kurds

The conflict between Turkey and the Kurds is a deeply rooted issue that has posed a significant challenge to the Turkish state since its inception. The emergence of Kurdish identity, in opposition to the principles of Kemalism, which emphasized Turkish nationalism, led to the marginalization of Kurds within Turkey. This dynamic was further exacerbated by the actions of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), despite its initial attempts to modify the Kemalist approach to ethnic minorities. The AKP government's objectives included seeking membership in the European Union, improving relations with neighboring countries, and establishing Turkey as a prominent regional power. This strategy involved increasing soft power through democratization, resolving conflicts with neighbors, and enhancing Turkey's security. However, a discrepancy between Turkey's capabilities and resources, and its international commitments, has resulted in a widespread sense of siege, retreat, and isolation, hindering the government's ability to normalize relations with the Kurds. This research aims to analyze the Turkish government's policies towards the Kurdish minority and explore the underlying reasons for the ongoing conflict. The central question is: Why did the reforms implemented by the AKP to integrate Kurdish identity into a national unit fail, and why did the Turkish government resort to military suppression of the Kurds once again? The hypothesis suggests that these reforms failed due to Turkey's inability to address the post-Kemalist identity review of ethnic minorities, particularly the Kurds. The theoretical basis of this research is constructivism, examining the roles of structure and agency in the interactive processes of governance and power. The research methodology is descriptive, utilizing data gathered from library and online resources, including articles, books, and analyses. The analysis highlights that the emphasis on Turkish nationalism and the historical legacy of the Ottoman Empire within Kemalism, the ideological foundation of the political coalition in the Turkish government, led to stringent national policies regarding ethnic minorities. The suppression of Kurdish identity-seeking activities and the restriction of their political and cultural autonomy have been key approaches in this area. The dominant identity in Turkey has historically been unwilling to officially recognize a distinct ethnic minority called Kurds. With the rise of the AKP, there was a move towards a multicultural approach consistent with neo-Ottomanism in dealing with minorities, opening the door to a multicultural conceptualization of Turkish citizenship. Contrary to Kemalist nationalist behavior, as long as minorities demonstrated loyalty to the Republic of Turkey, their cultural rights and expressions of national identity were not seen as major threats. However, when faced with the cultural and political demands of the Kurds, the ruling party sought to secure these rights within the framework of multiculturalism and Islamic identity. Accordingly, there were efforts to modify behavior towards the Kurds, promote the use of the Kurdish language, engage in official negotiations with Kurdish leaders, and foster economic and political relations with the independent Kurdish government in Iraq, as well as cooperate against the PKK with Syria after 2015. This process of de-escalation was ultimately unsuccessful due to internal contradictions within the Turkish government. These contradictions included the ongoing challenge from the Turkish military, which adhered to Kemalist ideology; the AKP's own internal divisions, which led it to use opposition to the Kurds to gain parliamentary victories; and the military attacks on Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria, ostensibly to fight the PKK. This dynamic brought the issue of identity reconsideration in the face of Kurdish nationalism to a head. According to structural analysis, the Turkification of Kurdish identity has consistently been a major factor in the armed struggles of the Kurds, particularly through the PKK. It is essential for the Turkish government to recognize that effective policymaking and the prevention of current tensions between the Turkish government and Kurdish military forces depend on considering the official existence of Kurdish identity. An identity reconstruction that does not include these and similar issues will face resistance from the Kurds. Therefore, the policies of the AKP, while seemingly emphasizing the redefinition of national identity based on pluralistic principles, are still heavily influenced by the spirit of Kemalism. This underlying tension between an apparent desire for pluralism and the deep-rooted adherence to Turkish nationalism has hindered meaningful progress in resolving the conflict. The situation is further complicated by the ongoing military actions against Kurdish groups in neighboring countries, particularly in Syria and Iraq, and the Turkish government's perception of these groups as threats to national security. These actions, while ostensibly aimed at combating the PKK, often result in civilian casualties and further alienate the Kurdish population. The history of conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurds includes significant events like the 1925 Sheikh Said rebellion, and subsequent uprisings in the 1930s, which were met with severe military crackdowns and the suppression of Kurdish cultural expression. The Turkish government's approach has often been to deny the existence of a distinct Kurdish identity and to characterize the Kurdish issue as a problem caused by external factors, like the influence of neighboring countries. This denial has fueled further unrest and created a cycle of violence. The PKK, formed in the late 1970s, has been a central element of this conflict, engaging in armed struggle for greater Kurdish autonomy. Despite periods of ceasefire and peace negotiations, the conflict continues due to a lack of fundamental change in the Turkish government's approach to Kurdish identity and rights. The ongoing tensions also highlight the complex geopolitical considerations, with Turkey viewing Kurdish groups in neighboring countries with suspicion, while these same groups are sometimes allies of western powers. Furthermore, there is uncertainty regarding the degree of influence Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, still has on the organization and whether he can meaningfully contribute to any peace process. The conflict is exacerbated by the use of military force and airstrikes by the Turkish military in the region, which has often led to civilian deaths and injuries. The Turkish government's attempts to establish itself as a regional power have also complicated the issue, as its pursuit of strategic interests has sometimes been at odds with the pursuit of a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question. Ultimately, the persistent conflict between Turkey and the Kurds is a result of Turkey's inability to reconcile its unitary national identity with the demands of its Kurdish population for recognition, autonomy, and cultural rights. The failure of the AKP's reforms can be attributed to the deep-rooted influence of Kemalist ideology, the internal contradictions within the ruling party, and the complex regional dynamics, which all have contributed to a cycle of violence and instability. A lasting resolution requires a fundamental shift in the Turkish government's approach, one that moves beyond suppression and towards genuine recognition and acceptance of Kurdish identity and rights. This will necessitate a significant change in how the Turkish state constructs its national identity and how it views the role and place of ethnic minorities within its borders.

