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

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2016

Öğrenci: TUNAHAN YILDIZ

Danışman: ZANA AYŞE ÇITAK AYTÜRK

Özet:

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.