Iraq is located in the Middle East in the so-called Mesopotamia. The
events of the late 20th and early 21st centuries are often the only
things that are associated with Iraq. The seemingly endless bloody war
with neighboring Iran, the campaign against Iraq after its annexation of
Kuwait and finally the recent Gulf War with the fall of Saddam Hussein
are the dominant topics in news from and about Iraq.
If you break
away from that, you realize that it is one of the oldest advanced
civilizations in human history. According to the Bible, paradise was in
Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It was from here
that Abraham went to the promised land and the building of the Tower of
Babel led to confusion of languages. Later, Baghdad and its caliphs such
as Harun al Rashid became the material for the tales of a thousand and
one nights. The cultural history of humanity would have taken a
different course without this region.
In the 4th millennium BC
(around 3,300), the first Sumerian city states emerged here with
humanity's first writing. This script was further developed and the
states of Babylonia, Assyria, Ur, Lagash, Assur and Uruk were formed.
The Code of Hammurabi, written in cuneiform around 1700 BC, is an
impressive collection of laws. Around 539, Mesopotamia was conquered by
Persian troops and incorporated into the Persian Empire. Just over 200
years later, Alexander the Great conquered Mesopotamia, which was lost
to the Seleucids in 312. In the second century BC, after the death of
Antiochus Sidetes, it fell to the Parthians and was fought over by the
Romans and Parthians from the first to the fourth centuries.
In
637, Mesopotamia was conquered by Arab troops with a victory in the
Battle of Qadissa and subsequently became Islamic. Around 750, the
Abbasids began to rule, making Baghdad their capital and only having to
admit defeat to the Mongols in 1258. The foreign rule of the Mongols was
replaced by the Turks and from 1534 to 1918 Mesopotamia was part of the
Ottoman Empire.
In the First World War, parts of the country were
occupied by British troops and in 1920 Great Britain received a League
of Nations mandate for Mesopotamia. A year later, the Hashemite Faisal
became the first king of the constitutional monarchy. In 1925, the
League of Nations awarded the oil-producing areas around Mosul to Iraq
and on October 10, 1932, Iraq became independent and was admitted to the
League of Nations.
After the Second World War, in 1958, the
military, the so-called free officers, staged a coup and King Faisal II
and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said were murdered. The republic was
proclaimed. After the last British troops left Iraq in 1959, Iraq
attempted unsuccessfully to annex Kuwait for the first time in 1961.
Two further military coups followed in 1963 and 1968. In the latter,
the Baath Party under General Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr took power and Saddam
Hussein became second and then first man in the state in 1979.
After the border disputes between Iran and Iraq over the Shatt-el-Arab
were settled in the Algiers Agreement in 1975, relations deteriorated
after Hussein took power in 1979, leading to the first Gulf War in 1980,
which lasted eight years.
In the same year (1988), at least
150,000 people were killed in the Anfal campaign against the Kurds (some
with poison gas) and 1,200 Kurdish villages were destroyed.
In
1990, after the occupation of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and the
annexation on August 8, the Second Gulf War broke out after Iraq refused
to leave Kuwait. As a result of UN Resolution 660, coalition troops
attacked Iraq on January 16, 1991. On February 28, 1991, a ceasefire
agreement was signed and Security Council Resolution 687 ("ceasefire
resolution") ordered Iraq to dispose of all weapons of mass destruction
and missiles with a range of more than 150 km. Resolution 688 of April 6
established a no-fly zone to protect the Kurds north of the 36th
parallel.
After repeated disagreements and air strikes in the
years that followed, the situation became increasingly tense between
2000 and 2003. The USA in particular increased the pressure more and
more and finally began fighting together with the British on March 20,
2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad was taken on April 9,
2003 and on May 1, 2003, US President Bush officially declared the war
in Iraq over.
Baghdad — the capital and largest city of
the country
Basra
Mosul
Kirkuk
Fallujah
Erbil
Sulaymaniyah
Entry requirements
Since 2021, EU citizens can
obtain a visa on arrival for a stay of up to 60 days. The regulation
applies to all forms of entry (air, sea and land). The fees must be paid
on site in USD.
For stays of more than 60 days, a visa must still
be applied for in advance. In addition to the form, two passport photos,
a color copy of the passport and, if applicable, a residence permit,
invitation letter and health certificate are required. Conditions are
relaxed for people of Iraqi origin. Only Germans, Turks and Egyptians
are allowed to apply for an electronic visa. The fee for each type of
visa is a uniform US$ 40; you can apply for this:
in Germany
at the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq, Pacelliallee 19-21, 14195
Berlin. Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Responsible for all federal states not
processed in Frankfurt.
at the Consulate General, Westend Str. 12,
60325 Frankfurt am Main, ☎ +49 069-23807600, Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Responsible for the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse,
Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria
in
Austria:
Consular Department of the Embassy, Johannesgasse 26, 1010
Vienna, ☎ +43 1 713 81 95, Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
if applicable,
representation of the Kurdistan-Iraq regional government (only Austrian
residents; by appointment)
in Switzerland: Section consulaire de
l'Ambassade, Elfenstrasse 6, 3006 Bern
e-Visa
Only Germans,
Turks and Egyptians have the option of applying for a visa online. (As
of June 2023)
Special rules
Everyone entering the country for
non-tourist purposes must present a negative HIV and hepatitis blood
test within ten days, which must be repeated quarterly.
Anyone
staying in the country for longer than ten days needs an exit permit.
This can take 3-4 days.
The administration of the Kurdistan
Autonomous Region has its own rules.
Customs
If necessary, a
Weapon Authority Card (WAC) must be applied for in addition to the visa.
Airplane
Erbil: Austrian Airlines flies five times a week from
Vienna to Iraq. The airport in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq is
served. The flights take place on all days except Tuesday and Sunday.
The partner airline Lufthansa also flies to Erbil, but from Frankfurt.
Baghdad: Royal Jordanian offers a daily flight from Amman to Baghdad.
The Star Alliance company Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul to the
Iraqi capital.
Train
The rail connections from Syria and Turkey
are currently interrupted.
Bus
Trips are organized from Amman
to Baghdad.
Car/motorcycle/bicycle
Only possible from Turkey
via the Kurdish part of Iraq.
Ship
All ports have been closed
since 1991.
The official languages are Arabic and Kurdish, and there are also minority languages (Turkmen, Aramaic, Chaldean, others). Arabic is understood by all Iraqis who received schooling before 1991. Since the autonomy of the Kurdish areas in 1991, Arabic has been somewhat lost among the younger population, especially in areas ruled by the PUK (Sulaimaniya). English is understood by educated people in northern and central Iraq and in the big cities.
Iraq is a war zone! The safety of western travelers
cannot be guaranteed throughout Iraq. Kidnappings and terrorist attacks
are the order of the day. Europeans in Iraq are in mortal danger at all
times. For the Kurdistan Federal Region of Iraq, especially the cities
of Arbil, Sulaymanya and Dohuk, this travel warning is restricted due to
a different security situation.
There is a veritable kidnapping
industry in Iraq. Foreigners who are in Baghdad in an official capacity
must stay in a strictly military-protected area (green zone). A
protective vest must also be worn at all times in this green zone. A
bodyguard is also necessary 24 hours a day, even in private homes. You
are only alone in the toilet. Bodyguards must have the heaviest weapons.
Nevertheless, the
following applies: Do not stand at windows, leave the house as rarely as
possible and somehow ignore the constant, untargeted mortar fire from
the red zone into the green zone.
Anyone leaving the protected
area needs military escort. Transfers, for example to and from the
airport, should definitely be carried out by air and then by combat
helicopter. You must be prepared to be shot at at any time. You must not
reveal that you are a foreigner on the street. There are numerous daily
battles between the rival groups and pre-installed booby traps.
There are bomb attacks every day in the capital, especially in the rush
hour. At the moment, things are a little (but really only a little)
quieter in other areas of Iraq, but due to the strict security measures
taken by the coalition troops in Baghdad, the terrorist center is likely
to shift. In the Federal Region of Iraqi Kurdistan, with the
administrative capital Arbil and the two large cities of Sulaymaniya and
Dohuk, the security situation is comparatively calm; however, there are
isolated major terrorist attacks there too. Statistically speaking, the
risk of becoming a victim of an attack directed against third parties is
significantly lower there than in other parts of the country. There is
also no information to suggest that German citizens are in any real
danger in this area. Despite a largely functioning security apparatus,
attacks and kidnappings are to be expected in this region too! An
escalating destabilization of the security situation due to renewed
Turkish military operations in the north of this area cannot be ruled
out. A stay in this region requires prior, timely information about the
political developments and security situation and the observation of
appropriate personal protection measures, depending on the location.
Warning: there are high and increasing security risks in the cities of
Kirkuk and Mosul, which border the Kurdistan-Iraq region, and their
surroundings. Travel there is an urgent warning! Kidnappers and
murderers in Iraq have an extremely well-trained spy system. You can't
trust anyone. Even relatives from your own family are betrayed.
The history of Iraq covers the developments in the
territory of the Republic of Iraq from prehistory to the present day.
Iraq was created in 1920/21 from the three Ottoman provinces of Baghdad,
Mosul and Basra. Iraq's roots go back to the early advanced
civilizations that emerged in the 4th millennium BC.
Since the
Iraq War in 2003, which ended the era of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has been
under military occupation by troops from an international coalition led
by the United States. In 2009, the occupying troops left the cities, and
in 2011 they withdrew completely.
Iraq is located in the area of ancient Mesopotamia
(Ben al Naharain or Aram-Naharaim). From the 4th millennium BC, ancient
civilizations emerged there. Some of the earliest advanced civilizations
of mankind (Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Mittani, Assyria, Media) existed in
the region in the 3rd century BC, which is why many see the region as
the cradle of civilization today.