Protracted or intractable ethnic conflicts are a type of clashes that, despite fluctuating levels of violence, seem to have no foreseeable resolution. An example of such a conflict is the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) crisis in Turkey. Despite its four-decade history and significant political and social impacts on the country, there appears to be no clear end in sight. The persistence of these conflicts not only jeopardizes the security of the conflict-ridden nation but also has a ripple effect on neighboring countries, draining their resources and hindering their development and prosperity. This paper aims to comprehend these enduring ethnic conflicts and analyze the factors and causes influencing them, using the PKK as a case study.

When it comes to the causes of ethnic conflicts, there are numerous theories and models, but their universality and comprehensiveness are often questioned. For instance, Ted Robert Gurr proposed four categories: salience for ethnocultural identity, incentives for action, dynamics for protracted conflicts, and capacity for action, each with its own facets and dimensions. Another scholar, Stuart J. Kaufman, believes that the outbidding of ethnic elites and their manipulation of ethnic symbols play a significant role in inciting hostility against the government or other ethnic groups. Shiping Tang, on the other hand, considers the four master drivers: emotion, interest, capability, and opportunity. As for the prolongation of conflicts, James Samuel Coleman identifies four dimensions: the context of the conflict, the issues at stake, the relations among ethnic groups, and the processes, outcomes, and consequences of the conflict.This paper proposes a model based on the philosophical principle that “the persistence of an effect is contingent on the persistence of its cause”. According to this model, the perpetuation of dissatisfaction or the emergence of new dissatisfaction (either through the ongoing framing of contentious issues or their reframing) results in the perpetuation of the cycle of violence and revenge. This situation is further exacerbated by the enduring presence of international supporters or the emergence of new backers. Concurrently, these conditions solidify the geopolitical factors that have played a role in initiating and perpetuating ethnic conflicts.

The PKK emerged during the radical period of the 1970s in Turkey. This group highlighted the need to secure the national and ethnic rights of the Kurds, in addition to addressing the underdevelopment of Kurdish regions. The initiation of armed conflict by this group provoked a strong governmental response, leading to forced displacement, the declaration of a state of emergency, and an escalation in violence. Consequently, a broader segment of Kurdish society was drawn into the conflict.Despite the fulfillment of some Kurdish demands during Erdogan’s tenure, particularly in the early years, the PKK and affiliated groups introduced new demands and a fresh framework of issues and conflicts. This group maintains its financial resources by engaging in smuggling and a variety of illicit activities. It has gained international supporters, in part due to the rise of ISIS and the need for extra-regional powers to leverage the PKK forces in combating it. By establishing a monopoly over Kurdish representation and eliminating potential competitors, the group has managed to maintain its position in the political landscape of Kurdish society and Turkey. Meanwhile, the geopolitics of the Kurdish regions remain relatively unchanged. On the other hand, the limited control exerted by Turkey’s neighbors over the country’s southern borders has not impeded border crossings, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the Turkish forces’ military pursuit of the PKK group.

