OT-62 TOPAS

The OT-62 TOPAS is a series of amphibious tracked armoured personnel carriers developed jointly by Poland and Czechoslovakia (ČSSR). OT-62 stands for Obrněný Transportér vzor 62 – "armoured personnel carrier model 62". TOPAS stands for Transportér Obrněný Pásový – "tracked armoured personnel carrier".

Development

In the late 1950s Czechoslovakia bought a license to produce BTR-50s from the Soviet Union. The received documentation was used to develop a new tracked armoured personnel carrier for Czechoslovak army and Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP). The work started in 1958 and the first prototype was completed in 1962. After it passed the trials it was accepted and received the name TOPAS.

Because the standard TOPAS vehicle used by the LWP (Polish People's Army) was unarmed, the design bureau of Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna (WAT) (Military Technical Academy) designed a variant armed with a new turret placed centrally on top of the superstructure. Another TOPAS variant was designed by Wojskowy Instytut Techniki Pancernej i Samochodowej (Military Institute of Armour and Car Technology). The new variant received the designation WPT-TOPAS and was a technical support vehicle.

Topas

Topas is a municipality located in the province of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 695 inhabitants.

Coordinates: 41°09′N 5°38′W / 41.150°N 5.633°W / 41.150; -5.633

Topas (magician)

Topas is a German magician and comedian noted for his musical style of performance. His stage show with wife Roxanne has toured throughout the world, and has been featured on programs such as the French Le plus grand cabaret du monde and The World's Greatest Magic.

Awards

Television

References

http://www.topasmagic.de/index.php?id=1,1,53

Topas (disambiguation)

Topas may refer to:

See also

Iraq

Coordinates: 33°N 44°E / 33°N 44°E / 33; 44

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/, ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/, or /aɪˈræk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq, Kurdish: Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic:  جمهورية العراق  Jumhūrīyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: كۆماری عێراق‎ Komar-i ‘Êraq), is a country in Western Asia. The country borders 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 southern part of Iraq is within the Arabian Peninsula. The capital, Baghdad, is in the centre of the country and its largest city. The largest ethnic groups in Iraq are Arabs and Kurds. Other ethnic groups include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Shia or Sunni Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present.

Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory 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 the centre of Iraq and flow into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land.

Mandatory Iraq

The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or Mandatory Iraq (Arabic: الانتداب البريطاني على العراق‎ al-Intidāb al-Brīṭānī ‘Alá al-‘Irāq) was created in 1921 following the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against the proposed British Mandate of Mesopotamia, and enacted via the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty.

Faisal ibn Husayn, who had been proclaimed King of Syria by a Syrian National Congress in Damascus in March 1920, was ejected by the French in July of the same year. Faisal was then granted by the British the territory of Iraq, to rule it as a kingdom, with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) retaining certain military control, though de facto; the territory remained under British administration until 1932.

The civil government of postwar Iraq was headed originally by the High Commissioner, Sir Percy Cox, and his deputy, Colonel Arnold Wilson. British reprisals after the murder of a British officer in Najaf failed to restore order. The most striking problem facing the British was the growing anger of the nationalists, who continued to fight against the imposition of British authority. British administration had yet to be established in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (/ˌmɛsəpəˈteɪmiə/, from the Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία "[land] between rivers"; from Ancient Armenian՝ Միջագետք(Mijagetq), Arabic: بلاد الرافدين‎ bilād ar-rāfidayn; Persian: میان‌رودان‎‎ miyān rodān; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ‎ Beth Nahrain "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, roughly corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Syria and Kuwait, including regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.

Widely considered to be the one of the cradles of civilization by the Western world, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires.

The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.