Iraq (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Iraq (Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: عه‌راق Îraqê), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: كؤماری عه‌راق Komara Îraqê), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.

Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey and Assyria to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the west, Saudi Arabia to the south and southwest, and Kuwait to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital of Iraq, Baghdad, is in the center-east of the country. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.

Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the Rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian-Chaldean empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.

Iraq's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres. Today areas of Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as part of British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Mandatory Mesopotamia was consists of Arabs sectors, Kurdish sectors and Assyrian sectors. The Arab and Kurdish sectors merged and formed the independent Republic of Iraq in 1946 while the Assyrian sectors proclaimed its own independence to become the Republic of Assyria in 1948.

History
Ancient Iraq was a home of earliest human civilization and has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the Rivers). Mesopotamia has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel.

Mesopotamia was to be dominated by the Assyrians and Babylonians for the next 14 centuries, and under the Babylonian empire of Hammurabi, the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC, and the final Babylonian empire of 620–539 BC Iraq became a centre of world power. The Neo Assyrian Empire in particular put Iraq at the heart of a massive empire stretching from the Caucasus to Egypt and Arabia, and from Cyprus to Persia.

In the 6th century BC, Cyrus the Great of neighbouring Persia defeated the Neo-Babylonian Empire at the Battle of Opis and Iraq was subsumed into the Achaemenid Empire for nearly two centuries. In the late 4th century BC, Alexander the Great conquered the region, putting it under Hellenistic Seleucid rule for nearly two centuries. The Sassanid Persians under Ardashir I destroyed the Parthian Empire and conquered the region in 224 AD. The region was thus a province of the Persian Empire for four centuries, until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century.

Successive Islamic caliphates brought the Mesopotamia into its new "Golden Age". The Rashidun Caliphate under Ali ibn Abi Thalib conquered the region and established Islam in Mesopotamia with Kufa as its capital. The Umayyad Caliphate ruled the province of Iraq from Damascus in the 7th century. The Abbasid Caliphate built the city of Baghdad in the 8th century as their capital, and it became the leading metropolis of the Arab and Muslim world for five centuries. Baghdad quickly became the metropolis city and a centre of learning during the Islamic Golden Age.

The Mongols destroyed the city during the siege of Baghdad in the 13th century. The Mongols destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate and the House of Wisdom, which contained countless precious and historical documents. The city has never regained its status as major center of culture and influence.

In the 16th century, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of Ottoman Empire as the Eyalet of Baghdad. Under the rule of Ottomans, Mesopotamia was a battle zone between the rival regional empires and tribal alliances. The Safavid dynasty of Iran briefly asserted their hegemony over Iraq in the periods of 1508–1533 and 1622–1638.

Following the defeat of the Ottomans during the World War I, Mesopotamia became the League of Nations mandate under British control in 1920. Growing angers among Arab nationalists toward the mandate status were represented by the mass meetings and demonstrations in Baghdad. The armed revolt by the Arabs broke out in late June 1920. The revolution successfully repressed by the British forces and Assyrian volunteers.

After the Kurdish revolts between 1922 and 1924, the Arabs and the Kurdish, regardless their religions and professions, united and convened the Iraqi National Conference in Baghdad in 1925. The Conference demanded the British to put forward a constitutional development of national institutions toward the complete independence of Iraq. The event was so important at the time and laid the cornerstone of modern Iraqi nationalism.

The Legislative Council of the Mandatory Mesopotamia established in 1926 with Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani as its first speaker and replaced by Abd al-Muhsin as-Sa'dun following the former's death in 1927. At the one of his speech before the Council, as-Sa'dun stated, "In our struggle for independence, we must ensure all Kurdish villages in the land of Mesopotamia to be a part of our future independent state."