The Zionist regime, which is facing many challenges and security issues, considers the best measure to overcome these problems and continue to survive in the Middle East regional environment to weaken the existing countries in West Asia and, accordingly, to balkanize this region.The research, seeks to answer the question, what is the importance and position of Iraqi Kurds in the policy of balkanization of the Middle East by the Zionist regime? The findings of the research show that balkanization of the Middle East is one of the main policies of the Zionist regime in the form of its various doctrines, especially the periphery doctrine, the sparks of which can be seen throughout the ethnic and religious minorities of the region. In the meantime, considering the dispersion of Kurds in the heart of the Middle East and in four important countries of the region and benefiting from numerous geopolitical advantages, this group is considered the best option for the policy of balkanizing the Middle East by the Zionist regime. In the meantime, the Kurds of Iraq, as the backbone of the Kurds in the region, have received special attention from the Zionist regime due to their unique features such as bordering the Islamic Republic of Iran and having rich oil resources. Therefore, the Zionist regime has always supported the independence of the Kurds, especially the Kurds of Iraq, with the aim of changing the geopolitical borders of the Middle East and weakening the countries present in it.

The issue of the Kurds has been one of the most challenging ethnic issues in contemporary Iran. Most of researches that have been done in connection with the Kurds, have focused on how this ethnic relate to the sovereignty, and less has been done on the internal socio-political life of the Kurds. In other words,the main assumption of most of the researches related to the Kurds emphasizes the homogeneity of the Kurdish community, while from the point of view of this article, the Kurds are not a homogenous group like many other communities. The dynamics of Kurds' social transformation, which are based on the two distinctions of tradition-modernity and convergence-divergence, have led to the emergence of social cleavages among them. Therefore, in this regard, we have tried to examine the most important social cleavages and their political consequences among the Kurds with using the Historical Sociological approach, and the library studies and interview techniques. The results of this research showed a set of traditional and modern social construction cleavages such as tribal, religious, linguistic, generational, and gender cleavages along with some political cleavages such as ideological conflicts, political elites' competitions, and conflicts. Party and intra-party differences among the Kurds have caused the political identity of the Kurds to be a plural political identity and no political movement among the Kurds can ever become hegemonic.

