Araqa

**Araqa** or the **State of Araqa** is an Arab state situated in its historical homeland in Mesopotamia. Being autonomous within the British Empire, the Araqan state, frequently seen as a puppet of the greater empire enjoyed relative peace and stability for a tumultuous time in Arab history until the Cairo War.

Araqa during that time period saw a revival in Arab nationalism, culminating in the overthrow of the British led government in place of a Republican, Pan-Arab country. Despite forcibly breaking away from the empire to which it had become accustomed to, Araqa is a isolated yet rich nation.

## Mesopotamia in the Ottoman Empire

Mesopotamia, home to many Arabs, including Assyrian and a strong Kurdish minoritiy. Similarly to most non Turkish areas of the Ottoman Empire, Mesopotamia experienced a surge of nationalism from the late 1800s and onward. When the Armenians, Kurds Assyrians and Greeks began to revolt many Arabs took up the opportunity to do the same. The problem was, some of these Arabs wanted a state of their own, but Pan-Arabism still had a strong hold in the region. The main reason for Arabs in the region wanting their own state was because of the dominant Shia community, against the majority Sunni in Arabian lands. Despite this, Pan-Arabs successfully infiltrated the region, and it was a heavy battle ground for ottoman and Arab forces, mostly due to Baghdad. But when Baghdad fell to the Pan-Arabs, the rest of the region soon fell with it.

## Araqa as an independent country

The Araqa Rebellion was lead by Abdul-Muhsin Al-Saadoun, who always had a bitter rivalry with Arab leader Faisal I, which in turn allowed him to exploit Araqan nationalism and the people to gain their support. Once the war was over, Abdul-Muhsin promised to hold free elections, which were decided to take place 3 months after the ceasefire. However, once the elections were held, it appeared that Abdul-Muhsin won by a landslide victory. Many Araqans were confused, because they did not vote for Abdul enough for him to win a massive landslide, prompting many to immediately be suspicious of fraud and intervention in the election. Despite some protests that ensued, Abdul was able to calm the population down by implementing a series of market liberalist reforms on the country. Things like ratifying certain labor laws, creating a salary, shorter work days and a work week and declaring the week of voting for the election a national holiday let his popularity skyrocket. 9 months later he also granted partial women's suffrage, only to married women however.

In the next elections, which were supposed to be held every 5 years in 1935, the results again said that over 75% of people voted for Abdul. This time, many were quite sure of election fraud, as also he became popular for his reforms in 1930, but his support slowly dwindled after that. This election had drastically decreased support for Abdul, which paved the way for thousands to join various opposition groups, including the Mesopotamian People's Party, which was growing like never before. Although Araqa is one of the most powerful regional nations, and is experiencing a small boom just like in the early 1900s, it is clear that its leader and people alike have their work cut out for them.