Ancient Mesopotamia fell in 539
BC when Babylonia was subjugated to the emerging Persian Empire under
Cyrus. Under the Achaemenids, Mesopotamia was temporarily divided into
the two satrapies of Syria and Assyria; after the conquest by Alexander
the Great after the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, both satrapies were
merged into a new satrapy of Mesopotamia. After the Battle of Gaza in
312 BC, Mesopotamia came under the control of the Seleucid Empire and
was largely spared from further fighting for almost two centuries.
During this period, the founding of Hellenistic cities flourished (for
example Apamea, Dura Europos, Edessa, Seleucia).
After the death
of the Seleucid king Antiochos Sidetes in 129 BC, Mesopotamia finally
fell to the Parthians, who had already conquered Iran. Ctesiphon became
the Parthian capital, and Hatra also gained particular importance. Parts
of Mesopotamia passed to Armenia between 83 and 69 BC, but were returned
to the Parthians as part of the Roman-Parthian unification after the
Battle of Carrhae. In the following period, the Euphrates stabilized as
the border between the Roman and Parthian spheres of influence. Attempts
by the Roman Emperor Trajan to annex Mesopotamia between 114 and 117 AD
failed, but after the Parthian War of Lucius Verus from 162 to 165,
large parts of Mesopotamia remained under Roman influence. In 195,
Mesopotamia fell back to the Parthians except for the strategically
important city of Nisibis, but was recaptured and fortified by Emperor
Septimius Severus in 197.
The change from decentralized feudal
Parthian rule to the more centralized Sassanid Empire did not initially
bring about any fundamental changes. In the second half of the 3rd
century, Mesopotamia was caught up in the whirlpool of the imperial
crisis of the 3rd century and alternately came under Roman and Sassanid
control. Throughout late antiquity, Mesopotamia was a staging and battle
area for these two ancient great powers (see also Roman-Persian Wars),
with the Arab tribe of the Lakhmids taking on an important part of
border security for Persia. The Roman Emperor Diocletian managed to
restore the old ownership structures in 297/298. From 337 onwards, the
Sassanid Great King Shapur II began to reconquer large parts of
Mesopotamia. The failed Persia campaign of Emperor Julian in 363
ultimately led to the loss of almost all of Mesopotamia and in
particular of Nisibis to Persia. Despite various attempts by both sides
to shift the border, it remained essentially unchanged until Mesopotamia
and Syria were finally conquered by the Arabs during the Islamic
expansion between 633 and 640.
After the Battle of Kadesia in 636, the Arab Muslims took control of the area. In 636 Basra was founded by the Caliph Umar as a military camp, and in 637/638 Kufa. Iraq became an important cultural centre of the spreading Islam. It first assumed the role of a political centre for the Muslims when ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib moved his capital to Kufa after being elevated to the fourth caliph. After ʿAlī's murder in 661 by a Kharijite, the Umayyad Muawiya I annexed Iraq. From 665 onwards the area was ruled by the governors Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān and his son ʿUbaidallāh ibn Ziyād, who dealt with the Kharijites and the followers of ʿAlī with a heavy hand. ʿAlī's son Hussein, who led a revolt against the Umayyad caliph Yazid I in 680, was killed in battle near Karbala. From 694 to 714, the governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, known for his cruelty, ruled over Iraq. In 702 he decided to replace Persian with Arabic as the language of the chancellery.
In 762, Baghdad was founded by Al-Mansur as the capital of the
Abbasid Caliphate and soon developed into the most important city in the
Islamic world. The following period is also known as the golden age of
Islam, in which science and the arts in particular developed to a
significantly higher level than in Europe.
From 1055 onwards, the
Seljuk leader Tughrul Beg conquered the country, and in 1258 the
Mongolian king Hülegü, founder of the Ilkhan dynasty, conquered it.
Aside from the massive devastation in the cities, agriculture, the
backbone of the economy, was also destroyed. The heavy fighting between
the Mongols and the Mamelukes who came to defend them, caused major
material damage to the complex irrigation system of Mesopotamia. The
human losses had an equally great impact here: the orally transmitted
knowledge of the use and maintenance of irrigation systems was lost. As
a result, the province fell into decline, because without an irrigation
system, Mesopotamian agriculture could no longer develop its full
potential. In 1401, Baghdad was devastated by Timur, and in 1534 the
country fell to the Ottoman Empire.
Iraq was important to the Ottoman Empire primarily as a connection to
the Persian Gulf and as a defensive barrier against Iran (Persia); the
Ottomans, on the other hand, were hardly interested in economic
development. In the first few centuries in particular, their
administration was largely limited to collecting taxes and (forced)
recruiting soldiers. Iraq was a relatively insignificant province of the
Ottoman Empire, ruled by officials (Baghdad, Mosul and Basra were in
fact self-governing in some cases).
The Georgian Mamluk dynasty
of Hasan Pasha ruled from 1704 to 1831.
The Shiite population was
excluded from administrative and military positions under the Sunni
Ottomans. However, the Shiite clergy ran their own religious schools and
collected taxes from their followers.
Administrative reforms took
place at the beginning of the 19th century, but the first important
changes came with Midhat Pasha (governor in Baghdad between 1869 and
1872). The first hospitals were built, the first newspapers appeared,
and factories began operations. But his reign was too short for Iraq to
experience a long-term boom. This period also saw the first evidence of
British interest in Iraq. In 1860, the British Lynch Company acquired a
monopoly on shipping on the Tigris. Iraq remained an insignificant
sideshow until the First World War, but its geostrategic position on the
intersection routes between Europe, British India, Central Asia, the
Caucasus and South Arabia made it the subject of global political
interests from the First World War onwards.
During the First World War (on November 6, 1914, one day after the
declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire), British troops and Arab
insurgents marched in together and occupied Baghdad in 1917. The actual
immediate target was only the region around Basra, because the Royal
Navy was dependent on oil supplies from neighboring Iran. In 1920, Great
Britain separated the provinces of Vilâyet Baghdad, Vilâyet Mossul and
Vilâyet Basra from the former Ottoman Empire and merged them into what
is now Iraq. The province of Mosul was not initially included in the
plan because it was in the French sphere of influence; however, after
Russia's failure to participate in the Sykes-Picot Agreement and due to
strategic considerations, it was also incorporated, with Turkey and
France each being promised 20% of the expected profits from oil
production in this region.
Gertrude Bell, as an advisor to
Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, played a key role in determining
today's borders. The League of Nations sanctioned this measure and gave
Great Britain the mandate over Iraq. Thus the British Mandate of
Mesopotamia was established. Since the Arabs were promised a sovereign
Greater Arabia by Great Britain if they rose up against the Ottoman
Empire, they did not accept the status of a British mandate territory
and began an uprising against the British crown in 1920. But the
uprising also had a social background. In order to gain control of the
country, the British proceeded as they had on their northwest Indian
border: They established local authorities, to whom they gave a number
of privileges (e.g. tax exemption) and to whom the previously communal
land was also transferred, so that many farmers became impoverished.
According to British estimates, 8,450 Iraqis and 1,654 British soldiers
died in the revolt, which lasted three months. The high death toll and
the cost of putting down the uprising (a total of six times the entire
cost of the British military campaign in the Middle East) alarmed the
British government. To reduce the cost of the British presence and at
the same time dissuade the Arabs from rebelling again, the British
government installed an Arab king.
On August 23, 1921, Faisal,
son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, was proclaimed king. The Kingdom of Iraq
was admitted to the League of Nations on October 3, 1932. Even after the
founding of the state, there were no uniform measures or weights and no
uniform currency; Indian, Iranian and Turkish money were used in
parallel, reflecting the different orientations of the provinces. The
main oil activities in the country were consolidated in the Iraq
Petroleum Company, which was created in 1929 from the Turkish Petroleum
Company, paid only low concession fees and was owned entirely by foreign
companies.
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of June 1930 secured numerous
rights for the British and granted them military bases. When the Second
World War broke out, the Iraqi government under Nuri as-Said broke off
diplomatic relations with Germany and adopted a pro-British stance in
foreign policy that had no support in army circles and broad sections of
the population. On April 1, 1941, anti-British politicians and officers
staged a coup to end the government's pro-British policy. The army
brought Rashid Ali al-Gailani to the head of the government, who
proclaimed Iraq's neutrality and demanded the withdrawal of all British
soldiers. On May 2, 1941, military conflicts began between British and
Iraqi troops that lasted a month and ended with Iraqi defeat. During
these battles, the Iraqi government requested assistance from Germany,
but this only resulted in minimal military support (Special Staff F). In
October 1941, Nuri as-Said took over the government again. Britain's
contractually secured political, economic and military influence as a
former mandate power in Iraq was permanently restored until the Baghdad
Pact in the mid-1950s. On January 16, 1943, Iraq declared war on the
fascist Axis powers.
Prime Minister Salih Jabr's attempt to renew
the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 led to serious anti-British riots in
January 1948, which were initiated by the impoverished population of the
Baghdad suburbs, students and the Communist Party and were bloodily
suppressed. Salih Jabr had to revoke his signature on the treaty and go
into exile in England.
In response to the founding of the United
Arab Republic, on February 14, 1958, the two Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq
and Jordan declared their union into an Arab Federation supported by
Britain. Under General Abdel Karim Qasim, the so-called "Free Officers"
joined forces to shake off British control. With the help of the people,
they overthrew the pro-British monarchy (Faisal II 1935-1958) on July
14, 1958. The king was murdered and his body dragged through the streets
of Baghdad.
On July 15, the federation with Jordan was dissolved and the Republic
of Iraq was proclaimed. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis poured into the
streets to celebrate ath-Thawra (the revolution). With the proclamation
of the republic, new political conditions were created. The monarchy was
abolished and Iraq withdrew from the CENTO (Baghdad) Pact concluded with
Turkey, Pakistan and Iran. The last British soldiers left the country on
March 24, 1959.
