I'm Iraqi أنا عراقي

An April 2008 estimate of the total Iraqi population is 28,221,181

Seventy-five to eighty percent of Iraq's population are Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the Kurds at 15-20%, Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen and others (5%), who mostly live in the north and northeast of the country. Other distinct groups are Persians and Armenians. About 20,000 Marsh Arabs live in southern Iraq.

Arabic and Kurdish are official languages. Assyrian and Turkmen are official languages in areas where the Assyrians and Iraqi Turkmen are located respectively. Armenian and Persian are also spoken but to a lesser extent. English is the most commonly spoken Western language.

The origin of the name Iraq is disputed. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (or Erech); another maintains according to Professor Wilhelm Eilers, The name al-'Irāq, for all its Arabic appearance, is derived from Middle Persian erāq "lowlands".

Under the Persian Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Erak Arabi," referring to the part of the south western region of the Persian Empire that is now part of southern Iraq. The name Al-Iraq was used by the Arabs themselves, from the 6th century, for the land Iraq covers.

Iraq is located is the 58th-largest country in the world. It is comparable in size to the US state of California, and somewhat larger than Paraguay.

Iraq mainly consists of desert, but between the two major rivers (Euphrates and Tigris) the area is fertile, the rivers carrying about 60 million cubic metres (78 million cu. yd) of silt annually to the delta. The north of the country is mostly composed of mountains; the highest point being at 3,611 metres (11,847 ft) point, unnamed, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline along the Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and along the Shatt al-Arab (known as arvandrūd: among Iranians)

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[q8sauod]

May Allah save the iraqis

Your Kuwaiti Brother

[nashenas786]

I love Iraq and Iraqis <3

May Allah bless and support Iraq!! Ameen!

Your Afghan brother  : )

[rasheed1660]

Jordanian, Lebanese, Turks also cluster closer to Assyrians,(( but not as strong as the Iraqi Arab or Kurds,))

The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East

by Dr. Joel J. Elias - Professor (Emeritus), University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco

Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2000 11:55 am CS

this was a portion of the arcticle

[rasheed1660]

References and Footnotes

[rasheed1660]

Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., Menozzi, P. and Piazza, A. The History and Geography of Human Genes. 1994. Princeton University Press. Unabridged Edition. As above, Abridged Paperback Edition. 1996. Contains the text of the Unabridged Edition, but not the hundreds of pages of genetic maps; has an index, and references to literature that were cited in the text.

[rasheed1660]

Only the unabridged version has the references for research articles that were used to arrive at each population group's genetic analysis, listed by name for each population; also, the tables of gene frequencies. 2a. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. Genes, Peoples, and Languages. 2000. North Point Press (division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux), New York. The book is a summation of the author's work written for the general reader

[rasheed1660]

What is intersting the Assyrians are very close to their Muslim neighbours in Iraq,Jordan, and Lebanon, well those of Bedouin origins are more related to the Saudis and Yemenites. Also the Saudi, Yemenite, and Bedouins form their own Caucasoid minor cluster which seperates them from other Middle Easterners and Europeans being an almost isolate sub-racial group.

[rasheed1660]

The Bedouins like the Gypsies in Europe, differ in their genetic makeup from their host populations, and show a direct link to Arabia. Well Iraqis being the closet people to modern day Assyrians, showing that Arabization of Iraq was in fact a lingusitic and cultural transition, however their was also the breif peroid of Persianization. Then its followed by Jordanians and Lebanese.(((

[rasheed1660]

The Iraqi Kurds are very close to Assyrians in their genetic makeup, and probably have shifted into an Iranic tongue.))) Thus all groups in Iraq decent from a common ancester with a limited gene flow from various male invaders, who intermarried with the local female population. Jordanian, Lebanese, Turks also cluster closer to Assyrians,((( but not as strong as the Iraqi Arab or Kurds))), showing again their common genetic ancestery

[rasheed1660]

However, it soon became apparent that the CMH is not specific to Jews or descendants of Jews. In a 1998 article in Science News, Dr. Skorecki indicated (in an interview) that some non-Jews also possess the Cohen markers, and that the markers are therefore not "unique or special".(((((( The CMH is very common among Iraqi Kurds, according to a 1999 study by C. Brinkmann et al.))))))))))

[rasheed1660]

And in her 2001 article, Oppenheim wrote: "The dominant haplotype of the Muslim Kurds (haplotype 114) was only one microsatellite-mutation step apart from the CMH..." (Oppenheim 2001, page 1100). Furthermore, the CMH is also found among some Armenians,

[rasheed1660]

according to Dr. Levon Yepiskoposyan (Head of the Institute of Man in Yerevan, Armenia), who has studied genetics for many years. Dr. Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin wrote: "The suggestion that the 'Cohen modal haplotype' is a signature haplotype for the ancient Hebrew population is also not supported by data from other populations." (Zoossmann-Diskin 2000, page 156)