IRAQ - Republic of Iraq - Jumhūrīyat al-‘Irāq - Komar-i ‘Êraq

Iraq (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 ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.

Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which "Iraq" is derived. The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, 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 Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (Biblical Hebrew Erech) and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "deeply rooted, well-watered; fertile".

Iraq is composed of nineteen governorates (or provinces) (Arabic: muhafadhat (singular muhafadhah); Kurdish: پارێزگا Pârizgah). The governorates are subdivided into districts (or qadhas), which are further divided into sub-districts (or nawāḥī). Kurdistan Region (Erbil, Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah and Halabja) is the only legally defined region within Iraq, with its own government and quasi-official army Peshmerga. Disputes over the sovereignty of Kurdistan Region continues,  A referendum about the full sovereignty of Kurdistan Region was held on 25 September 2017.

The earliest postal service known in the area of present-day Iraq was operated by Assyria; archeologists have found a large number of commercial letters written in cuneiform on clay tablets, and enclosed in addressed clay envelopes. The Ottoman Empire had post offices at Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and Kirkuk by 1863. India operated post offices in Baghdad and Basra from 1868 to 1914. Prior to 1923, the French operated a post office in Baghdad. During World War I, British and Indian troops fought their way from Basra to Mosul; they used stamps of India overprinted "I.E.F." on their military mail. The British overprinted a variety of Ottoman stamps during their occupation, a grouping now conventionally called the issues of "Mesopotamia". The postal service of Iraq proper began with the British mandate granted by the League of Nations in 1920.

The first stamps of Iraq were a definitive series that appeared in 1923; the set of 12 included eight different designs depicting scenes and images from ancient history and the present day. They were denominated in annas and rupees, inscribed with "IRAQ" and "POSTAGE & REVENUE". 

Independence in 1932 brought a new currency (fils and dinar), and the existing Faisal stamps were surcharged accordingly, and issued on 1 April 1932. Iraq's first commemorative stamps came out in 1949 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union. The 2003 invasion of Iraq brought the stamp program to a sudden halt, the last Saddam-era issue being a Saddam University stamp on 5 February 2003. The Coalition Provisional Authority subsequently approved the printing of the Transportation stamps, and they were issued 29 January 2004. Iraqi Post is a government-owned corporation that handles postal services in Iraq. Iraqi Post belongs to the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company.

Two covers sent by Dr.Mohanad from Iraq, the first one is with 2012 Arab postal day joint issue stamps.