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Iraq, officially Republic of Iraq, republic (1995 est. pop. 20,644,000), 167,924 sq mi (434,924 sq km), SW Asia, bordered by the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia (S), Jordan and Syria (W), Turkey (N), and Iran (E). Principal cities include Baghdad (the capital), Basra, and Mosul. Iraq is an almost landlocked country, its only outlet to the sea a short stretch of coast on the Persian Gulf. It is composed of a mountainous region in the northeast and the vast Syrian Desert, inhabited by a few nomadic shepherds, in the southwest; in-between is the heart of the country, a fertile lowland region watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Although about one third of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, oil production, notably in the great fields of Mosul and Kirkuk, dominates the economy. Iraq is among the largest oil producers of the Middle East. Its petroleum resources were nationalized in 1972, and oil revenues were used to promote industrialization and to transform Iraq into a military power. The UN-sponsored economic embargo imposed after the invasion of Kuwait has severely reduced Iraq's oil exports and devastated the economy. The country has a small, diversified industrial sector, with textiles, shoes, processed food, and building materials among its products. Iraq is a major producer of dates; other crops include cotton, cereals, and vegetables. Agriculture depends largely on irrigation. Most of the population are Muslim Arabs, divided religiously into the Sunnis of central Iraq and Shiites of the south. The Kurds, who inhabit the north (see Kurdistan), are the principal minority. Arabic is the official language in most of the country; Kurdish is official in northern sections; Assyrian and Armenian are spoken by some.
History
Modern Iraq is approximately coextensive with ancient Mesopotamia, and prior to the Arab conquest in the 7th cent. AD it was the site of a number of flourishing civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. In the 8th cent., as capital of the Abbasid caliphate, Baghdad became an important center of learning and the arts. Mesopotamia fell to the Ottoman Turks in the 16th cent. The British invaded Iraq in World War I, and in 1920 the country became a League of Nations mandate under British administration. Iraq was made a kingdom under Faisal I in 1921, and the British mandate was terminated in 1932, although British military bases remained. Meanwhile, the first oil concession had been granted in 1925, and in 1934 the export of oil began. Domestic politics were marked by turbulence, and the country experienced seven military coups between 1936 and 1941. Following an army coup in 1958, Iraq became a republic under Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem. The chronic Kurdish problem flared up in 1962, when tribes demanding an autonomous Kurdistan gained control of much of N Iraq. The rebellion collapsed (1975), but intermittent warfare continued. In 1968 a coup brought the Ba'ath party to power, and in 1979 Saddam Hussein became party leader and Iraq's president. Opposition within Iraq grew among the Shiites, who were the majority of the population yet were excluded from political control. Iraq launched (1980) a costly war against Iran that ended (1988) in a stalemate. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, which it had previously claimed, provoking the Persian Gulf War; economic sanctions were also imposed, and remained in effect long after the war, although they were modified in 2002 to emphasize military-related goods. The war ended (1991) with Iraq ousted from Kuwait. Following the war, Iraqi Shiites and Kurds revolted. The uprisings were crushed, but both groups were provided (1992) with limited UN protection, which proved ineffective in the case of the Shiites; the Kurds established a self-proclaimed autonomous region in N Iraq. An Iraqi military buildup near the Kuwait border in 1994 led to the deployment of U.S. troops in Kuwait. In 1996, Iraq reached an accord with the UN that allowed it to sell $1 billion worth of oil every 90 days, with the money set aside for food and medicine and compensation to Kuwaitis. Iraq destroyed at least some chemical weapons under UN supervision, but inspections imposed as part of the conditions for ending the Gulf War found evidence of chemical warheads and of a program to produce materials for nuclear weapons. Beginning in late 1997, Iraq resisted cooperating with the weapons inspections; this led to a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf. U.S. and British bombing raids against Iraq began in Nov. 1998 and have persisted on a smaller scale. In 2002 the U.S. threatened military action against Iraq over its failure to permit weapons inspections, leading Iraq to announce that inspectors could return. In November the UN established a strict timetable for the resumption of inspections and Iraq permitted inspectors to return. Although inspectors did not find evidence of weapons or weapons programs, Iraq failed to assist in them in their attempts to determine that such programs no longer existed. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain continued to prepare for war with Iraq, and in Mar. 2003 demanded that Hussein step down or face an invasion. On Mar. 19, 2003, they launched an airstrike aimed at Hussein personally, and sizable ground troops began invading the following day. After less than a month of fighting, Hussein's rule had collapsed, and U.S. and British forces had established a controlling presence in the major urban areas, although pockets of resistance remained.
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Kurdistan, extensive plateau and mountain region in SW Asia (74,000 sq mi/191,660 sq km), inhabited mainly by Kurds and including parts of E Turkey, N Syria, NE Iraq, S Armenia, and NW Iran. Ethnically and linguistically close to the Iranians, the Kurds, who number about 20 million, were traditionally nomadic herders but are now mostly seminomadic or sedentary. The majority are Sunni Muslims and speak Kurdish. The Kurds have traditionally resisted subjugation by other nations. Kurdistan was conquered by the Arabs and converted to Islam in the 7th cent. The region was held by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th cent., by the Mongols from the 13th to 15th cent., and then by the Ottoman Empire. Since World War I the Kurds have struggled unsuccessfully in the various countries in which they live for self-determination and independence. In 1946 a short-lived, Soviet-backed Kurdish republic was formed in Iran. There were Kurdish uprisings in Iraq in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. After the Persian Gulf War, Kurdish groups again rose against Iraq but were crushed, and perhaps 1.5 million fled to Turkey and Iran. Returning under UN protection, they established (1992) an autonomous region in N Iraq, but in 1994 fighting erupted among the rival Kurdish factions, and control of the area is divided between two rival groups. Iraqi Kurds aided U.S.-British forces in 2003 in their war to oust Saddam Hussein from power. In Turkey, Kurdish guerrillas began fighting the government in the mid-1980s, and in 1992 Turkey mounted a concerted attack on the rebels. In 1995 Turkish forces invaded N Iraq in an attempt to destroy guerrilla bases and supplies. The head of the Kurdish guerrillas was arrested by Turkish officials in 1999 and sentenced to death for treason; in 2000 the guerrillas announced they would end their attacks. Some 23,00030,000 people may have died in the 15-year war. There was fighting in the early 1990s between Turkish and Iraqi Kurds as well.
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Used by permission of Columbia University Press.
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