Culture
The cultural tradition of Iraq is fundamentally Arab, although long before the arrival of Islam the area known as Mesopotamia was the center of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. Important artistic exhibits such as the Kadhmain Mosque, the Palace of the Abbasids and the Sanctuary of Samarra survive from the Arab influence today. The delicate Iraqi handicrafts are famous especially for their rugs.
Libraries:
The main libraries in Iraq are: the Central Library of the University of Basra, the Central Library of the University of Mosul, and in Baghdad, the Library of the Iraqi Museum, the National Library and the Central Library of the University of Baghdad. There are public libraries in most of the governorate capitals.
Museums:
Among its museums are the Iraqi Museum, which has objects from the first cultures of Mesopotamia, the Iraqi Museum of Natural History, and the Iraqi Military Museum, all in Baghdad; the Babylon Museum exhibits models, paintings and pictures of ancient Babylon, while the Mosul Museum displays Assyrian pieces and other antiquities.
Idiom
It is an officially bilingual country, with Arabic and Kurdish official languages, Arabic is spoken in most of the country, Kurdish is the language of the region autonomous Kurdish or Iraqi Kurdistan, named after the administration of the Baath party the 1970s and 1980s. This region has the right to teach Kurdish in its schools Since 1992, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been based in Erbil. The KRG has a Parliament, elected by popular vote, called National Assembly of Iraqi Kurdistan, and a cabinet composed of the KDP, PUK and its allies (Communist Party Iraqi, the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, etc.) Structurally and officially the two parts show little difference from each other. Like their international organizations they are similar and both have a similar authority structure.
Their language belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. This is generally written in a variation of the Arabic script.
Music
Traditional music consists of instruments such as ouds, flutes, violins, drums, and tambourines. Currently there are many young artists who venture into a wide variety of musical genres, an example of this is rap. In fact, the common guitar, an American emblem, was developed from the guitar of ancient Iraq.
Education
Education in Iraq is free. Primary education is compulsory for six years, although in practice many children in rural areas do not attend school because there are no facilities. Classes are taught in Arabic, although Kurdish is used in primary education in some northern districts. Only about 74% of adults are literate.
In 1995, 2,903,923 students attended primary school, and 1,160,421 students enrolled in secondary school; the enrollment rate in higher education is 10.9% of those of legal age. Iraq has seven universities, three in Baghdad, one in Basra, one in Arbil, one in Mosul and one in Tikrit ; the country also has about 20 technical institutes.
Higher education
Following the US occupation of Iraq, a country located in Middle East according to ITYPEJOB.COM, in May 2003 academics became specifically and deliberately targeted by various forms of political violence [9] . According to the Christian Science Monitor [10] , in 7 years of occupation 5,000 university professors were assassinated (it is estimated that almost 300 academics were assassinated until 2009 [9] ), kidnapped or expelled from the country, while they have also suffered many other violations. of their rights, such as forced displacement, detentions and death threats [9] . The exodus of intellectuals since 2003 is of an unprecedented magnitude [11] . Furthermore, until now, political violence continues to be exercised against academics and it seems that its target is the Higher Education system in general. These alarming events take place in an Iraq where violent conflicts persist. Under the leadership of the United States, a struggle for political power and control of the country has developed in Iraq among many and diverse groups, including the United States itself [12] ; a struggle in which Higher Education and its academics seem to suffer disproportionately [9] .
Health
After the Gulf War the health situation in Iraq deteriorated considerably and with the military occupation by the United States and its allies the situation has worsened much more and every year instead of improving the opposite occurs. Before the war, many patients from Syria, Jordan and elsewhere came to Iraq for surgery. It was not expensive, there were many specialists, and the medical care provided was reputable. Now, security issues are a priority for the few existing financial resources, relegating medical needs to the background.
In this context, patients simply cannot receive adequate treatment from a collapsed healthcare system. Some are forced to sell their car or even their home to get some kind of assistance from the few hospitals that can provide it.
On the other hand, there is the problem of drinking water since the vast majority of Iraqis have problems accessing this vital resource. This is compounded by the fact that essential medicines and other medical supplies are often lacking, and emergency services and operating rooms are overwhelmed in high-casualty situations.
In an interview with the Iraqi doctor Dr. Bassam for Doctors Without Borders the specialist comments:
Any type of specialized assistance is very difficult, particularly when sophisticated techniques are required. For example, right now it is almost impossible to perform reconstructive surgery, congenital malformations, microsurgery or neurosurgery. And the situation has worsened since many doctors have moved north or left the country in search of a safer place. As a result, there are fewer and fewer specialists and it must also be added that it is a group that has become the target of threats and victims of security incidents. Since the war started in 2003, many have been kidnapped. They are between a rock and a hard place. [13]
At another point in the interview, Dr. Bassam comments:
The work is especially hard when, in addition to the lack of doctors and specialists, you have collapsed hospitals, inadequate equipment and corruption, insecurity and curfews restrict our practice. [13]
