of the Arabs, on the other
hand of Turkey, which feared the establishment of Kurdish control over
the oil center - Kirkuk, and as a result - the formation of an
independent Kurdistan in Iraq and the strengthening of the Kurdish
movement in Turkey itself; Officially, Ankara stated that it was afraid
of reprisals against the Turkic-speaking minority (Turcomans). The
latter live compactly in some areas of Iraq and, in particular, around
Kirkuk. In the census at the end of the 50s, the Turks made up 80% of
the population of this city; despite a long-standing enmity with the
Kurds, under Saddam they fell victim to "Arabization" along with the
latter.
Since 2003, the two main Kurdish parties have operated in
close cooperation; questions about power were largely resolved by an
agreement between Barzani and Talabani, according to which the first
should be elected president of Iraq, the second - the president of Iraqi
Kurdistan, and all posts and seats in parliament would be divided
according to the 50:50 formula. Therefore, the Kurdish parties went to
the parliamentary elections on December 15, 2005 with one list; The
Alliance of Kurdish Parties won 53 seats in the 275-seat parliament.
The adoption of the new Iraqi constitution at the same time finally
legitimized the broad autonomy of the “Kurdistan region”. At the same
time, the officially proclaimed goal of the Kurdish parties is not
independence, but federation. With an extremely weak central government,
this means that the Kurdish leaders will continue to rule their
territory as they please, with the tacit consent of the Americans. In
particular, when entering Iraq from Turkey through the Khabur border
crossing or Erbil airport, an Iraqi visa (worth $81) is not required.
Moreover, by putting a Kurdish border stamp on entry into Iraqi
Kurdistan (free of charge), foreigners, in particular Turkish
businessmen, have the legal right to stay for 10 days, if they so wish,
in any settlement in Iraq outside Kurdistan.
In April 2005,
Talabani was elected president of Iraq.
On March 16, 2006, on the 18th anniversary of the gas
attack, riots began in the Kurdish city of Halabja (Talabani control
zone). An angry mob of Kurds burned down the “gasification” memorial
museum and destroyed almost all of its exhibits. The police opened fire
on the crowd, a 14-year-old teenager died, several dozen people were
injured. Angry residents who destroyed the museum said that it was the
only building in the city of 80,000 that the Iraqi Kurdistan authorities
had bothered to build there in more than a decade, while the problems of
water supply, electricity and road paving in the city were not solved:
"We are fed up with these liars [Kurdish politicians] and we don't want
to see them in our city."
There is limited pluralism in Iraqi
Kurdistan, with an active Kurdistan branch of the Iraqi Communist Party,
as well as a small Maoist Communist Party. At the same time, the
activities of Islamist parties are prohibited. The Islamist enclave in
Halabja, created by Ansar al-Islam, was liquidated by the PUK in 2003
after US bombing there; however, the Kurdish Islamists driven
underground are very active, they operate, in particular, outside of
Iraqi Kurdistan.
On June 12, 2005, the Kurdistan Parliament
proclaimed Masoud Barzani the president of the region. In May 2006, the
Kurdistan Parliament approved a unified government in place of the two
rival control centers in Erbil (KDP) and Sulaymaniyah (PUK). The new
cabinet was headed by Masoud Barzani's nephew, Nechirvan Barzani. The
post of Deputy Prime Minister was taken by the representative of the PUK
Omar Fattah. The new government is subject to 26 united ministries. The
Ministries of Finance, Justice, Interior and Peshmerga Affairs (that is,
the Ministry of War) will function autonomously for the next 6-12
months. On July 25, 2009, Barzani was re-elected president in the
general election with over 68% of the vote.
In the spring of
2009, the Gorran (Change) movement, led by Talabani's former deputy
Nushirvan Mustafa, broke away from the PUK. It took a sharply
oppositional position towards both ruling parties, accusing them of
corruption and undemocraticity. accompanied in Sulaimani by mutual
violence between supporters of Gorran and the PUK, the first received 25
parliamentary seats (mainly in Suleymaniye) out of a total of 111. In
addition to Gorran, the opposition in the Kurdistan Parliament is
represented by 10 deputies from moderate Islamist parties: the Islamic
Movement of Kurdistan and the Islamic Group of Kurdistan.
Yezidis are an ethno-religious group of Kurds, mainly
living in the north of Iraq, in particular in the province of Mosul. The
main area of compact residence of the Yezidis is the areas of Ain
Sifni, Sinjar and Dahuk. In the Dahuk region, there is also the main
shrine of the Yezidis - Lalesh. Estimates of the number of Yezidis in
Iraq range from 300,000 to 800,000.
