COUNTRY PROFILE: IRAQ
April 2005
COUNTRY
Formal Name: Republic of Iraq (Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah).
Short Form: Iraq.
Term for Citizen(s): Iraqi(s).
Capital: Baghdad.
Major Cities (in order of population size): Baghdad, Mosul (Al Mawsil), Arbil (Irbil), Kirkuk, Basra (Al Basrah), and Sulaymaniyah (As Sulaymaniyah).
Independence: October 3, 1932, from the British administration established under a 1920 League of Nations mandate. April 9, the date of the fall of Saddam Husayn’s regime in 2003, is the official national holiday.
Public Holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1) and the national holiday (April 9) are celebrated on fixed dates. The following Muslim religious holidays occur on variable dates according to the Islamic lunar calendar, which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar: Eid al Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), Islamic New Year, Ashoura (the Shia observance of the martyrdom of Husayn), Mouloud (the birth of Muhammad), Leilat al Meiraj (the ascension of Muhammad), and Eid al Fitr (the end of Ramadan).
Flag:
The flag of Iraq consists of three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white,
and black, with three green, five-pointed stars centered in the white band.
The phrase “Allahu Akbar” (“God Is Great”) also appears in Arabic script
in the white band, with the word Allahu to the left of the center star and the
word Akbar to the right of that star.