Ortadoğu'da etnik ve mezhepçi kimlik politikaları ve çatışmaları

Identity is the special feature of conflicts in the contemporary Middle East. Sectarianism under the umbrella of the Saudi-Iran rivalry representing the politicization of Sunni and Shia Islam, which has influenced and even dictated proxy wars and civil conflicts in regional smaller states, from Iraq, Syria to Yemen and Bahrain, is widely defined as one form of mostly discussed identity conflicts today. The enduring Palestine – Israel conflict, which has been known as an integrated feature of the Middle East, started as a conflict of two peoples with distinct identities. Similarly, the Kurdish question characterizes ethnic identity politics and conflicts through the struggle of the largest people without a state in today's world map. In this context, this thesis is motivated by two main research questions: What role do ethnic and sectarian identities play in Middle East's politics and conflicts? And how ethnic and sectarian identity politics has been used in all political processes of regional wars? A major part of literature on identity politics in Middle East's conflicts has either provided a comprehensive and descriptive account of Middle East history as well as current conditions with ethnic and sectarian identities as roots and origins of regional instabilities, or focused mainly on the manipulation of identity politics by actors in their struggles for power. Synthesizing the theories on identity politics already in existence, namely primordialism, instrumentalism, and social constructionalism, this research constructed an integrated theoretical model in which sectarian and ethnic identity - one essence intrinsic to Middle East's societies and constructed alongside regional history – is not only measured by its tremendous influences on political processes; but also compared in the usage of political actors of all levels in political practices. Applying this approach to the foregoing regional conflicts, the thesis is an effort to offer more insights into ethnic and sectarian politics and the covert political goals behind identity conflicts in the Middle East that have been heatedly debated as one of the most severe global problems.