An ethnic group embedded in multiple identities: The case of Iraqi Turkmens in Turkey

---

Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of International Relations, Turkey

Approval Date: 2016

Student: TUNAHAN YILDIZ

Supervisor: ZANA AYŞE ÇITAK AYTÜRK

Abstract:

The Iraqi Turkmens have remained on the agenda of Turkish foreign policy, media and society on different occasions for many years. They have been at the heart of many critical issues in Iraq due to their strategic location despite their relatively underestimated political position. In addition, the Iraqi Turkmen society offers an appropriate case to analyze different identities in the Middle East. With reference to these two interrelated facts, this thesis is an attempt to understand the identity of the Iraqi Turkmens. The analysis of the Iraqi Turkmens offers projection into the identity in Iraq in particular and in the Middle East in general since they are the bearers of, what I would argue, five main dimensions of identity in the Middle East region, including religious, sectarian, national, ethnic and tribal. In this framework, this study analyzes these dimensions by presenting the historical background of the Iraqi Turkmens and findings of the survey conducted by the authors of this thesis among the Iraqi Turkmen refugees living in Ankara.