Effects of ethnic and religious identities on womans political participation: A case of woman living in Hakkari

The aim of this thesis is to analyze effects of ethnic and religious identity belongings on political participation of women living in Hakkari. Increasing visibility of women in Kurdish movement since the 1980s and especially in the 1990s has become inspiration for this thesis. The Kurdish movement based on demands for cultural rights provides a suitable environment for women?s political mobilization by creating a new `Kurdish women identity?. Identity that is continuous construction becomes functional for women in order to change the society they are living and gender roles in the society. In this respect, it is important to analyze the ways that women take up an identity and to analyzer elation ship between women?s political standand actions. Another important characteristic of the region is that women do not only take up ethnic identity, but also religious identity. Indeed, Hakkari offers an ideal sample for this research due to its social and political environment.The sample consists of 1117 women equal to 1.5% of all women living in Hakkari. Qualitative research technique was used and the data was gathered by structured questionnaires. In addition, the data was supported by some in depth interviews and focus groups discussions.The research find out that identity belongings (religious or ethnic) differentiate women?s political consciousness on ethnic identity issues, while it does not create any differentiation on general political attitudes. On the contrary, active participation of women is not as high as their political consciousness. So, this is a clear contrast with discourse that women have an important place and active subjects on nationalist projects. Key Words: Ethnic Identity, Religious Identity, Political Participation, Nationalism, Women, Kurdish Nationalism, Hakkari, Turkey