In Syria and Yemen, the apparent power of ethnic and religious groups has led to civil war, rooted in the identity issues of these societies. Under the consensus cultural variable is the component of identity, which is one of the main factors and the foundation of the so-called Arab Spring developments. The majority of Arab societies suffer from the lack of national identity due to the plurality of ethnic and religious groups, which puts some groups in a superior political position and pushes others to the margins. Identity is at the top of the Arab developments, and other factors are placed below it. Even the difference in the process of developments in these societies is due to the identity issue. The aim of this research is to investigate the role of identity in the formation, results, and trends of recent developments in the Arab Middle East using constructivism in a descriptive and analytical way. The article's main question is, "What effect has the identity and identitarianism of ethnic and religious groups of Arab societies had on the formation and process of recent developments of these societies?" The findings indicate that the social structure of most Arab societies is very plural. Muslim groups in Arab countries are not cohesive, and there are many religious sects that fuel the religious divide of these societies. The biggest gap is between Shia and Sunni. The difference in the fundamentals of the belief principles of the various Sunni sects has led to their identity split. The Brotherhood, Salafism, and radical fundamentalism are the most effective identity discourses of the Sunni sect, which, along with the Shiites, try to spread their intellectual values and norms in Arab societies. The most prominent ethnic divide is related to the Kurdish ethnicity, which in countries such as Syria and Iraq pursue a different identity from the Arab ethnic groups due to their cultural values. Due to the lack of common norms in Arab societies, a common identity has not been formed in these countries, and we are facing a plurality of identities that are rooted in contradictions and conflicts. This is why during the Arab developments, three groups of fundamentalists, Shiites, and Kurds have become highly active in the analysis of identity action, and it is not possible to solve the crises of these societies without considering their demands.
When the political units do not pay attention to the intellectual, perceptive, normative, and identity components of the citizens, it is natural that conflicts between the government and the society will be created. This is what has been objectified in the Arab societies of the Middle East. The Arab totalitarian governments, by creating a fence around themselves, have actually limited the political and economic structure to their families and those around them and do not care about other peoples.
Therefore, what was formed in the Arab Middle East in 2011 cannot be unrelated to the ethnic-religious intellectual and normative patterns of this region. Even the trends and differences in the developments of Arab societies are not unrelated to the plural identity of these societies. The more cohesive the country is in terms of social structure, the faster the social movement ends, and we do not witness civil war or the presence of other countries in the course of the developments of these societies. A clear example of that is Egypt and Tunisia, where the overthrow of the governments resulted in relative peace in a short period of time. The lack of active ethnic-religious identities and their relatively coherent social structure caused the shortness of the transition period, low violence, and non-intervention of other countries in the course of the developments of these societies. However, identity pluralism in some societies such as Syria, Yemen, and to some extent Libya pushed the developments in another direction. In these societies, the depth of the identity difference is such that none of the parties backed down from their position, and the protests progressed towards civil war and widespread crisis. The identity and ideological war stemming from dry religious interpretations led to widespread violence in societies such as Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The presence of active identity groups in the developments of these societies followed the reaction of transnational actors in the field of supporting identity groups close to them, which ultimately results in the prolongation of the crisis and proxy wars.

Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is one of the largest dams in the whole world, located in Turkish Kurdistan.Delphi method andBarryBuzan’s regional security complex theorywere used as our research methods. The question we’re addressing in this study is “what are the implications of GAP for Kurds' political participationand Turkey’s national identity?”Based on the research hypothesis, the answer to the research question is that GAP can improve Kurds’ political participation, reduce PKK activities, and change the military nature of Kurds’ attempts to political ones. But GAP won’t lead to a common national identity in Turkey. Delphi results with 60% of the vote suggested that GAP has no impact on PKK activities and it hasn’t improved the political participation of Kurds.Delphi results with 73% of the vote indicated the negative effects of GAP on Kurdish identity. Also, Delphi's results with 82% of the vote showed that GAP didn’t lead to a common national identity in Turkey. GAP had not any significant effect on PKK activities and Kurds’ political participation, and these are affected by other parameters. GAP has adverse consequences for Kurdish identity including the destruction of Kurdish antiquities which are a part of their identity. The identity crisis in Turkey is the result of the denial of Kurdish identity by the Turkish government and acts of violence, lack of racial, cultural, historical, and linguistic affinity of the Kurds with the Turks, and the forced inclusion of the Kurds within the political borders of Turkey. Therefore, due to the suppressive attitude of the Turkish government toward Kurdish regions, approaches such as assimilation and projects like GAP will not yield a common national identity in the country.

The Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP) began in the 1970s to generate energy and irrigate arid lands through the construction of dams and hydropower plants on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and extensive irrigation networks in southeastern Turkey. Over time, the project expanded to achieve a wider range of goals in different fields and fundamentally transformed the Southeast Anatolia region. It is also widely claimed that GAP has an impact on the environmental security of the three countries of Iraq, Syria and Iran, and that security considerations and political calculations in the region are the reason for the GAP project. However, this supposed link between the Gap and the region's environmental security has often been viewed in a simplistic manner, and the question of how the two are linked – or not – has remained unanswered until now. The purpose of this article is to fill this research gap and examine the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the interrelationship between the GAP project and the environmental issue of the region based on various primary and secondary data sources Accordingly, the article identifies and discusses the major narratives in which the gap is imagined as an environmental threat and political conspiracy.