In terms of domestic politics, land reform was
carried out and Iraq withdrew from the British sterling currency system.
The foreign oil companies were nationalized and economic and political
relations with the socialist countries were initiated. A decree made it
possible for political parties and professional organizations to be
formed. Freedom of the press was introduced. A historic step was Article
3 of the provisional constitution: "Arabs and Kurds are partners in
Iraq." The Kurds were explicitly recognized for the first time. However,
the democratic processes only lasted a short time. Newspapers were soon
banned. The development of the new Republic of Iraq worked against the
fundamental interests of the West. The British and the USA exerted
pressure from outside. Qasim's plan to annex Kuwait was prevented in
1961, first by British troops and then by an inter-Arab security force.
Domestically, pressure was exerted by right-wing, pan-Arabist
parties and nationalists. This included the Baath Party. The then small
Iraqi Baath Party staged a coup against Qasim on February 8, 1963 with
the help of conspirators in the Iraqi army. Qasim was shot dead.
Weakened by internal factional struggles, the Baath Party was overthrown
in a military coup on November 18, 1963 by President Abd as-Sallam Arif.
Under his brother Abd ar-Rahman, Iraq broke off diplomatic relations
with the USA in 1967. After a second coup on July 17, 1968, the Baath
Party regained power; Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr became President and Chairman
of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) (and remained so until his
resignation on July 16, 1979), Saddam Hussein became Vice President and
Deputy Chairman of the RCC.
Najaf and Karbala, the two holy
cities of Iraq, developed into centers of Shiite revolutionary movements
in the 1960s, which later spread to Lebanon and Iran. The Shiite
scholars who developed political-activist theories in Najaf during this
period included Ruhollah Khomeini, Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr, Muhammad
Hussein Fadlallah, Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi and Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim.
In the spring of 1969, fighting broke out again between government
troops and the Kurds, who had been fighting against the central
government since 1961. Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish leader Molla
Mustafa Barzani signed a peace treaty in March 1970 that guaranteed the
Kurds political autonomy. However, the fighting continued until April
1975, when Iraq signed the Algiers Agreement with neighboring Iran on
the reorganization of the border at Shatt al-Arab and Iran then ended
its aid to the Kurds, which led to the Kurds' surrender.
On June
1, 1972, the foreign oil companies were nationalized.
When the Baath Party came to power, mass executions and arbitrary
arrests followed, especially of communist and other left-wing
intellectuals. Especially after Saddam Hussein came to power after
al-Bakr's resignation on July 16, 1979, there were massive human rights
violations, which also claimed the lives of many Baathists. The union
project with Syria, which had only been agreed in January 1979, was
immediately put on hold.
After months of conflict with Iran,
Hussein ordered the Iraqi army to attack the neighboring country with a
total of nine of twelve divisions on September 22, 1980. The front
stretched over a length of 600 km. After initial successes, the Iraqi
army had to withdraw further and further from 1982 and finally wage war
in its own country from 1984. This First Gulf War lasted until 1988 and
cost an estimated 250,000 Iraqis their lives. During this war, the state
also used chemical warfare agents several times against both the
Iranians and its own population. The economic damage was also
considerable: in 1979, Iraq still had cash reserves worth 35 billion US
dollars, but after the end of the war, the country was heavily indebted
with foreign debts of over 80 billion US dollars. Iraq was supported in
this war by the USA and other Western states.
After a failed
assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein, 600 residents of the small town
of Dujail were arrested on July 17, 1982 and 148 of them were executed.
In 1988, the regime launched the so-called Anfal operation, in which,
according to estimates, up to 180,000 Iraqi Kurds were murdered. The
most well-known case of this campaign was the poison gas attack on
Helepçe on March 18, 1988. With this event, relations between Iraq and
the United Nations began to deteriorate, fueled by further Iraqi
politics.
On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army invaded Kuwait and
occupied the country. It was only through the intervention of
international troops led by the United States that the country was
liberated in February 1991 in the Second Gulf War. US President George
Bush called on the Iraqi people to revolt against Saddam Hussein. When
Kurds and Shiites actually began a rebellion against the government, the
Americans did not intervene in the fighting, allowing Saddam to crush
the uprising. An estimated 100,000 Iraqis were killed and the marshes in
southern Iraq were almost completely destroyed. As a result of the
occupation of Kuwait, the United Nations imposed sanctions on the
country, which led to international isolation and the impoverishment of
large parts of the population due to the mismanagement of permitted
trade goods. This embargo was maintained until 2003. The consequences of
the embargo were dramatic: 500,000 to 1,500,000 children under the age
of 14 died by 2005 alone, some of them from diseases that were almost
unknown in Iraq before 1990: leukemia (probably caused by contaminated
sand and tiny particles of DU ammunition or destroyed military
equipment), malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, typhus, cholera and local
diseases.
The high mortality rate is the result of the ongoing
embargo and the almost complete destruction of drinking water and sewage
systems, destruction of hospitals, pharmaceutical industry, etc. in the
Gulf Wars of 1990 and 2003. The UN diplomats and humanitarian
coordinators in Iraq, Denis Halliday and Hans-Christof von Sponeck,
resigned in protest against the embargo. Halliday described the embargo
as genocide. To mitigate the effects of the embargo, the UN introduced
an oil-for-food program in 1995 (Res. 986), which ended in January 2003.
On November 8, 2002, the UN Security Council, under prolonged
pressure from the USA, passed the 19th Iraq Resolution 1441 with
unspecified "serious consequences". The resolution was accepted by Iraq
and weapons inspector Blix was allowed into the country. In 2002, the
commission led by Blix began searching for weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq, but found none.
On March 20, 2003, the Iraq War began with air strikes on the capital
Baghdad. The aim of the coalition of the willing, led by the United
States and Great Britain, supported by small units from Australia,
Italy, Spain, Poland and militarily insignificant allies (Denmark,
Ukraine, Bulgaria, Honduras, El Salvador, South Korea, Japan, Hungary),
was to overthrow Saddam Hussein and remove suspected weapons of mass
destruction from circulation. On April 9, 2003, the capital Baghdad was
taken, symbolically by the demolition of a statue of the dictator. In
May 2003, US President Bush declared the major fighting to be over and
Iraq was divided into occupation zones. No weapons of mass destruction
were found. On March 5, 2004, Hans Blix accused the USA and Great
Britain of having no legal basis for their military action against Iraq.
The number of victims of the invasion is highly controversial in
terms of how it is counted, responsibility and the inclusion of victims
of criminal offenses. According to the private initiative iraqbodycount,
at least 62,000 civilian victims of the military intervention can be
verified. A study by the scientific journal The Lancet even estimates
that there were up to 100,000 civilian victims. According to the USA,
around 1,000 civilians were killed by allied fire and around 7,000
resistance fighters and terrorists. According to estimates by other
observers, up to 10,000 Iraqis were killed in the attack by the USA. A
further 20,000 deaths are attributed to the regular resistance, mostly
to terrorist attacks by various groups. According to a study published
in October 2006, over 650,000 people have been killed since the invasion
by foreign troops in March 2003, which corresponds to 2.5% of the total
Iraqi population.
As a result of war debris, the number of cancer
cases is increasing, particularly in the southern provinces. According
to the Basra Medical College, at least 45 percent of all deaths in the
southern provinces are due to cancer. In the provinces of Basra and
Missan, the rate of leukemia among children has increased by 22 percent
compared to 2005, with some babies developing the disease just four
weeks after birth. At least three crippled children are born every day
in the southern provinces, with organs or limbs missing.
Since the official end of the Iraq War, considerably more US soldiers
- 2,900 so far - have died in attacks by both resistance groups and
Islamic terrorists than in the war before; an average of two US soldiers
die in ambush attacks every day, and the number of wounded is
considerably higher. The attacks also claimed numerous victims among the
civilian population. Representatives of the Iraqi government, which is
predominantly Shiite and Kurdish, have also been repeatedly targeted.
According to estimates, between 25,000 and 30,000 Iraqis have died since
May 2003 - the "end of major fighting". Some Iraqi sources even estimate
the number of victims to be as high as 60,000. Around 3,500 Iraqi
security forces have been killed since 2003.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
apparently pursued the strategy of provoking a civil war between Shiites
and Sunnis in order to prevent Iraq from finding a state order. Death
squads specifically attacked Shiites in Iraq. The most important head of
al-Qaeda in Iraq since 2003 was the Jordanian Abu Musab az-Zarqawi
(killed by US units on June 7, 2006). The USA accuses Iran and Syria of
doing nothing to prevent the infiltration of foreign fighters. The
situation was increasingly seen as being on the brink of civil war.
Terrorist attacks and counterattacks carried out by Sunnis and Shiites
against each other claimed dozens of lives almost every day. There were
around 75-85 attacks in Iraq per day, at times even more than 120, but
on other days "only" 50-60. However, some of the attacks were also
carried out by Sunni or Shiite Islamists who did not come from Iraq.
On June 30, 2009, the American combat troops left the cities and
handed over bases and other facilities to the Iraqi army. In August
2010, the troops that had been relocated to their bases left the
country, and the remaining soldiers followed in 2011.
After the
formation of a transitional council at the end of 2003, the
administrative task previously carried out by the coalition transitional
administration was transferred to an Iraqi representative transitional
government on June 28, 2004. However, the troops and logistics of the
occupying forces, with a strength of around 150,000 soldiers, are to
remain stationed in Iraq for another one to two years, according to the
agreement. Iraq has been in a political transitional state ever since:
After this Third Gulf War, the previous power structures, in particular
the Revolutionary Command Council, no longer exist, but the new
relationships, at that time still between the Western occupation, the
civil administration and the Iraqi Governing Council, were not finally
established.
