RELIGIONS AND NATIONALITIES IN IRAQ FROM 1914 TO 1958

Abstract

In Iraq, many religions and nationalities coexisted in, sometimes converging and dissonance at other times, but their convergence and dissonance did not reach the point of abolition either by including them in the categories of society or through forced migration, which led to everyone maintaining their existence as much as it is permitted to juxtapose on one geographical area. Most Iraqi cities are of mixed religions and nationalities with Baghdad coming first, then followed by Mosul and Basra. There is no way for any Iraqi city to be closed to a particular religion or doctrine, as Muslims, Christians and Jews are all living as neighbors. It is well known that this neighborship has not affected by anything other than the political position and intolerance in the name of religion, as individuals of Iraqi religions and nationalities have been persecuted and arbitrarily maltreated, as well as by the policy of oppression and cruelty, in addition to forcing them to abandon their religions and beliefs to convert to Islam. It must be said that cultural diversity (ethnically, religiously, ideologically, linguistically), has been threatened with migration and assimilation within the culture of the majority, or become marginalized among major forces within society that are constantly fighting for power, wealth and existence.