In 2012, an agreement was
signed between the head of the Yezidi Party for Reforms and Progress in
Iraq and the President of Iraq to establish the Yezidi Autonomy
(Ezdihan) in northern Iraq on a total area of 15,000 square kilometers
in the provinces of Ain Sifni, Sinjar (Shangal) and Dohuk.
Ezdihan is one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq. Thus, as a result
of a series of explosions in the Sinjar region on August 14, 2007, more
than 500 people were killed, because of which thousands of Yezidis left
their historical homeland.
Shabaki
The Shabaks are an
ethno-religious group of Kurds who live east of Mosul. The estimated
number of Shabaks for 2017 is between 200,000 and 500,000 people.
The Sunni Triangle, central Iraq west of Baghdad, is the region
where guerrilla warfare against US forces has been most vicious.
Under Saddam, retired soldiers settled in the region. Since 2003,
these cities have been purged several times. In addition to the
Americans, detachments of Shiite militants and Kurds, formed by the
Americans, who treated the settlements of the region as enemy
territories, took part in the cleansing of the Sunni areas.
First, the coalition lost control of the "Sunni Triangle", the
territory located between the cities of Fallujah, Baakuba and
Ramadi. And by the summer, the situation had changed in the north of
the country - in the Mosul region, the rebels gradually strengthened
their positions.
The Americans announced that Fallujah was a
stronghold of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the leaders of the Sunni
resistance. They completely lost control of the city.
Statistics show that his death on June 7, 2006 did not reduce the
average monthly losses of coalition troops.
In the fall of
2004, American troops launched a massive operation against the
resistance forces in the Sunni Triangle.
In early October,
after three days of fighting, the city of Samarra was taken. After
that, all forces were sent to capture the cities of Fallujah and
Ramadi. Fallujah was blocked, while at the same time massive bombing
attacks were carried out on it. The main demand made by the
Americans was the extradition by the city authorities of Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, allegedly hiding in the city, whose head the Pentagon
estimated at $25 million.
The operation to storm Fallujah was
carried out for 1.5-2 weeks in mid-November. The operation was
intended to stop the escalation of violence and ensure conditions
for holding free elections on January 25, 2005. To solve this
problem, the Iraqi authorities introduced a state of emergency in
the country for a period of 60 days.
The storming of the city
became a political and psychological action. Without the
establishment of effective control of the Iraqi authorities over the
city, it would have to be recaptured in a few months.
The
operation, codenamed Phantom Fury, involved 12,000 American troops
and 3,000 fighters from the new Iraqi army.
According to
official figures, during the operation, about 1200 militants were
killed, 450-500 were taken prisoner. During the assault, most of
Fallujah was turned into ruins - houses, mosques, power lines, and
city water were destroyed.
The US takeover of Fallujah did
nothing to end the guerrilla war, and the excessive use of force was
seen as barbaric by much of the Arab world.
In the elections
to the constituent assembly, held in January 2005, almost only Shia
Arabs and Sunni Kurds participated. Sunni Arabs, who are in the
minority, simply did not go to the elections, where they were
guaranteed defeat, and were practically excluded from the political
life of the country. Naturally, the bloc of Shiite parties won.
In the autumn of 2005, the Sunni parties called on their
supporters to reject the draft of a new constitution drafted by the
Constituent Assembly, which is being put to a referendum on 15
October. The Sunnis claimed that the new constitution was imposed on
them by the Shiites and Kurds and that this document undermines the
state and territorial unity of the country. In their opinion, the
federalization of Iraq, enshrined in the project, provides an
opportunity for the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south
to have a virtual monopoly on oil revenues.
Thanks to the
intervention of the League of Arab States, after lengthy
negotiations, the largest Sunni association - the Islamic Party of
Iraq - agreed to support the draft constitution. In turn, the
Shiites and Kurds promised to create a parliamentary commission to
finalize the controversial points of the document.
In the
elections to the National Assembly, held on December 15, 2005, the
Shia United Iraqi Alliance won (128 seats in the 275-seat
parliament). The Shiites, however, failed to become the majority
faction as in the previous provisional legislature. According to
observers, this was due to the refusal of the Sunni parties to
boycott the elections. As a result, the two largest Sunni parties
won 55 seats.
The Ba'ath Party was organized in the city of Al-Nasiriyah by
Shiites-Baathists in the late 40s of the XX century. At the
beginning of the occupation of Iraq by American troops, Iraqi
Shiites represented the majority in it. According to the so-called
"55 list" published by the US occupying forces, 35 of Iraq's 55
former leaders were Shiites. The proportion of Shiites in the Baath
party was 62% of the party leadership.