The resurgence of Kurdish nationalism discourse in the 21st century in the two modes of “liberation” and “racism” has politically plunged some Kurdish political parties into the abyss of practical politics. The nationalism discourse as the liberation idea in the history of the struggles of the Kurds - as the largest stateless nation among the four countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syriais of utmost importance. With the formation of the “Kurdistan Autonomous Region” in the north of Iraq, the nationalism idea was able to give objectivity to itself, and this objectification was once again carried out, this time in the north of Syria in the form of “Democratic Federation of Northern Syria”. Based on the historical data on the relations among the countries of the region and the world, and particularly on the Kurdish issue, with the objectification of the nationalism discourse in the two regions of Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan, the attitudes of the surrounding countries towards the Kurds has changed from a “nationalism idea” to an “objectified nationalism” in the autonomous governments. In the present study, from the perspective of pervasive balance, attempts have been made to answer the question that what effect has Kurdish nationalism and the idea of having an autonomous country of Kurdistan had on the Middle East security equations? Within the framework of Anthony Smith's theoretical approach to historical sociology, the Kurds have used nationalism as an instrument to form a distinct identity and the driving force for having an independent country, and this issue has fashioned a pervasive balance in the four countries of Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Despite the relatively balanced relationship between Turkey and Israel in the past, but with the dominance of ideologically oriented parties with opposing beliefs, such as the Justice and Development Party in Turkey and parties such as Likud in Israel, this relationship has been maintained and even strengthened at times, contrary to expectations. ; This research has been carried out with the aim of investigating the mentioned contradiction and revealing the hidden points of this relationship. This article, using the descriptive-analytical method and applying the theory of chaos, which proposes a specific and predictable order beyond the apparent differences between the governments, aims to answer the question why, despite the superiority of tension-causing factors, the main structure of Turkish relations and Israel, contrary to the announced policies, has been stable and strategic in practice? The findings of the research show that despite tension-causing rhetoric and disputes such as the issue of Palestine, Kurds, human rights, etc., in practice, relations between Turkey and Israel have maintained their relative stability, and the aforementioned disputes and rhetoric are merely a camouflage for the practical policies of the parties such issues as economic, security, etc. The central ideology, being a supporter of human rights, etc., is only a cover from Turkey and Israel to achieve bilateral goals and bigger goals such as the Ottomanization of Turkey and becoming one of the regional powers on the part of Israel, and contrary to the declared policies, it is a fixed order. And it has been stable in their practical relations.

