Financing terrorism in the context of conflict and power struggles in the Middle East

In this thesis study, the focus was on the organizations/terrorist organizations and the intra-regional or extra-regional states that finance them. Among the intra-regional states, Iran, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates and Israil; and among the extra-regional, The United States and Russia were examined. The relations and financing methods of the mentioned states with the organizations/terrorist organizations in the context of pragmatist aims constitute the subject of the research. In the study, the subject is covered in great detail with reference to relationship between states and organizations/terrorist organization, the perception of terrorism that varies from state to state and the basis of the acts deemed beneficial. The study is unique in its field, both in terms of financing relations explained with pragmatism and in terms of examining competition and conflict relations with SWOT analysis of regional states. The purposes for preparing this thesis include the author's field of study being security studies from the beginning, the author's perspective on security allowing for a detailed examination and the actors' attitudes within the scope of competition, conflict and power struggles in the constantly changing Middle East atmosphere being essential for the next political moves. Therefore, the necessity of the conducting research in this field and author's line of work contributes to the writing process of the thesis encouraged the author to write a thesis on this subject. As a result of the study, it is concluded that states use even states as proxy actors such as organizations to maximize their pragmatist goals when necessary.