Albania vs Iraq

Informations

Albania ( (listen) a(w)l-BAY-nee-ə; Albanian: Shqipëri or Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipni or Shqipnia also Shqypni or Shqypnia), officially the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë, pronounced [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːsə]), is a country in Southeast Europe on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea within the Mediterranean Sea.

It shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo into the northeast, North Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south and maritime borders with Greece, Montenegro and Italy to the west. Geographically, the country displays diverse climatic, geological, hydrological, and morphological conditions, defined in an area of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi). It possesses significant diversity together with the landscape ranging from the snow-capped mountains in the Albanian Alps as well as the Korab, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains to the hot and sunny coasts of the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea along the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, the nation has been inhabited by numerous civilisations like the Illyrians, Thracians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans. The Albanians established the autonomous Principality of Arbër in the 12th century. The Kingdom of Albania and Principality of Albania formed between the 13th and 14th centuries. Before the Ottoman conquest of Albania in the 15th century, the Albanian resistance to Ottoman expansion into Europe headed by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg won them acclaim over most of Europe. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having accumulated both intellectual and spiritual strength, conclusively resulted in the Albanian Renaissance. Following the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkan Wars, the modern nation state of Albania declared independence in 1912. In the 20th century, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy which formed Greater Albania before becoming a protectorate of Nazi Germany. Enver Hoxha formed Communist Albania following the Second World War and launched the Albanians on a course of oppression and decades of isolation. The Revolutions of 1991 concluded the fall of communism in Albania and eventually the establishment of the current Republic of Albania. Politically, the country is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic and developing nation with an upper-middle income economy dominated by the service sector, followed by manufacturing. It went through a process of transition following the end of communism in 1990, from centralized planning to a market-based economy. Albania provides universal healthcare and free primary and secondary education to its citizens.The nation is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, UNESCO, NATO, WTO, COE, OSCE, and OIC. It's an official candidate for membership in the European Union. It is one of the founding members of the Energy Community, such as the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and Union for the Mediterranean.

Source: Wikipedia

Informations

Iraq (, (listen) or ; Arabic: اَلْعِرَاق‎, al-ʿirāq; Kurdish: عێراق‎ Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جُمْهُورِيَّة ٱلْعِرَاقِ‎ Jumhūriyyah al-ʿIrāq; Kurdish: کۆماری عێراق‎ Komarî Êraq), 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. Iraq is home to diverse groups including Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, Sabians and Kawliya. Around 99% of the country's 38 million citizens are Muslims, with little minorities of Yarsans, Christians, Yezidis and Mandeans. The official languages of Iraq are Kurdish and Arabic. Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 kilometers (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encircles the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern portion of the Syrian Desert. Two rivers, Euphrates and the Tigris, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide significant amounts of soil to Iraq. The region between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, historically called Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that humanity first started to read, write, create laws and reside in cities under an organised government--especially Uruk, from which"Iraq" is derived. The area was home to successive civilisations because the 6th century BC. Iraq was the centre of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires. It was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Seljuk, Mongol, Timurid, Safavid, Afsharid and Ottoman empires.The country now known as Iraq was a region of the Ottoman Empire until the partition of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century. It was composed of three provinces vilayets in the Ottoman language: Baghdad Vilayet Mosul Vilayet, and Basra Vilayet. In April 1920 the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was created under the jurisdiction of the League of Nations. A British-backed monarchy joining these vilayets was established under Faisal I of Iraq in 1921. The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq gained independence in 1932 from the United Kingdom. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown along with the Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968. In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, sparking a protracted war that would last for eight years, and ending in a stalemate with losses for both nations. After an invasion from the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power, and parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The US presence in Iraq ended in 2011, as fighters from the Syrian War spilled to the country but the insurgency continued and intensified. Out of the insurgency came a group calling itself ISIL, which required large areas of the west and north. It has been largely defeated. Disputes over Kurdistan Region's sovereignty continue. September 2017, A referendum about the entire sovereignty of Kurdistan Region was held on 25. On 9 December 2017, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over ISIL following the group lost its territory in Iraq.Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic comprising 19 governorates (provinces) and one autonomous region (Kurdistan Region). The country's official religion is Islam. Iraq celebrates the accomplishments of its past in both post-Islamic in addition to pre-Islamic times and has a very rich heritage and is well known for its poets. Sculptors and its painters are among the finest in the world, some of them being world-class in addition to producing fine handicrafts, including carpets and rugs. Iraq is a founding member of the UN as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF.

Source: Wikipedia