The Yazidis are of Kurdish stock but are distinguished by their
unique religious fusion of elements of paganism, Zoroastrianism,
Christianity, and Islam. They live in small and isolated groups,
mostly in the Sinjar Mountains west of Mosul. They are impoverished
cultivators and herdsmen who have a strictly graded religiopolitical
hierarchy and tend to maintain a more closed community than other
ethnic or religious groups. Historically, they have been subject
to sharp persecution owing to their heretical beliefs and practices.
The Turkomans, who are believed to constitute somewhat less than
2 percent of the population, are village dwellers in the northeast
living along the border between the Kurdish and Arab regions.
A number of Turkomans live in the city of Irbil. The Turkomans,
who speak a Turkish dialect, have preserved their language but
are no longer tribally organized. Most are Sunnis who were brought
in by the Ottomans to repel tribal raids. These early Turkomans
were settled at the entrances of the valleys that gave access
to the Kurdish areas. This historic pacification role has led
to strained relations with the Kurds. By 1986 the Turkomans numbered
somewhere around 222,000 and were being rapidly assimilated into
the general population.
The Assyrians are considered to be the third largest ethnic minority
in Iraq. Although official Iraqi statistics do not refer to them
as an ethnic group, they are believed to represent about 133,000
persons or less than 1 percent of the population. Descendants
of ancient Mesopotamian peoples, they speak Aramaic. The Assyrians
live mainly in the major cities and in the rural areas of northeastern
Iraq where they tend to be professionals and businessmen or independent
farmers. They are Christians, belonging to one of four churches:
the Chaldean (Uniate), Nestorian, Jacobite or Syrian Orthodox,
and the Syrian Catholic.
Country
name Iraq conventional long form Republic of Iraq conventional
short form Iraq local long form Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah local short form Al Iraq
Area
- total: 437,072 sq km land: 432,162 sq km water: 4,910 sq km
Geographic
Location - Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
Terrain
- Mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large
flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey
Climate- Mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern
mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters
with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive
flooding in central and southern Iraq
Geography
- Strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the Persian
Gulf
Waterways
- 1,015 km note: Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic
for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use; Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft boats; Shatt al Basrah canal
was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Gulf
war
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
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