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Portal:Iraq

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The Iraq Portal

A view of the former Republican Palace, Baghdad, Iraq
A view of the former Republican Palace, Baghdad, Iraq

Flag of Iraq
Flag of Iraq
Coat of Arms of Iraq
Coat of Arms of Iraq
Iraq's location on a map of the Middle East and the world.

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

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

Al-Talaba Sports Club (Arabic: نادي الطلبة الرياضي, lit.'"Students Sports Club"') is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. Its football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top flight of Iraqi football. Founded in 1969, the club was named Al-Jamiea but became known as Al-Talaba ahead of the 1978–79 season after being merged with a new club of the same name. Their home stadium is Al-Talaba Stadium.

Al-Talaba are one of Iraq"s most successful teams having won five league titles, most recently in the 2001–02 season. They have also achieved two FA Cups, one Super Cup and a joint-record three Umm al-Ma"arik Championships. The club"s best achievements on the continental stage include finishing fourth at the 1986 Asian Club Championship and finishing second and fourth at the 1995 and 1998–99 editions of the Asian Cup Winners" Cup respectively. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

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

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