One of the most important problems of the last decade in the international arena has been the protracted Syrian crisis, which has involved a multitude of extra-regional, regional and domestic actors. In February 2019, the Resistance Coalition defeated ISIS, and paved the way for Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria with the stated objective of countering the security threat of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. The Turkish offensives have been carried out in three phases in the form of three operations (i.e., the Euphrates Shield, the Olive Branch, and the Spring of Peace). In the third phase of Turkey's massive invasion of northern Syria which was referred to as Spring of Peace in September 2019, Turkey's ruling party leaders sought to implement a plan to establish a 32-km-wide and 480-km-long safe zone on Syrian soil along the Turkish border. Turkey's offensives and military presence in northern Syria, especially after the start of the Spring of Peace, created new ambiguities and complications in the Syrian crisis situation. The multiplicity of actors, who are pursuing their habitually discordant goals in Syria, made it very difficult to provide an accurate analysis of the situation in the aftermath of Turkey’s multiple military operations in northern Syria. This complexity is better recognized when the extra-regional, regional, and domestic actors involved in Syria are classified on the basis of their worldviews and foreign policy objectives. At the international level of analysis, Turkey's military operations in northern Syria provoked a rivalry between the great powers (the United States, China, and Russia) along the lines of the theory of hegemonic transformation. At the regional level of analysis, Turkey's direct military involvement and deployment of troops to Syrian territory disrupted the balance of threat created by the leaders of countries in the region that have historically regulated their relations on the idea of comprehensive balance which has in turn been influenced by the actors' threat perception of offensive power and aggressive intentions of their rivals. At the domestic level, the calculations of takfiri terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, or Daesh), Al-Nusra Front, as well as Kurdish separatist terrorist groups such as PKK and Democratic Union Party (PYD) changed in proportion to their power position and the actions of the more influential actors at the higher levels. The main purpose of the present study is to answer the following research question: What are the convergences and divergences between the multitude of actors influenced by the Turkish cross-border offensive mission and military presence in northern Syria? In the research hypothesis, it is argued that Turkey's military presence in northern Syria has created threats and opportunities for Iran, which must determine its policies based on its national interests by understanding the convergences and divergences of the interests of other key actors at various extra-regional, regional, national and subnational levels. A score of actors are involved in this conflict as either the supporters of the Assad regime or the backers of the Syrian opposition by providing considerable assistance in the form of arms, training, financing, political support, and even military personnel in order to achieve their contradictory goals. The author used the method of structural analysis of the actors involved in the Turkish intervention in northern Syria, and the “Matrix of Alliances and Conflicts: Tactics, Objectives, and Recommendations” (MACTOR) software in order to identify and analyze the strategies of the major actors. Data collection techniques in this study included: First, qualitative secondary data were obtained from government reports, newspapers, and previous scholarly articles assessing different aspects of the situation. Second, An expert interview was conducted to explore diverse perspectives of fifteen professionals with considerable knowledge of strategic issues in West Asia. To form the panel of experts on interaction matrices in this study, a purposive sampling technique is used to select the experts with extensive experience and/or academic research on the Syrian crisis. Based on the study's findings, the actors involved in the Turkish offensive into northern Syria were classified into six groups based on the degree of influence and vulnerability: 1. Determinant actors with powerful influence and low vulnerability consists of the United States, Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, PKK, and the Lebanese Hezbollah; 2. Crucial actors with powerful influence and high vulnerability include Turkey, the European Union, Israel, the PYD, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE; 3. Aim actors with lesser influence than that of crucial actors, and with high vulnerability include Syria, Iraq, and Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD).; 4. Regulatory actors with less influence and vulnerability than crucial actors include the People's Democratic Party of Turkey (HDP), Turkish-backed Takfiris, the Iraqi regional government, and Turkish nationalists; 5. Result actors with very low influence and very high vulnerability include refugees from Syria, the Arab tribes in the conflict zone, and the Syrian Alawites; and 6. Autonomic actors with the lowest degree of influence and vulnerability; and thus were not considered in this study because of their insignificant impact and relevance. The crucial, aim, and regulatory actors have a top position in Iran’s assessment of this foreign policy issue since they can have positive or negative impacts on Iran’s efforts to uphold its regional power status. The findings of the study show that three polarizations of the actors can be distinguished in the crisis situation created by Turkey's offensives and military presence in northern Syria: 1. The actors in the first pole includes Iran, Hezbollah, Iraq, Russia, the Syrian government, and the Syrian Alawites. 2. The second pole of actors consists of Turkey, Al-Nusra Front, ISIS, Turkish-backed Takfiris, Turkish nationalists, the Free Syrian Army, Syrian war refugees, the Syrian Kurdish Patriotic Council, and Arab tribes in the conflict zone. 3. The third pole of actors includes the United States, Israel, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, QSD, Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, the HDP, the PKK and its Syrian branch. The wide-ranging characteristics of the actors in the third cluster indicate the fragmentation in this category. The gap between PKK-PYD and the other actors indicates the tactical convergence as well as the extent of variation in multiple (and often conflicting) goals pursued by the actors in this category. Analysis of the divergence of actors also showed that Turkey, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the PKK terrorist group have the greatest divergence of goals regarding Turkey's military operations in northern Syria. Turkey and Iran are in a state of loneliness, but Russia is closer to Iran and the Resistance Coalition due to its views on security threats posed by the U.S. To overcome its loneliness, the Turkish government has the option of moving closer to the U.S. and its partners, but this move might lead to the empowerment of pro-Kurdistan Kurdish movements. Its other option is to get closer to the Resistance Coalition, but it must inevitably redefine its foreign policy objectives and behaviors according to the discourse of this Coalition.