After the occupation
of Iraq, part of the Shiite region of the country (the far south)
was controlled by British forces. Unlike the Americans, they did not
rudely interfere in the political life of the region and did not
carry out large-scale cleansing. In this regard, the real power in
the region gradually passed into the hands of the Mahdi Army in
coalition with other political structures. This coalition took
control of the transportation of oil through the port of Basra, and
the Baghdad authorities lost all control over the situation in the
region.
According to official statements by the occupying
forces, Iran is behind many of the attacks against them. However,
this country fully controls and finances the Supreme Council of the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SSIRI), an influential political
component of the Iraqi government (of a Shiite religious
orientation), and its paramilitary wing, the BADR, which organized
terrorist attacks against the leadership of Iraq during the
Iran-Iraq war. Paradoxically, Americans also maintain good relations
with these organizations.
The ASIRI is counterbalanced by the
formally disbanded in 2004, but even more strengthened "Mahdi Army",
headed by Muqtada Sadr. He positions himself as "the quintessence of
Iraqi nationalism" and controls not only the Shiite south, but also
the Baghdad suburb of Madinat Sadr (Sadr City).
In the
elections to the National Assembly, held on December 15, 2005, the
Shia United Iraqi Alliance won (128 seats in the 275-seat
parliament). The Shiites, however, failed to become the majority
faction as in the previous provisional legislature.
According to the results of the study of the international charitable
Christian organization "Open Doors" for 2020, Iraq ranks 15th in the
list of countries where the rights of Christians are most often
oppressed.
After the rule of ISIS (2013-2017), some Christians
find it difficult to recover and some are still being persecuted by
ISIS. Also, Christians have always been and are being persecuted by
Muslims.
The main population - the Arabs - speak the Iraqi dialect of the Arabic language. The largest national minority, the Kurds, who live mainly in the Kurdistan region, speak Kurdish dialects, mainly Central Kurdish and Northern Kurdish. The official languages according to the constitution are Arabic and Kurdish. Other languages may be used in areas densely populated by national minorities.
According to the 2005 constitution, Iraq is a federal parliamentary
republic based on the consensus of the three main ethno-religious
communities of the Iraqi people: Shia Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Sunnis largely led the country,
and after his overthrow they found themselves in opposition.
In
the elections to the Constituent Assembly, held in January 2005, almost
only Shia Arabs and Kurds participated. Sunni Arabs boycotted the
elections, and only Shiites and Kurds were represented in the
Constituent Assembly, while Sunnis were practically excluded from the
political life of the country.
In the autumn of 2005, the Sunni
parties called on their supporters to reject the draft of a new
constitution, which is being put to a referendum on 15 October. The
Sunnis claimed that the new constitution was imposed on them by the
Shiites and Kurds and that this document undermines the state and
territorial unity of the country. In their opinion, the federalization
of Iraq, enshrined in the project, provides an opportunity for the Kurds
in the north and the Shiites in the south to have a virtual monopoly on
oil revenues.
Thanks to the intervention of the League of Arab
States (LAS), the largest Sunni group - the Islamic Party of Iraq -
agreed to support the draft constitution. In turn, the Shiites and Kurds
promised to create a parliamentary commission to finalize the
controversial points of the document.
In the parliamentary
elections - the National Assembly, held on December 15, 2005, the Shiite
United Iraqi Alliance won (140 seats in the 275-seat parliament). The
Shiites were able to become the majority faction, while the largest
Sunni parties received 18 seats and the Alliance of Kurdish Parties 75
seats. The rest of the seats were distributed among smaller parties of
various ethnic and religious affiliations.
The last parliamentary
elections were held on May 12, 2018, with the largest number of seats
won by: Reform Alliance led by Muqtada al-Sadr (54), Fatah Alliance led
by Hadi al-Amiri (47), Victory Alliance led by former Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi (42), as well as the State of Law with Nuri al-Maliki
(25) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (25). The State of Law bloc, led
by former Prime Minister Ayyad Alavi won 91 out of 325 seats in the
country's parliament.
According to the Economist Intelligence
Unit, the country in 2018 was classified on the Democracy Index as a
hybrid regime.
Parliament
The Iraqi National Assembly (Iraqi
Parliament) consists of one 325-seat Council of Representatives, elected
from party lists. The upper house (Council of the Union) has not yet
been formed.
Government
The government (cabinet of ministers)
is formed by the largest parliamentary faction and is headed by the
prime minister.
