INDEPENDENT ISLAMIC STATES

Oman

Official Name: Kingdom of Oman (OM)

Capital city   : Muscat

Important Cities: Musandam, Dofar, Al Buraymi. Parts: Ad-Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah, Al Wusta, Ash Sharqiyah, Az Zahirah (Ad Dhahirah)

Area: 309,500 km2.

Population       :  4,600,000 (2021)[1]
Ethnicity: Omanis live mainly in the interior, especially in Muscat, while non-Omanis live mainly in the Batinah and Doffar regions, where they are mostly Baluch, Iranians and people of African descent.

Language: Arabic (Official) English is spoken in business life.

Religion: Islam. The official sect of Oman is Abaziya, which is the faith of 45 per cent of the country's population. In addition to Abaziye, the members of other sects and beliefs can be listed as follows:

30% of the Ahl al-Sunnah live in the Doffar and northern regions. Members of the Shia sect, with 23 per cent of the population, live mainly in Musscat, Batina and coastal areas. Of this number, 20 per cent are Ismaili and only 3 per cent are Isna Ashari Shia, i.e. Jaafari. The remaining 2% are members of the Jewish and Christian religions.

Geography: It lies on the south-eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates to the north-west, Saudi Arabia to the west and Yemen to the south-west. It is bordered to the south and east by the Indian Ocean and to the northeast by the Basraini Gulf.

     It has a dry desert climate in the interior, hot and humid on the coast, and hot and dry in the interior. Its territory consists of a central desert plain and a rugged mountainous region in the north and south. Oil, copper, asbestos, marble, limestone, chromium, gypsum, natural gas are the main natural wealth of the country. Plains constitute about 3 per cent of the total area and mountainous regions constitute 15 per cent. The remaining 82 per cent of the land consists of deserts. The Al Hajr and Al Qara mountains are the highest mountains in the country.

Mode of Government: Islamic Monarchy

History: Unable to resist the attacks of the tribes affiliated with the Ibadiya imam in Oman, Taymur bin Faisal (1913-32) accepted the establishment of an autonomous imamate in the interior with the mediation of the British. The repressive policies of Said bin Taymur (1932-70), who, with the help of the British, thwarted an attempt at independence by the imam of Ibadiyah, supported by Saudi Arabia, and established control over the whole country in 1959, led to a guerrilla struggle by the left-wing Oman People's Liberation Front in the Dofar region in 1965. After suppressing this uprising in 1975, Qaboos bin Said, who succeeded his father in a palace coup, took steps to consolidate his rule and embarked on a large-scale modernisation programme.

    Oman joined the Arab League and the United Nations in 1971 and became a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. The Qaboos administration, which opened Oman to the outside world by entering into rapprochement with moderate Arab states as well as close relations with the US, followed a policy of neutrality during the Iran-Iraq war. Although it did not play a significant role during the Gulf War, it agreed to open its bases to Western powers. In 1992, it signed an agreement with Yemen, ending a 25-year border dispute with that country. Oman became a province of the Ottoman Empire with the Ottoman domination of the Arabian peninsula, and was separated from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War due to Britain's oil policy.

Economy: Oman's economy is based on hydrocarbon, i.e. oil, as in other Gulf countries. 25 per cent of the GDP is produced from crude oil and this rate has been decreasing due to the decline in oil production since 2001. Since Oman's oil resources are limited and it is difficult to extract oil from these resources, the government has emphasised efforts to get rid of this dependence.

Currency: Omani Riyal (OMR)

National Income per Capita: USD 17,633[2]

Foreign Trade: Oman has been running a foreign trade surplus every year for more than two decades, and the value of its imports and exports fluctuates over the years, influenced by international oil prices.

Export partners: Japan 27%, China 12%, Thailand 8%, United Arab Emirates 12%, South Korea 12%, USA
Import Products: Machinery and vehicles, industrial goods, food, livestock.
Import Partners: UAE 26%, Japan 16%, UK 9%, Italy 7%, Germany 6%, USA (1999)
Currency: Omani Riyal (OMR)
Industry: Crude oil production and refining, natural gas production, construction, cement, copper.
Energy: Electricity production: 8.63 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity consumption: 8.026 billion kWh (1999)
Transport: Highways: 32,800 km, Pipelines: Crude oil 1,300 km; natural gas 1,030 km, Ports: Matrah, Mina' al Fahl, Mina' Raysut, Airports: 14,

Helicopter fields: 1

International Organisations and Institutions: FAO, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, , ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

[1]   www.ticaret.gov.tr  (Accessed November-2021).

[2]    www.ticaret.gov.tr   (December-2021 Access)