Iraq is a Republic in the Middle East.
Iraq -LRB- -LSB- rk -RSB- , -LSB- rk -RSB- , or -LSB- ark -RSB-  ;  -RRB- , officially known as the Republic of Iraq 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 .	Western Asia	Western Asia	Turkey	Turkey	Iran	Iran	Kuwait	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Jordan	Jordan	Syria	Syria
Comprising a land area of 1648195 km2 , it is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world .	Middle East	Middle East	18th-largest in the world	List of countries and dependencies by area
Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East , and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability .	Arab	Arab
Kuwait is home to the largest opera house in the Middle East .	opera house	Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre
Although the term `` Western Asia '' is mostly used as a convenient division of contemporary sovereign states into a manageable number of world regions for statistical purposes , it is sometimes used instead of the more geopolitical term `` Middle East '' , for example by the Government of Canada .	Asia	Asia	Middle East	Middle East	contemporary sovereign states	list of sovereign states	Government of Canada	Government of Canada