The Shiites believed that they would be able to
form a government without taking into account the opinions of other
groups of the population, but the United States demanded that a
government of national unity be formed with the following
post-separation scheme: the country's prime minister (a key position
under the Iraqi constitution) is a Shiite, the president is a Kurd, and
the chairman of the parliament is Sunni. Two deputies for these
officials should complement their chief. This means, for example, that
one vice-presidential post will always be assigned to Shiites and
Sunnis.
The American demand angered the Shiites, especially Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, but the Americans managed to convince them
of the need for such an approach. And Ibrahim al-Jaafari in April 2006
had to give up his post to Javad (Nuri) al-Maliki, who enjoys the
support of Muqtada al-Sadr and the spiritual leader of Iraq, Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Despite the parliamentary elections
held on March 7, 2010, the winning parties were mired in endless
squabbles, the new parliament did not meet, and only by November 10 was
it possible to allegedly achieve a fragile agreement on the formation of
a government and the division of power in the country.
The Iraqi Constitution is the basic law adopted by popular referendum on October 15, 2005. The constitution consists of 5 sections, some of the sections are divided into chapters, and the chapters are divided into thematic parts. The constitution contains permanent and temporary provisions, the duration of the latter being specified in the fundamental law itself. In total, taking into account temporary provisions, the Iraqi Constitution has 144 articles.
Relations between Iran and Iraq
In 2003, Iran was categorically
against the American invasion of Iraq. Despite the chilly relations
between the countries after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein
was clearly less of a threat to Iran than the Americans. Relations
between Iran and Iraq deteriorated shortly after the Americans handed
over power in Iraq to an interim government in mid-2004. Tehran refused
to recognize the new authorities, and the Iraqi Defense Minister in a
newspaper interview accused Iran of directly interfering in the internal
affairs of Iraq, hijacking several combat aircraft transferred to Iran
by Saddam Hussein in 1991, before the start of the Gulf War. Tehran
refused, stating that it would negotiate on this issue only with the
democratically elected authorities of Iraq. Iran's spiritual leader Ali
Khamenei accused the Iraqi interim government of "subservience" to the
Americans.
UN and Iraq
On September 16, 2004, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, giving an international legal assessment of the
military operation of the US and its allies in Iraq for the first time
in 18 months, stated that the invasion of Iraq was illegal and contrary
to the UN Charter. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Kofi Annan
insisted that the United States must obtain the consent of the UN
Security Council before attacking Iraq. With the beginning of the
invasion, the UN Secretary General withdrew from the Iraqi problem and
even complied with US demands, ordering UN inspectors to leave Iraq in
order to save their lives during the American bombing.
The UN was
initially limited to humanitarian cooperation with the US military, but
in August 2003 this activity also ceased after the building of the UN
mission in Baghdad was blown up and Kofi Annan's special representative,
Sergiu Vieira de Mello, died.
It was only in 2004 that the US
turned to the UN to make the new Iraqi authorities they created
legitimate. UN experts said that in the current situation it is too
early to form the country's parliament, since real democratic elections
are impossible. The United States did not heed the advice and continued
to act according to its own schedule, which caused criticism from the UN
Secretary General.
This statement came days after US Secretary of
State Colin Powell admitted that the US would not be able to find any
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was their discovery and
elimination that was put forward by the US as the main reason for the
invasion of Iraq.
Meanwhile, Great Britain, Australia, Poland,
Japan stated that they do not agree with Kofi Annan.
Kofi Annan
declared the Iraqi campaign illegal just when the situation around Iran
is heating up to the limit, and his statement can be considered an
attempt to prevent the development of events according to the Iraqi
scenario. On December 18, 2011, the last US forces were withdrawn from
Iraq. The rest of the military is guarding the US embassy, and there
are also some officers in the Iraqi army.
Relations with Russia
Iraq has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation.
August
25 - September 9, 1944 - established diplomatic relations with the USSR
at the mission level.
January 3 - 8, 1955 - diplomatic relations are
interrupted by the government of Iraq.
July 18, 1958 - an agreement
was reached on the resumption of diplomatic relations at the level of
embassies.
The volume of GDP at PPP for 2014 amounted to 526.1 billion US
dollars - 36th place in the world (about 15,300 US dollars per capita -
102nd place in the world). The rate of decline in the economy recorded
in 2014 is 2.1%. The revenue side of the state budget for 2014 was
$86.03 billion, the expenditure side was $97.57 billion, and the budget
deficit was 5.2% of GDP.
In 2008, 40,000 refugees returned to
Baghdad. In early 2009, the director of a Baghdad real estate company
noted a significant increase in apartment prices associated with the
return of refugees, which he attributed primarily to the end of the war.
