An Ethnic group embedded in multiple identities: the case of Iraqi Turkmens in Turkey

Download
2016
Yıldız, Tunahan
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. 

Suggestions

Understanding the new activism of Turkey in the Middle East: Turkey as an emerging soft power
Şenol, Aylin; Yurdusev, Ahmet Nuri; Department of International Relations (2010)
This thesis will examine the transformation in the Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East and evaluate the relevance of “soft power” term for describing Turkey’s new activism in the region. Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, Turkey has aligned itself with the Western world so that this alignment has been the main determinant of its relations with the non-Western world. The Middle East was not an exception in this process. After decades of remaining aloof from the Middle Eastern affairs...
SECONDARY SANCTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE CASE OF IRAN
Kozhabekova , Altynay; Göçer Akder, Derya; Department of European Studies (2021-12-24)
Sanctions are widely used as a response to foreign crises.The US is one of the international actors that has been imposing sanctions for a long time, but it became a particularly prominent foreign policy tool under Obama and Trump's administrations. Especially secondary sanctions, the sanction type affects the third party, which is not subject to the official sanction policy. This work tries to shed light on how the EU's business and economy has been affected by the US sanctions imposed on Iran primarily,...
Worldviews and Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East
Altunışık, Meliha (2009-03-01)
Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East has become highly contested in the last two decades. The changes in the international and domestic environment have led to the emergence of competing ideas as to the elements of Turkish foreign policy in this region. This article argues that these ideas ultimately represent worldviews as they start with different assumptions about what Turkey is, what the basis of Turkey's interest and involvement should be in this region, to what extent Turkey should engage the Mid...
Between drean and reality:the iraqi kurds
Kılıç, Kutbettin; Altunışık, Meliha; Department of International Relations (2007)
This thesis departs from the idea that the political behaviors of the Iraqi Kurds will play important roles in shaping of the future of Iraq in particular and the Middle East in general. Based on this idea, this thesis analyzes the perceptions of Iraqi Kurds towards new political and economic developments in Iraq appeared after American invasionin 2003. The research questions of the thesis are the following:what are the perceptions of Iraqi Kurds of their leaders Jelal Talabani and Mesud Barzani, who are co...
THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION IN TURKISH FOREIGN-POLICY FROM THE 1950S TO THE 1990S
AYKAN, MB (Cambridge University Press (CUP), 1993-02-01)
Since the 1950s Turkish foreign policy toward the Middle East has centered on the question of support for the Arab position on the Palestinian question. Ever since the U.N. General Assembly resolution of November 1947 that partitioned Palestine between the Palestinians and Israelis, all the Arab countries—even though diversity of regime has prevented them from otherwise acting as a unit in Middle Eastern politics—have consistently supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state (in oppositio...
Citation Formats
T. Yıldız, “An Ethnic group embedded in multiple identities: the case of Iraqi Turkmens in Turkey,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2016.