According to initial plans, former US General Jay
Garner, who had set up the Kurdish protection zone in 1991, was to take
over the chairmanship of a provisional government in Iraq. A few weeks
after its establishment, however, the strategy was changed: US President
George W. Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer III as civil administrator on
May 6, 2003. Iraq was divided into four occupation zones in September
2003: two American in the north, one Polish in the central south and one
British in the far south of the country. The Algerian UN special envoy
Lakhdar Brahimi mediated between various parties for an Iraqi
transitional government, which was formed on June 1, 2004, to take power
on June 30. On January 30, 2005, the first free elections in Iraq in
over 40 years were held.
On October 11, 2006, the Iraqi
parliament passed a new federalism law that provides for the creation of
so-called largely autonomous "super-provinces." Critics of this law,
primarily the Sunni minority, see it as a threat to Iraqi unity.
Iyad Allawi described Iraq as a failed state. The country is heavily
influenced by Iran and has a stagnating economy, high unemployment, high
inflation, no functioning public sector and a still poor security
situation.
The terrorists around former leader Abu Musab az-Zarqawi, an al-Qaeda
offshoot in Iraq (Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad ar-Rafidain) dominated by
foreign Islamists, and the Ansar as-Sunna led by Abu Abdallah al-Hasan
bin Mahmud, viewed and view Iraq as a battlefield in the global war
against the West. They are just two of many different groups.
Among the local militias, Sunni insurgents have so far been the faction
with the largest number of members. These include the "Army of
Mohammed", the "El Haq Army" and the "Islamic Army of Iraq", together
with around 20,000 fighters. They primarily oppose the US-led occupation
forces and the political marginalization of the Sunnis. The Iraqi Sunni
resistance is said to have recently made greater efforts to distance
itself from the visiting holy warriors - around 1,000 to 2,000 men. The
reason for this is the bloodbaths caused by the Zarqawi terrorists among
Iraqi civilians, as well as the self-portrayal of the al-Qaida offshoot
as the alleged political and ideological leadership of the resistance.
In addition to Sunni resistance fighters, there are also Shiite
militias. The "Badr Brigades" have around 10,000 armed men, the "Mahdi
Army" is estimated to have several thousand men. The Badr Brigades are
members of the ruling Sciri Revolutionary Council. The Mahdi Army is
under the command of the radical Shiite preacher Muqtada al-Sadr. There
has been repeated open violence between the two groups. The
Revolutionary Council is striving for extensive Shiite autonomy in the
south, where the "Badr Brigades" are already the dominant military power
in many regions. Sadr, on the other hand, wants a unified Iraqi state;
his "Mahdi Army" is cooperating with the Sunni resistance against the
US-led occupation troops.
The Ashura massacre on the occasion of
the Ashura festival on March 2, 2004 left 271 dead and 393 injured, most
of them Shiite believers for whom Karbala is a place of pilgrimage. A
three-day state mourning was ordered. On March 4, 2004, the USA accused
the terrorist Abu Musab az-Zarqawi or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist
organization Ansar al Islam of being the masterminds of the attacks.
On October 15, 2006, Al-Qaeda declared an Islamic state in Iraq,
which would comprise a total of six provinces. To help expand the state,
Muslims from all over the world were called upon to send "men and money"
to Iraq. Al-Qaeda announced that only God's law would apply in this
state.
In 2006, more than 34,000 civilians were killed in attacks
in Iraq. According to the United Nations, a further 36,000 people were
injured. The violence reached a peak in November and December, with
6,367 dead and 6,875 injured. The capital Baghdad was particularly
affected by the clashes. Most of the dead there also showed signs of
torture.
On April 12, 2007, an explosion rocked the parliament
building in the heavily secured Green Zone in Baghdad. According to
initial press reports, at least two members of parliament were killed. A
few hours earlier, an important Tigris bridge in Baghdad had been
destroyed in a suicide attack that also claimed several lives. A few
days later, on April 18, 2007, five more attacks hit the Iraqi capital.
The detonation of a car bomb near the market square in the Sadrija
district alone cost 127 people their lives. In total, the attacks
claimed over 230 lives.
On July 7, 2007, a suicide bomber set off
a car bomb explosion in the market in the small town of Amirli in the
Salah ad-Din province. The center was completely destroyed, at least 150
people were killed and over 200 injured. Armili is predominantly
inhabited by Shiite Turkmen. Iraq's head of government, Jawad al-Maliki,
blamed Sunni extremists for the devastating attack.
On August 14,
2007, the Sinjar attack near Mosul killed an estimated 500 people. The
attacks were directed against Yazidis, a religious minority of Kurds who
live mainly in northern Iraq. Further explosions north of Baghdad also
claimed human lives, making the attacks among the most serious since the
invasion of the allied forces.
In 2011, US troops withdrew.
In January 2014, the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) took
control of the city of Fallujah. In the following months, the
organization was able to gain further territory. In June, it took
control of Mosul. An international alliance was formed against IS. After
almost three years, Fallujah was liberated by Iraqi government forces.
In October 2016, the Battle of Mosul began, which lasted until January
2017.
In view of the proverbial state collapse, the media coined
the political slogan of Iraqiization.
On December 9, 2017, Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi declared IS defeated.
The US combat
mission ended on December 31, 2021. However, military advisers remained
in Iraq.
Iraq is part of the Orient. Countries in North Africa and Southwest
Asia are usually included in the cultural area of the Orient. They are
mainly located in the subtropical dry belt of the "Old World".
In
the northeast there is a mountain range of around 3000 m high from the
foothills of the Taurus Mountains and the Zagros. This range is part of
the Alpine mountain system, which stretches from the Balkan Mountains
eastwards into Turkey, northern Iraq and Iran and then further into
Afghanistan. The highest mountain in Iraq is the Cheekha Dar at 3611 m.
Iraq borders Iran (1458 km common border), Kuwait (240 km), Saudi Arabia (814 km), Jordan (181 km), Syria (605 km) and Turkey (352 km). With the exception of the border with Iran, which formed the eastern border of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, Iraq's borders were determined by the colonial powers. The neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Iraq was divided between the two countries between 1975 and 1983. Iraq also has a 58.3 km long coastline. The north of the country is formed by the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, which has established a de facto border within the country.
The north of Iraq, up to about the geographical latitude of Baghdad,
lies in the so-called westerly wind zone of the temperate latitudes in
winter and under high pressure in summer with temperatures between −6 °C
in winter and 51 °C in midsummer (annual average 22 °C). The area south
of Baghdad, on the other hand, belongs to the subtropical high pressure
belt all year round. Summers are dry throughout the country and, with
the exception of the mountainous regions, are quite warm with average
temperatures of around 33 to 34 °C. Strong year-round winds from the
northwest mean that the cities of Baghdad and Basra, for example, are
hit by dust storms on around 20 and 15 days a year respectively.
Temperatures fluctuate between 50 °C in summer and around zero in
January. Frost is possible, especially in the mountains. Rainfall is
around 10 to 18 cm per year, with the main rainy months being December
to April. The areas bordering the Gulf are somewhat wetter.
Iraq is crossed by two important rivers, the Euphrates and the
Tigris. This is reflected in the geographical name Mesopotamia, which
translates as "(land) between the two rivers". The Euphrates and Tigris
come from the northwest from Syria and Turkey respectively and cross the
country to the southeast. The Tigris and Euphrates flow together near
al-Qurna in the south of Iraq. There they form the 193-kilometer-long
Shatt al-Arab/Arvandrud, which flows into the Persian Gulf. The
Euphrates and Tigris were and are the lifeblood of the country, as they
ensure the water supply for a large part of Iraqi agriculture and the
population. In the southeast of the country, the Faw peninsula between
Iran and Kuwait extends into the Persian Gulf and is Iraq's only access
to the sea.
West of Baghdad there are three depressions into
which water from the Euphrates and Tigris can be channeled during
floods: Lake Tharthar, Lake al-Habbaniyya and Lake Razzaza.
The
swamp areas in southern Iraq, the so-called Ahwar, were systematically
drained during the First Gulf War in the 1980s. With international help,
the Iraqi government has been trying to irrigate these areas again since
2003.
As there are different rainfall patterns in Iraq, there are also
different types of vegetation. In northern Iraq there is shrub
vegetation and isolated forests. On the banks of the Euphrates and
Tigris there are date palms and reed belts. The south, on the other
hand, is only sparsely covered in vegetation. Government projects to
turn the desert areas into fertile soil were abandoned in the 1980s.
Various bird species such as vultures, buzzards, ravens and owls are
native to Iraq, as are mammals such as caracals, hyenas, jackals,
gazelles and antelopes. There is also a great abundance of fish on the
Tigris, Euphrates and Shatt al-Arab. Until the beginning of the 19th
century there were lions and ostriches in Iraq.
In 2023, 72 percent of Iraq's population lived in cities.
The
capital, Baghdad, is the country's geographical, political and cultural
center and, with 5.7 million inhabitants, by far the largest urban
agglomeration. Baghdad (Persian = God-given - in the sense of: gift from
God -) was founded in 762 by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur as the new
capital of the Islamic Empire and declared the capital of the newly
founded state of Iraq in 1920. The city was expanded particularly during
the economic boom of the 1970s. The city was hardly affected in the
First Gulf War, but Baghdad was the target of air raids several times in
the Second and Third Gulf Wars. Baghdad is home to 3 of the country's 6
universities and Iraq's largest international airport.
Mosul,
located in the north, is in second place with around 2.9 million
inhabitants. It is the center of Eastern Christian and Assyrian culture
in Iraq. Mosul has been an important economic center since the 8th
century, and the entire Nineveh province was not incorporated into Iraq
under international law until 1926.
The port city of Basra on the
Persian Gulf, with around 2 million inhabitants, is the third largest
city in the country and the center of the Shiite south. Basra was
founded in 636 by Caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab as an Arab military base
and trading center and was conquered by the Ottomans in the 16th
century. In 1914, British troops marched into the city. During the First
Gulf War, the city was badly affected due to its exposed location and
economic importance. Basra has the largest transshipment port in the
country, through which large parts of the oil produced are exported, as
well as the university founded in 1964 and an international airport.
