Iraq



"Iraq is one of the breeding grounds of terrorism, mainly Islamic extremism. I can't believe things couldn't get any better than this... even for the end of the Ba'athist era."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Memoirs of a Crisis

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/, /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /aɪˈræk/; Arabic: العراق‎ Al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: عێراق‎ Eraq), officially known as the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جُمُهورية العِراق‎ Jumhūrīyyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: کۆماری عێراق‎ Komari Eraq), is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.