Northeast Section 3 Cheat Sheet

Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan

Iraq
Religion-predominately Islamic
Assyrian ethnic group is Christian
Ethnic groups-Arab, Kurdish, Assyrian, other small minorities
Government-Dictatorship since the 1980’s under Saddam Hussein. He was taken out of power in 2003 by the US Operation Iraqi Freedom
Wars- under Saddam Hussein the country was aggressive and attacked neighboring Iran and Kuwait to take control of oil fields.
The US confronted Iraq in 1991 through Operation Desert Storm and reigned in Saddam’s power. Sanctions were placed on the country.
2003-Operation Iraqi Freedom came about after 9/11
Currently they have a weak democracy.
Resources-oil is a big one, member of OPEC
Current Issues- weak democracy that is unstable. ISIS has moved into the northern part of the country
/ Afghanistan
Religion-predominately Islamic
Ethnic groups- Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras
Government-after the communists took control during the 1980s the Taliban came to power. The Taliban was an extreme Islamic religious government that oppressed society
The Taliban allowed Al-Qaida to train and plan for the 9/11 terror attacks. The US invaded in 2001 and removed the Taliban from power.
Current government-democratic supported by the US. Still unstable and unable to effectively deal with insurgent groups
The US is still fighting in the country to keep democracy and help oust groups such as Taliban supporters, Al-Qaida and ISIS.
/ Iran
Religion-predominately Islamic (majority is Shiite division of Islam)
Government-currently Iran has a form of Presidential Democracy but in reality religious leaders have a lot of say and control in the country making it like a theocracy.
During the 1950’s the US supported Rheza Pahlavi. A shah that allowed western business and ideas into the country. Westernization conflicted with traditional Islamic Shiites in the country. The Shah also ruled unfairly and the people suffered economically.
Support of the Shah led to the Iranian Hostage crisis in the 70’s. The Iranians retaliated and stormed our embassy for allowing the sick Shah into our country to get medical treatment.
Support of the Shah started a relationship of distrust and dislike between the US and Iran.
Today we have a strained relationship. Iran has been a threatening country to our ally Israel. Iran has been repeatedly sanctioned which hurt their economy.
We currently our going through a nuclear deal to allow nuclear material in Iran for energy as long as we can inspect what they are doing with the material.