Erbil (Kurdish: Hewlêr) is the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous
Region and, at an estimated 7,000 years old, one of the oldest inhabited
cities in the world. With around 1.8 million inhabitants, it is the
largest Kurdish city in northern Iraq and the fourth largest city in the
country. The city was only slightly damaged in the first two Gulf Wars.
Erbil has an international airport.
Sulaimaniya (Kurdish:
Silêmanî) with 1.6 million inhabitants is the fifth largest city in the
country. The city has an international airport, a university and is
considered the cultural and educational center of Kurdistan.
Iraq can be categorised into five geographical cultural areas: the Kurdish and Turkmen culture with their centres in Erbil and Sulaimaniya, the culture of the sedentary Arabs, which is divided into the Sunni culture with its centre around Baghdad and the Shiite culture with its centre in Basra, the Assyrian culture, present in several cities in the north, and the culture of the nomadic Marsh Arabs who live in the swamps between Baghdad and Basra.
Films have been shown in Baghdad since 1909, mostly for British
audiences. It was not until the 1940s under the rule of King Faisal II
that a film industry began to develop, when French and British film
companies settled in Baghdad. In 1955, Haidar Al-Omar's Fitna wa Hassan,
a film adaptation of the Romeo and Juliet story, was released in cinemas
and was also registered abroad. After the 1958 coup, the Cinema and
Theater General Organization was founded to coordinate and plan future
films in the interest of the state. Most of the films shot were
documentaries. After 1979, the Iraqi film industry fell into its
greatest crisis due to the shortage of resources caused by the
Iraqi-Iranian War. Despite this, the 6-hour epic about the life of
Saddam Hussein was completed in 1980. The film industry suffered another
blow after the Kuwait War, when an embargo was imposed on the country.
Since the US invasion of the country in 2003, the industry has been
slowly trying to regenerate and there are isolated film projects such as
Kilomètre Zéro. There are also numerous foreign films that have Iraq as
a theme, such as Return to Babylone by the Iraqi director Abbas Fahdel
or Valley of the Wolves - Iraq.
Since 1880, theater troupes from Europe have traveled to Iraq to perform in schools and community halls, primarily in front of British audiences. In the 20th century, Iraqi writers began to write plays. The major theaters are the Rasheed, the Mansour and the Volkstheater. Plays by Iraqi, Indian and Turkish authors are performed, as are the great dramas of world literature.
The oud (short-necked lute) and the rabāb (string instrument) dominate Iraqi music. Well-known musicians on these instruments include Munir Bashir (1928-1997), Ahmed Mukhtar (* 1967) and Nasir Schamma (* 1963). The most successful pop singer in the country is Kaẓim al-Saher (* 1961), who has sold more than 30 million records in his career so far. Other well-known singers include Shatha Hassoun - who took part in and won the fourth season of the most famous Arabic music casting show "Star Academy" - and Dalli Hadad, as well as the singer Majid Al Muhandis.
There has been a great diversity of media in Iraq since the fall of
Saddam Hussein. The new Iraqi constitution officially guarantees freedom
of the press. The non-governmental organization Reporters Without
Borders assesses the situation of press freedom in Iraq as "very
serious." The non-governmental organization states that the press is
attacked, arrested or intimidated by militias in a highly politicized
environment. Attempts are being made to prevent research into corruption
and embezzlement with serious threats. Murders of journalists are not
being solved.
In 2017, eight journalists were killed in Iraq.
According to the report by Reporters Without Borders, the deaths of the
victims are directly related to their journalistic activities.
In
general, it can be said that in Iraq one has to distinguish between two
types of media: those controlled by the parties and those independent.
Every major party in Iraq has its central organ, and quite a few also
have television stations. The Kurdish parties have central organs in
both Kurdish and Arabic.
The first Iraqi newspapers appeared during the Ottoman occupation of
Iraq. On June 15, 1869, the country's first newspaper, al-Zawraa,
appeared; it was to be published in Baghdad until March 11, 1917. On
June 25, 1889, the first newspaper appeared in Mosul, followed by the
first newspaper in Basra on December 31, 1889.
The first Iraqi
constitution of 1921 guaranteed freedom of the press. The Iraqi press
was considered the freest in the entire Middle East until 1958.
After the fall of the monarchy, all newspapers critical of the
government were closed in 1959 and pre-censorship was introduced.
Private newspapers were banned in 1969. The Iraqi communists were
allowed to run their own daily newspaper from 1973 to 1979; however,
this was also banned after Saddam Hussein came to power. Between 1979
and 2003, the press was entirely in the hands of the Husseins. The daily
newspapers published in 2003 were al-Jumhuriya, al-Thawra, al-Qadissiya,
al-Iraq, Babil, as well as the sports newspaper al-Baath al-Riyadi and
the English-language Baghdad Observer. Due to paper shortages caused by
the sanctions, the newspapers had to cut the number of pages and reduce
the size of their editions to a quarter of pre-war levels, and from 1999
they were published twice a week in their normal size.
Today, the
seven most important newspapers are:
al-Sabah – financed by Iraqi
Media Network, founded by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)
al-Zaman – editorial office in London, printing in Baghdad and Basra
al-Mada – Baghdad
al-Maschriq – Baghdad
al-Dustur – Baghdad
Iraq Today – English-language weekly newspaper
al-Mujahed, al Shahed,
Thaura Islamiyya – Baghdad, Islamist
In Iraq, there is an unmanageable number of radio stations, many of
them local. Practically every political association has at least one
local radio station. The important radio stations are:
Republic of
Iraq Radio - successor to the Iraq Media Network-Radio Baghdad, founded
by the CPA
Radio Nahrain - Basra, financed by the British
Voice of
Iraq - private station, Baghdad (medium wave)
Hot FM - private
station, Baghdad (FM music station)
Radio Dijla - private station,
Baghdad (FM talk and music station)
Iraqi television began broadcasting in 1956, making it one of the
oldest television stations in the Middle East. In addition to the
regular state broadcaster, Uday Hussein founded al-Shabab TV in 1994,
which broadcast foreign films and programs. In the late 1990s, Iraq
Satellite Channel went on air. During Saddam Hussein's time in office,
the installation of satellite dishes was strictly prohibited.
In
2003, al-Iraqia became the successor to Iraq Television, and several
private television stations were also established. The most important
are al-Sharqiya, al-Baghdadiya, al-Fayhaa, al-Sumaria, al-Furat and the
US coalition broadcaster al-Hurra. Kurdistan TV began broadcasting in
the Kurdish north in 1999. Foreign television channels such as
al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya are also watched.
The most popular sport in the country is football. The national
football league is very popular. Important football clubs are al-Zawraa,
al-Talaba, al-Shorta, al-Quwa al-Jawiya (all from Baghdad), al-Minaa
(Basra) and Erbil SC. The largest football stadium in the country is the
al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad, built in 1966, with a capacity of 66,000
spectators. In 2013, a sports complex with a main stadium for 65,000
spectators and another stadium for 10,000 spectators was completed in
Basra.
The Iraqi national team has won several regional titles.
Their greatest successes were qualifying for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in
Mexico and winning the 2007 Asian Cup. Another success was fourth place
at the 2004 Olympic Games. The Iraqi football association is called
al-Ittihad al-ʿiraqi li-kurat al-qadam, or Iraq Football Association
(IFA).
Other sports such as weightlifting, martial arts, futsal,
basketball and swimming are also popular. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in
Rome, weightlifter Abdu l-Wahid Aziz won the bronze medal in the
lightweight category, which remains the country's only Olympic medal to
date.
Special Olympics Iraq was founded in 2000 and has taken
part in the Special Olympics World Games several times.
Iraq had 45.5 million inhabitants in 2023. Annual population growth
was + 2.2%. A surplus of births (birth rate: 27.0 per 1000 inhabitants
vs. death rate: 4.4 per 1000 inhabitants) contributed to population
growth. The number of births per woman in 2022 was statistically 3.4,
that of the Middle East and North Africa region was 2.6. The life
expectancy of Iraq's inhabitants from birth was 71.3 years in 2022. The
median age of the population in 2021 was 19.8 years. In 2023, 37.3
percent of the population was under 15 years old, while the proportion
of people over 64 was 3.4 percent of the population.
The
country's population has quadrupled in the last 50 years. Iraq has one
of the youngest and fastest growing populations in the world. By the
middle of the century, a population of over 80 million is forecast.
The population density is 93 inhabitants/km². In 2020, 71 percent of
Iraq's inhabitants lived in cities, of which 6.2 million people lived in
the Baghdad agglomeration alone. The capital region has a population
density of 25,751 inhabitants/km². The city and the entire Baghdad
Governorate together have 7.1 million people. Other populous
governorates are Nineveh (2.8 million), Erbil (2.1 million),
al-Suleymaniah (2.02 million), Basra (1.9 million) and Babil (1.8
million). Large parts of the country, on the other hand, are very
sparsely populated, especially in the dry south.
Around 75-80% of the population living in Iraq today are Arabs.
15-20% are Kurds and 5% are Turkmen, around 600,000 Assyrians/Aramaeans
(around 1.4 million in 2003), around 10,000 Armenians (35,000 before the
fighting) or members of other ethnic groups. In addition, 20,000 to
50,000 Marsh Arabs are said to live in the southeast. Turkoman sources
estimate the proportion of their own ethnic group to be around 10%.
Many Iraqis left the country during Saddam Hussein's time, and by
the end of 2002 around 400,000 refugees were registered worldwide. Due
to the unstable situation in the country, a further 1.8 million people
have left Iraq since 2003. At the height of the violence in 2006 and
2007, up to 3,000 people crossed the borders to Syria, Iran and Jordan
every day. There are also over 1.6 million internally displaced people.