The growth of industrial production amounted to 7.9% in 2007, 10.5%
in 2008 (11th place in the world), 3.4% in 2009. GDP growth was 1.5% in
2007, 9.5% in 2008 and 4.3% in 2009.
At the same time, oil
production has partially survived, but its transportation abroad,
especially to Turkey, is unstable due to ongoing sabotage in part. Kurds
in the north often transport oil to Turkey using "automobile oil
pipelines" (columns of "loaders").
Public life is largely determined by Islamic traditions and regulations (Sharia, according to the Constitution). All Muslim religious holidays are celebrated in the country: the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, celebrated after the Muslim fasting of Ramadan, the feast of breaking the fast (id-al-fitr), the feast of sacrifice (id-al-adha). There are also calendar rituals dating back to pre-Islamic times associated with the beginning of field work, harvesting, shearing sheep, etc.
The traditional clothing of the Arabs of Iraq, varying in detail in
different parts of the country, is generally close to the North Arab
Bedouin costume. Men wear tapering, usually white trousers and a long,
wide shirt (dishdasha) tied with a belt (natak). In cold weather, an
open raincoat (aba) is put on top. The headdress is a scarf (yashmag),
held by a woolen plait (agal) twisted around the head. The most common
shoes are wooden or leather sandals, and among more affluent people -
soft shoes. The clothes of the rice growers and fishermen of southern
Iraq are often limited to a loincloth.
Women's clothing consists
of trousers, a long dress (atag) - bright colors for young women and
dark for older women - and a silk or woolen cloak-aba. The head is
covered with a dark scarf, tied on the forehead with a strip of fabric
(chardag). Another handkerchief (foot) descends from the chin to the
chest; women who have made a pilgrimage to holy places wear a white
foot. Jewelry and amulets worn by women are very diverse - rings,
bracelets, necklaces, pendants, earrings, nose rings and brooches, made
from a wide variety of materials.
The food is dominated by dates, barley and wheat cakes, rice, sour
milk, vegetables. Dates are eaten with cakes and tea, they are used to
make pasta, sugar, halva, sweet drinks, vodka. Steep porridge (burgul)
is cooked from rice, which is usually eaten with sour milk (la-(ban). In
some places, fish dishes are in use, but fish, in particular in Baghdad,
is much more expensive than meat. Of the traditional meat dishes, which
are especially popular on holidays, pilaf, roast (kebab), fried minced
meat balls (kub-ba), meat-stuffed eggplants and tomatoes (dolma), etc.
are popular.
Among the favorite drinks are tea, coffee, fruit
sherbets, lemonade - hamud, sour milk diluted with water and salt. Since
October 2016, it has been prohibited throughout the country to produce,
import and sell alcoholic beverages.
Iraqi folk music, known as the music of Mesopotamia, belongs to the music of the Arab world, but at the same time contains elements of Turkish, Persian and Indian musical cultures.
The state television and radio company IMN (Iraqi Media Network - Iraqi Media Network) (until 2003 IBTE (Iraqi Broadcasting and Television Establishment - "Establishment of Iraqi Radio and Television")), includes the Al Iraqiya TV channel (until 2003 - Iraqi TV) and radio station Radio Republic of Iraq.
Ground forces: 133 thousand people; Air force: 1 thousand people, 34 aircraft and 26 helicopters; Naval forces: 1 thousand people; special operations forces. Expenses - 8.6% of GDP (2006).
Creation of the Iraqi Security Forces
The UN Security Council in
2004 adopted a resolution that provides for the creation of an Iraqi
security force.
The Americans, especially since 2007, have sought
to recruit Iraqi generals and senior officers who served in the military
and intelligence services under Saddam Hussein. Many of them had
extensive experience in local warfare, having gone through the Iran-Iraq
war and Operation Desert Storm. In addition, some of these former
high-ranking military had connections in the circles of the Iraqi
Resistance and were respected by the insurgents.
The Iraqi
National Guard, established in 2004 to provide internal security, was
disbanded in 2005 because morale was low and it was overrun by Iraqi
Resistance agents. The same fate had previously befallen the Iraqi
Civilian Protection Corps (ICDC), the forerunner of the National Guard.
A number of cities, in particular Fallujah, with the consent of the
Americans, since 2007, were controlled by the so-called "Sunni militia",
and, in fact, by legalized rebels, who in return pledged not to allow
attacks on the Americans in the territory under their control.
Since the end of 2007, both international and Iraqi security force
casualties have steadily declined.
According to a February-March
2007 poll, 51% of the Iraqi population supported insurgent attacks on US
troops.