The German government was obliged to take in 2,500 Iraqi refugees from
Syria and Jordan in November 2008 due to a decision by the EU interior
ministers.
Around 97% of the population is Muslim. Over 60% are Shiites and
between 32 and 37% are Sunnis; the vast majority of Muslim Kurds are
Sunni. Christians, Yazidis and other religions form a minority at around
3%. Around 100 years ago they made up around 25%. In recent years almost
2 million Christians have fled. The Christians mainly belong to the
Oriental Christian communities: Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian
Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Armenian Apostolic
Church, Roman Catholic Church, Syrian Catholic Church, Syrian Orthodox
Church of Antioch, Assyrian Evangelical Church and others.
Until
1948, 150,000 Jews lived in Iraq. Due to flight and expulsion in the
1940s following the founding of the State of Israel, the number of Jews
living in Iraq decreased significantly and is currently estimated at
less than 10 people. There are also Yazidis, Shabak and several thousand
Mandaeans. Recently, there have been growing Zoroastrian communities in
the Kurdish part of Iraq, particularly in Sulaimaniya. Under the regime
of Saddam Hussein, tolerance towards other religions was relatively
high; the dictator's government included, for example, some of the most
prominent Jews in Iraq. For example, the Christian Chaldean Tariq Aziz
served as minister, and for a short time the Kurdish general Mustafa
Aziz Mahmoud served. Since the beginning of the war in March 2003,
however, an estimated half of Iraqi Christians have left the country.
The literacy rate of the population is 79.7%, well below the world
average. 85.7% of all men can read and write, compared to just 73.7% of
women. The situation has deteriorated significantly over the last 30
years - at the end of the 1980s, the proportion of illiterate people was
only 10 to 12%.
Preschool (mostly state-run in Iraq, but in
recent years more and more fee-paying private preschools have been
established) can be attended by children between the ages of four and
five.
Since 1970, Iraq has had a general nine-year compulsory
education system, and school and university education are covered by the
state. State-approved private schools were only permitted in the early
1990s. Primary school education lasts six years, with the first four
grades being considered lower secondary and grades 5 and 6 being middle
secondary. English is taught from grade 5 onwards. Primary school is
followed by secondary school for a further three years. Secondary school
is completed after a uniform final examination and the acquisition of
the intermediate school leaving certificate. In order to obtain the
Abitur, it is necessary to attend middle school; this three-year school
form ends with a central Abitur examination in six school subjects
(Arabic, English, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology) and
entitles the student to study.
The country's three largest
universities (University of Baghdad, al-Mustansiriyya University and the
Technical University of Baghdad, also known as al-Hikma) are located in
the capital Baghdad. Other universities are located in Basra (University
of Basra), Mosul (University of Mosul), Erbil (Salahaddin University,
University of Kurdistan Hewlêr), Sulaimaniya (University of Sulaimani)
and Dohuk (University of Duhok).
The country's health expenditure amounted to 5.2% of gross domestic product in 2021. In 2020, there were 9.1 practicing doctors per 10,000 inhabitants in Iraq. The mortality rate among children under 5 was 23.5 per 1,000 live births in 2022. The life expectancy of Iraq's inhabitants from birth was 71.3 years in 2022 (women: 73.4, men: 69.2). Life expectancy increased by 7% from 66.8 years in 2000 to 2022.
Since the founding of the state in 1921 and its admission to the
League of Nations (1932), Iraqi politics has been shaped by two main
factors:
the wealth of oil and the resulting interests of the
West and Russia,
the ethnic and religious differences of the
three parts of the country, which correspond to the former Ottoman
provinces of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra: Kurds and Turkmen in the north,
Sunni Arabs in the centre of the country and Shiites in the south.
One of the unifying factors was the long-standing resistance to
British influence, which lasted until the fall of King Faisal II (1958)
and the nationalisation of the oil companies. However, democracy was
undermined by fierce power struggles, which still have an impact today
among pan-Arabists, Shiites and Kurds and in which the nationalist Baath
Party prevailed in 1968. In 1979, power passed into the sole rule of
Saddam Hussein, which was further consolidated by two "Gulf Wars"
against Iran (1980-1988) and against Kuwait and its allies (1990/91).
Since its founding in 1920, there has been no common national identification between the three population groups, Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. This lack of national unity left room for radical Islamic aspirations for power. Before Saddam was overthrown, the Sunnis ruled; after the Americans withdrew, the Shiites ruled, "blowing up" the previously ruling government structure using "flimsy" arguments (Baath Party). The ethno-religious conflicts continued to intensify and represent an acute threat to Iraqi unity.
On October 15, 2005, the new constitution was put to a vote. If two-thirds of voters in three provinces had voted no, the constitution would not have been adopted. According to the results, voter turnout was over 60%. The constitution was approved with 78.59% of the votes. Only in the provinces of al-Anbar and Salah ad-Din did more than two-thirds of voters vote against it, and in a third province (Ninawa) the two-thirds majority of votes against was only narrowly missed.
In the meantime, the discussion about a new constitution continues.
As a first step, an interim constitution was ceremoniously signed by the
25 members of the government council on March 8, 2004. After initial
objections and a postponement of the date, the document was adopted
without any changes to the original draft.
The interim
constitution has governed the fate of the state since the transfer of
power on June 28, 2004. According to the text of the constitution, Iraq
is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious parliamentary republic that is
committed to democracy, pluralism and federalism. The text enshrines
human rights, freedoms and civil rights, the right to freedom of
expression and freedom of assembly, as well as the rights of ethnic and
religious minorities.
There is freedom of religion, with Islam
being established as the state religion. The official languages are
Arabic and Kurdish. There is a right to mother-tongue instruction in
these languages. Syrian Aramaic and Turkish are also considered official
languages in the administration.
Political power comes
exclusively from the people in free, equal and direct elections. The
Council of Representatives, elected by the people every four years, is
the highest legislative body of the state. The president and prime
minister, elected by the Council of Representatives, jointly exercise
the highest executive power. Legislation is based on the rules of Islam
(Sharia) but also on the principles of democracy and the constitution.
All Iraqis are equal before the law. The judiciary is independent of the
other branches of government and the highest legal body is the Federal
Court of Justice, which includes an as yet undetermined number of
Islamic legal scholars (Sharia judges). It monitors, among other things,
the constitutional conformity of the legislature.
The central
government's powers are foreign, defense, trade, immigration policy,
currency, customs and metrology. The regions and provinces enjoy
extensive autonomy. The provinces have the final say in matters that are
decided jointly with the federal government. Provinces are entitled to
form joint administrative districts with extensive powers, provided this
has been confirmed by the people in a referendum. The provinces are also
entitled to maintain their own security forces.
Equality for
women is explicitly guaranteed in the constitution. At least 25% of the
members of the Council of Representatives must be female. However, the
controversial Article 39 stipulates that Iraqi citizens can submit to
the civil jurisdiction of their own religious community, which may lead
to a corresponding disadvantage in inheritance and divorce matters.
Natural resources, such as natural gas and oil, are established as the
common property of all Iraqis. Their common use is determined jointly by
the central government and the provinces.
On January 30, 2005,
elections were held for a transitional parliament (National Assembly),
in which the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), supported by Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, won an almost absolute majority of seats in parliament
with 48.2% of the votes cast. A 55-member commission appointed by this
transitional parliament had to draw up the final constitution by August
15, 2005, which was then voted on by referendum. 28 of the commission's
members belong to the UIA, and the remaining seats are largely divided
between the Kurds and the party alliance of former Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi, the Iraqi List. The commission is headed by the moderate Shiite
cleric Hummam Hammudi, his deputies are the Sunni Adnan al-Janabi and
the Kurd Fu'ad Massum. Because of the underrepresentation of Sunnis, US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the composition of the
commission, whereupon Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari promised
to involve Sunnis more in the political process. The Sunnis were then
offered greater participation in the drafting of the constitution.
According to the constitution, the appointment of a government is
only possible with the agreement of the Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni
representatives in the Presidential Council.
According to the
current constitution of 2005, the head of state is the President of the
Republic of Iraq. On July 24, 2014, the Kurd Fuad Masum (PUK) was
elected as the new president by the Iraqi parliament with 211 votes to
17. His deputies are former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Iyad Allawi
and Osama al-Nujaifi.
Around five months after the 2018 election
in Iraq, the Kurdish politician Barham Salih was elected as the
country's new head of state after several attempts. The members of
parliament in Baghdad voted for him with 219 out of 329 votes. The
presidency in Iraq has traditionally been held by a Kurd. Unlike before,
the two major Kurdish forces, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), were initially unable to agree on a
candidate. Behind this lies a bitter struggle for the distribution of
power in the country.
After Haider al-Abadi was commissioned by President Fuad Masum on
August 11, 2014 to form a new government, the previous Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki resigned on August 14. It took until September 8 for
al-Abadi and his cabinet to gain the approval of the majority of the
Iraqi parliament and be sworn in.
Prime Minister Al-Abadi's
reform program, announced in August 2015 during protests against abuses
and corruption in several Iraqi provinces, is making slow progress.
Measures such as the abolition of the posts of deputy presidents or the
new appointments to ministerial posts were reversed or prevented by the
Supreme Federal Court and Parliament. The finance and defense ministers
lost their posts due to parliamentary votes of no confidence. Core
government departments such as the interior, finance and defense are
currently vacant, while other departments such as finance, trade and
industry remain vacant.
According to the interim constitution, one third of every electoral
roll had to be women. Around a quarter of all seats in the newly elected
National Assembly are also available to women.
In the 2009 local
elections, members of the local parliaments were elected in 14 of the 18
provinces. In Kirkuk province, voting was canceled because the political
factions could not agree on the framework conditions. In the remaining
three provinces, the autonomously governed Kurdish northern provinces,
the election will be held at a later date. 15 million of a total of 28
million eligible voters registered in advance to be able to cast their
vote. The polling stations were secured by thousands of Iraqi police and
soldiers, largely without the involvement of the US army. According to
Reuters reports, the elections were largely peaceful, in contrast to
2005.
The Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr won the 2018
parliamentary election. His list Sairun ("We March") will receive 54 of
the 329 seats in parliament, the electoral commission announced. In
second place is an alliance led by the politician Hadi al-Amiri, which
is close to the Shiite militias and has close ties to neighboring Iran.
The incumbent Shiite head of government Haidar al-Abadi and his list
only came in third place. This result had already been expected
according to forecasts after the May 12 election.
The death penalty is still carried out in Iraq. Amnesty International documented numerous cases of torture and mistreatment in prisons. These include hanging by the arms or legs for long periods of time, beating with cables and tubes, electric shocks, breaking arms and legs, near suffocation with plastic bags, or rape. Nonconformists and homosexuals are intimidated. The authorities in the Kurdistan Region have taken action against people who criticize government corruption. Cases of torture and abuse have also been documented there.
In Iraq, Shiite clerics "marry" young girls and women for "temporary pleasure marriages" (mut'a marriage), which can last as little as an hour - for sexual purposes. Under the pretext of complying with Sharia law, the girls are married for a fee.
Relations between Iraq and the USA have undergone significant changes
since the last US troops withdrew on December 18, 2011. Operation Iraqi
Freedom ended with the withdrawal of the last combat brigade in August
2010. Nevertheless, the USA remains Iraq's most important international
partner after Iran. The USA has been striving to support a
democratically legitimate and inclusive government, especially since the
change of government in Iraq. Furthermore, the USA supports the Iraqi
government in the fight against IS as part of the international anti-IS
coalition. The killing of Qasem Soleimani on Iraqi territory put a
strain on relations in 2020.
In Syria and Iraq, there have been
increasing military clashes between units of the United States Army as a
result of the ongoing Gaza war. Since October 17, 2023, Iran-backed
paramilitaries organized under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in
Iraq have increasingly attacked US military bases in Syria and Iraq with
drones and missiles. According to the United States government, at least
40 attacks have been carried out since October 17, 2023, including 22 on
US military bases in Iraq and 18 on those in Syria. In return, US
fighter jets attacked paramilitary facilities twice. After US military
bases were also attacked by pro-Iranian paramilitaries in December 2023,
the United States Air Force (USAF) carried out an airstrike on
facilities of the pro-Iranian paramilitaries stationed in Iraq on the
night of December 26. However, the Iraqi government declared the victims
of the airstrike not to be members of paramilitary combat units, but
rather soldiers of the regular Iraqi armed forces and civilians.
Among its neighbouring countries, Iraq currently maintains full
diplomatic relations with Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Syria, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia, among others.
Relations with Syria are currently severely
affected by the violent conflicts in the neighbouring country. Parts of
the Iraqi region bordering Syria are still under the control of IS. In
addition, Iraq was severely affected by the flow of refugees from Syria.
On February 13, 2007, the Iraqi embassy in Riyadh was reopened;
Saudi Arabia resumed diplomatic relations with Iraq on February 21, 2012
and opened an embassy in Baghdad at the end of 2015 and recently a
consulate general in Erbil. At the end of February 2017, the Saudi
Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, travelled to Baghdad as the first
Saudi Foreign Minister since 1990. Saudi Arabia has an interest in a
stable Iraq under an inclusive government that includes the different
population groups in political decisions and institutions.
Relations with Kuwait, which have been strained for decades, have
improved. During visits by the Kuwaiti Prime Minister to Baghdad and the
Iraqi Foreign Minister to Kuwait, both sides agreed to resolve the
outstanding issues regarding compensation to Kuwait with the help of the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). This primarily
concerns reparations that Iraq must make after its attack on Kuwait on
August 2, 1990.
There is an Iraqi-Kuwaiti Council of Ministers,
which, among other things, agreed on a tourism and investment agreement
and reached an agreement on navigation in Khor Abdullah, the border
region in the Persian Gulf.
Iraq's relations with other Arab
states are also improving after numerous Arab diplomats became victims
of violence in Baghdad after 2003. In June 2009, Egypt sent an
ambassador to Baghdad again and in November 2010 a consul general to
Erbil. In September 2015, Qatar announced the first dispatch of an
ambassador to Baghdad since 1990.
Relations with Turkey have
recently deteriorated again. The main issues are currently tensions over
a Turkish military presence for training purposes in northern Iraq
against the will of the Iraqi government. There are also differences
regarding the conflict in Syria, the problems arising from dealing with
the Kurds and the conflict over water from the Tigris. The
Turkish-Kurdish oil pipeline was opened in December 2013. Turkey's
purchase of oil from the Kurdish regional government, bypassing the
central government in Baghdad, has deepened existing tensions. In
addition to the activities mentioned, Turkey has been militarily active
in northern Iraq since the summer of 2015, sporadically and without
establishing a permanent military presence, as part of its fighting
against the PKK.
Iraq maintains close relations with its
neighbour Iran, which are characterised by a turbulent history. Despite
the costly war between the two states in the 1980s, relations have
historically been very close. There are diverse links at the social and
economic level as well as between the governments, driven by very
different interests, and these have intensified since the current Iraqi
government took office. Thousands of Iranian pilgrims travel every year
to the holy places of the Shiites in Iraq, including Karbala and Najaf.
On May 23, 2003, the armed forces of the former regime under Saddam
Hussein were disbanded by the interim administration. A large number of
the military legacies were destroyed. The new Iraqi armed forces were
set up with the support of the USA, Great Britain, Australia and Jordan.
In Iraq, the "coalition forces", still primarily the USA and Great
Britain, were responsible for internal and external security in the
country as the main part of the Multi-National Force - Iraq until 2009
and worked closely with the new Iraqi army. The United States Forces
Iraq (USF-I) left Iraq in 2011.
The Chief Joint Forces of the new
Iraqi armed forces in 2007 is General Babakir Zebari. In 2017, the
country spent just under 3.9 percent of its economic output or 7.4
billion US dollars on its armed forces. The relatively high defense
spending is a burden on the state budget.
Private security
companies:
Numerous military service providers and private security
and military companies work on behalf of the US military. Their number
is estimated at around 15,000 men - official figures are not disclosed.
The largest of these companies are:
The Hart Group: protection of
electrical companies
ISI Group: protection of coalition buildings
Erinys International: personal protection
DynCorp: personal
protection & training of the Iraqi police (contract value: 40 million US
dollars)
Blackwater USA: personal protection
ArmorGroup/G4S:
personal protection, mine clearance & airport security
Kroll Inc.:
personal protection
Global Risk personal protection
Sabre
International airport security
Private military service providers
have a special position in Iraq, as it is not clear which law these
companies are bound by and they are not required to provide any
information on employee numbers or casualty figures.
Iraq is essentially an agricultural country, but its economy has been
geared almost exclusively towards the export of oil since the first oil
discoveries in 1927. After all foreign oil companies were nationalized
in 1972 and the oil crisis led to a rapid increase in oil prices, there
was an economic boom in the country from the mid-1970s onwards, with the
country's gross domestic product growing by an average of 11.7% between
1970 and 1980. A large part of the Iraqi population also benefited from
this rapid development. In 1979, Iraq had cash reserves worth 35 billion
US dollars, and in 1980 oil revenues amounted to 26 billion dollars.
However, the First Gulf War slowed this development, with the
country's GDP shrinking by 8.1% between 1980 and 1985 and again by 1.7%
between 1985 and 1989. The UN embargo (1991-2003) almost paralyzed the
economy. With debts of 100 billion US dollars, Iraq is one of the most
indebted countries in the world. The country's economy is still
suffering from the consequences of the Gulf Wars, the UN embargo and the
current unstable situation.
The gross domestic product in 2013
was around 229.3 billion US dollars, the economic growth rate was 4.2%.
The inflation rate is 1.9%, and the unemployment rate is around 13%. In
2012, Iraq exported goods worth 93.9 billion dollars. The main buyers
were the USA, India and South Korea. Imports amounted to 56.9 billion
dollars and mostly came from Syria, Jordan, Turkey and the USA. The main
imports were machinery, various processed products, chemical products
and food.
The country's low level of integration with the global
economy and the associated relatively high level of independence of Iraq
from global markets have so far spared the country from the current
economic crisis. Some areas are even benefiting directly from the global
recession. According to the Iraq National Investment Commission (INIC),
the number of international construction and contracting companies in
Iraq has increased dramatically since the beginning of the global
economic crisis. Other investors are expected to follow suit and bring
more foreign capital into the country. The Kurdish Investment Minister
Herish Muharam Muhamad recently even went so far as to say that
investing in Iraq is "safer than Wall Street".
According to a
government study, around 23% of Iraqis live below the poverty line, i.e.
on less than $2.50 a day. Another problem is corruption in the country.
Through the Iraq Development Road, Iraq plans to become a logistics
center. For this purpose, railways and highways are to be built between
Iraq's border with Turkey and the port under construction on the al-Faw
peninsula in southern Iraq in order to establish one of the largest
commercial ports in the region. The project, with a volume of 17 billion
US dollars, was planned at an international conference in 2023. The
country is also trying to connect China with the new Silk Road.
The country's currency is the Iraqi dinar, introduced in 1932, worth 1,000 fils. Between 1991 and 2003, Iraq had two currencies, the so-called Swiss dinar, which was used in the Kurdish north (value: 1 US dollar = 0.33 dinars), and the print dinar with the image of Saddam Hussein, which replaced the Swiss dinar after 1991 (value: 1 US dollar = about 3,500 dinars). On October 15, 2003, the New Iraqi Dinar was introduced, replacing both currencies (value: 1 US dollar = about 1,150 dinars).
The country's most important economic sector is oil production.
Iraq is a founding member of OPEC, founded on September 14, 1960,
and has the largest explored oil reserves (113 billion barrels) after
Saudi Arabia and Canada (which mostly have so-called unconventional,
expensively produced oil, e.g. tar sands). It is estimated that the
total reserves could amount to up to 250 billion barrels of oil and gas.
Up to 45 billion barrels of this are in the north in the Kurdistan
Autonomous Region, including a large part in the Kirkuk field. Iraq is
one of the countries that lie in the so-called strategic ellipse.
The search for oil began in 1902 with the first drilling in the
Zagros Basin (northeast Iraq). However, the first oil discovery was not
made until 20 years later. In 1927, a gigantic oil deposit was
discovered with the drilling known as Baba Gurgur 1 - the Kirkuk field.
Initially, 1 million barrels of oil flowed into the environment before
the oil leak was brought under control. The field stretches over 150-200
km and has a 610 m thick oil-bearing layer. The original amount of oil
in the field is given as 17 billion barrels. This is about 1/5 of the
amount of oil in the largest oil field in the world (Ghawar in Saudi
Arabia) and is one of the so-called "super giants".
By 1972, the
entire Iraqi oil industry was nationalized under the umbrella of the
Iraq National Oil Company (INOC).
Oil production rose
continuously from 1969 and reached its peak in 1979 with 3.5 million
barrels per day (bopd). The war with Iran and the First Gulf War led to
a collapse in oil production. In 1981, 900,000 bopd were produced and in
1991 only 300,000 bopd.
The United Nations lifted sanctions
against Iraq on March 22, 2003. The USA and Great Britain, as occupying
powers, reserved the financial management of Iraqi oil production until
a government was installed.
By 2003, 75 large oil and gas fields
had been discovered. Nine of them are "super giants" (including Kirkuk,
Rumalia South, Rumalia North and Majnoon) and 22 are "giants".
The enormous oil reserves in the Kurdish part of Iraq are also the
reason for the long-standing dispute between the Kurdish regional
government and the central government in Baghdad. Since 2003, the
Kurdish government has signed contracts with around 30 Western companies
to explore and exploit oil fields.
On May 8, 2009, however, the
government in Baghdad granted permission to export Kurdish oil. From
June 1, 2009, 60,000 bopd flowed from the Tawke field via pipelines to
the Mediterranean oil loading port in Ceyhan in Turkey. At the end of
June 2009, exports from the Taq Taq field began at 40,000 bopd. In
September 2009, however, Kurdistan stopped exports again because no
agreement could be reached with Baghdad on payment for exports. Neither
Kurdistan nor the oil producers received any money. After the Iraqi
elections in early 2010 and the formation of a government in late 2010,
new negotiations were started to resolve this conflict, with the result
that exports began on February 3, 2011 at 10,500 bopd. Just three days
later, 50,000 bopd were to be reached, followed by a further increase to
100,000 bopd. The sale is being carried out by the state-owned "State
Oil Marketing Organization" (SOMO) in Baghdad. The Tawke field is being
developed by the DNO. Genel Enerji (Turkey) and Sinopec (China) operate
the Taq Taq field.
On May 17, 2009, the Austrian OMV and the
Hungarian MOL acquired shares in the Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields.
From 2014–15, one billion cubic meters of gas per day are to flow from
these fields to Europe. OMV and MOL are shareholders in the Nabucco gas
pipeline, which is currently being planned and built.
In June and
December 2010, shares in the Iraqi fields listed below were awarded to
western oil companies. The shares provide for fixed payments per barrel.
If the plans are met, Iraq's production will increase from 2.5 million
bopd in 2009 to 12 million bopd in 2016. This would make Iraq the
largest oil producer in the world. This drastic increase in production
will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, there is a
significant need for skilled workers, oil drilling equipment, pipelines
and everything that goes with it. Experts therefore doubt that Iraq can
achieve its goals.
Rumaila field (17.7 billion barrels): CNPC +
BP, $2 per barrel, production target: 2.8 million bopd, which would make
it the second largest oil producing field in the world
Majnoon field
(13 billion barrels): Royal Dutch Shell + Malaysia's Petronas;
Participation $1.39 per barrel, production target: 1.8 million bopd
West Qurna field phase 2 (12 billion barrels): Lukoil + Statoil Hydro,
$1.15 per barrel, production target: 1.8 million bopd
Halfaya field
(4 billion barrels): CNPC + Total + Petronas, production target: 535,000
bopd
Badra field (2 billion barrels): GazpromNeft + Kogas + Petronas
+ TPAO, production target 170,000 bopd, $5.50 per barrel
Garraf field
(860 million barrels): Petronas + Japex, $1.49 per barrel, production
target: 230,000 bopd
Najmah field: Sonangol
Qaiyarah field:
Sonangol
Middle Furat: near Karbala, no bidder
In addition to
oil, Iraq also has sulfur, phosphate, sea salt and gypsum, as well as
smaller amounts of gold and silver.
Compared to other Middle Eastern countries, Iraq has an abundance of
water; agriculture is also an important economic sector, employing
around 40 percent of all Iraqi workers. In the north, rain-fed
agriculture is practiced thanks to rainfall and mild weather; in the
south, irrigation is the main crop. Wheat, rice, corn, barley, and fruit
and vegetables are grown (mainly for self-sufficiency). Until the 1980s,
the country was self-sufficient in most foodstuffs; today, Iraq has to
import most of its basic needs.
The most important agricultural
product is dates. In the 1970s, Iraq produced 75% of the dates on the
world market; this share fell sharply due to mass deforestation and
drainage during the First Gulf War and the Second Anfal Operation in
1991. In 2008, production reached 281,000 tons, only half of the 1980s
level. In addition, the number of palm trees has fallen from over 30
million to less than nine million.
The country is hardly industrially developed. The main industries are food processing, textiles, the production of building materials and the petrochemical industry. Most industrial companies are located in Baghdad and the north.
The state budget in 2016 included expenditure of the equivalent of
77.8 billion US dollars, compared to revenues of the equivalent of 52.4
billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 15.2% of GDP.
The national debt in 2016 was 106.4 billion US dollars or 63.7% of
GDP.
In 2020, the share of government spending (in % of GDP) was
in the following areas:
Health: 5.1%
Education: 4.7% (2016)
Military: 3.0% (2023)
Infrastructure
The Iraqi road network covers 45,550 km, of which 38,400 are paved. Sections of interurban roads and roads in urban centers (where there is no public transport apart from private bus lines/shared taxis) are multi-lane, otherwise even major interurban roads are two-lane. Exceptions are the motorways in the Kurdish north, which are currently under construction and have been partially completed, and the Basra-Baghdad-Jordan road, which has been expanded to resemble a motorway over long stretches. The number of registered cars rose sharply after the end of the war, mainly due to the sharp rise in income and the elimination of import duties, which is causing problems in the Arab urban centers in particular, as the precarious security situation means that there is not enough investment in expanding the road network. This leads to a large number of fatal accidents in road traffic. In 2013, there were a total of 20.2 traffic fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants in Iraq. By comparison: In Germany, there were 4.3 deaths in the same year. In total, 6,800 people lost their lives in traffic.
The Iraqi rail network consisted of three main routes converging in
Baghdad and covered 2,339 km. A large part of it is no longer passable.
Only the Baghdad-Basra railway line is in operation, which - since 2015
- has been served several times a week by trains built in China.
The Mosul-Gaziantep (Turkey) line was opened in mid-February 2010. The
18-hour journey went through Syria and took place once a week. However,
operations were discontinued after a short time.
There are over 100 airfields and runways in Iraq, and the country
also has six international airports (Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, Mosul, Najaf
and Sulaymaniyah), and Karbala Airport is currently under construction.
Another airport in Tikrit is being planned.
The largest airline
is the state-owned Iraqi Airways.
Inland shipping, which was once important, is possible on 1,015 km of
canals and rivers, but today only plays a minor role.
The lower
reaches of the Shatt al-Arab River connect the port city of Basra with
the Persian Gulf and give Iraq a navigable connection to the Indian
Ocean and to global shipping.
The number of landline connections across the country is estimated at
around 2.4 million in 2022. Due to the dilapidated networks and poor
infrastructure, a third of them are not functional. In 2022, 79 percent
of Iraq's population used the Internet.
Mobile phone use, which
had previously been banned, rose from 300,000 users in 2003 to over 23
million in 2011, meaning that a good 78% of the country was covered in
March 2011. The market is dominated by three companies: Zain Iraq,
Asiacell and Korek. However, a UMTS network does not yet exist.
During Saddam Hussein's time, the Internet was only accessible to the
reliable and wealthy. To gain access, you had to submit an application
to the Ministry of Communications and pay a fee of around $4,000. Since
the fall of the regime, usage has increased rapidly, although only 1.1%
of the population has a private connection. Many political parties also
have their own websites. At the moment, however, Internet publications
do not yet have any influence on the masses; the medium is used almost
exclusively for communication. Young people often use the PCs provided
in the various youth centers. Broadband and wireless connections are
also available in urban areas.
The country's electricity production has not been able to keep up
with the increasing demand in the years after 2003, which is why power
outages are still frequent. In the summer of 2012, only 7,200 megawatts
could be produced from a consumption of 15,000 megawatts. Supply
therefore averaged 8-9 hours. Most Iraqis therefore still rely on
emergency generators. Installed capacities in 2022 amounted to 30 GW,
but only about 23.4 GW were available. Nevertheless, the situation has
improved in recent years and the average supply is now 20 hours a day.
In June 2010, protests broke out in Nasiriyah and Basra due to the
poor supply situation, in which one person was killed. The Iraqi
Minister of Electricity subsequently resigned from office on June 22,
2010.