The study of Turkish cultural diplomacy in Iraq depends on understanding the new foreign policy view of the Middle East. By raising the issue of zero conflict and improving relations with the countries that survived the former Ottoman Empire, the Turkish government, within the framework of neo-Ottomanism and a unified Turkish identity in the form of nationalism, tried to present itself as a strategic trans-regional actor. Although recent developments in Turkey's domestic politics, as well as in the Arab Spring and its aftermath, have somewhat obscured the continuation of the Neo-Ottoman life, a zero-sum conflict in Turkey's foreign policy, it still adheres to the cultural diplomacy of this approach. In this context, Iraq is of strategic importance as Turkey's most important entry into the Middle East. Accordingly, the main question of the article is "What are the theoretical and practical aspects of Turkish cultural diplomacy in Iraq from 2003 to 2019, and to what extent is Turkey a key regional actor in addressing Iraq's macro-cultural, political and social structure?" Has it been successful? ” The findings show that Turkey has been able to deepen its sphere of influence in Iraq by focusing on its cultural structures and tools such as the media, Turkish films and series, Turkish language and literature, cultural-religious ties with Iraq, and strong ties with Turkmens as a single identity. Create for yourself. The research method in this paper is based on qualitative research based on and based on library method with data collection and analysis.

The Southeastern Anatolia Project is one of the largest projects in the world which is sited in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The major goal of GAP is to build 22 damps, 19 power plants on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, along with the development of irrigation systems to produce energy and irrigate 1.8 million hectares of land. The main question we like to address in this study is: what's the effect of GAP on the identity crisis of kurds in Turkey? The paper hypothesizes that Turkey's water policies being implemented in GAP are a part of Turkey’s strategies to extirpate the Kurdish identity of Kurds in Turkey . Our findings using analytical-descriptive method and Lewis's identity crisis theory suggest that since the beginning, Turkey has faced an identity crisis and the Turkey government is trying to solve the identity crisis using GAP and the resulting replication methods including forced migration of Kurdish people of the region, destruction of antiquities and symbols of Kurdish culture and identity and improving the socio-economic conditions of the Kurdish community. The GAP was not able to solve the Kurdish identity crisis in Turkey and conversely, there have been some consequences such as population resettlement, environmental degradation, and the destruction of Kurdish cultural heritage. the project violates article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 29, 27, and 26 of theUnited Nation’sResolution on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Indigenous People, as well as the United Nation’s Convention to Combat Desertification.

Ilam province has a 425 km common border with Iraq. Being the border of province and having the habitance of different tribes is due to the obvious commonality of its Shiite people, has caused the people living in it play an causeless role in creating lasting security at variouse times such as holy defense. The aim of this research is investigating the affecting factors of the convergence between two forntiersman folks of Arab and Kurd border groups on the range of feeling of lasting security. In this article, the researchist, try to identify the affecting factors of the convergence of these two nations and its effects on the sense of lasting security. The research method of this survey article is the statistical population of those cities in the southern part of Ilam province. The sampling method is cluster and the sample size is 500 people. According to the research findings, ethnic convergence has a direct impact on sustainable security and has the most effect on the dimensions of national security, human security and global security. Among the considered effecting factors influencing on the fortification of the convergence of these two ethnic groups, age and interference of foreigners in the two dimensions of usage and trust in cultural and news packages of foreign media, have an inverse effect on the degree of convergence of groups. Among the other declared factors that significantly affect the consolidation of ethnic groups are the variables of the influence of political elites, cultural asset, education, nationalism, religiosity, people's perception of the political, administrative and the background of extramarital marriage in relatives that have the most to the least effect on the convergence among the Arabs and Kurds inhabitant in Ilam province.

The existence of rich oil and gas reserves, thriving agriculture, vital and strategic crossings has given a special and geopolitical position to the region of east of the Euphrates. The role of this region in connecting Syria to the Iraq and its having borders with Turkey and presence of Kurdish groups so called PKK has made this region scene of rivalries of regional and international powers. In addition, conflicting and heterogeneous interests of the actors involved in this region have made the landscape of this region ambiguous.
This article by the method of descriptive-analytical and by the use of library resources has explained goals and policies of involving countries in this region and studied possible scenarios in this area.
Findings of this paper shows that however Kurdish groups by the help of Americans have made political, military and security structures until now have refused to cooperate with central government. but in the long term because of existence of deep conflicts between Kurdish systems and tribal systems and also disagreement of tribes with Kurds that has led to a local resistance against illegitimate presence of the US has prepared grounds of withdrawing of the US from this region.

The purpose of this study is to explain the geopolitics of the KRG and the challenges it faced after the formation of Iraq after the First World War until today. The geopolitics imposed by the supra-regional powers in Iraq for more than half a century has led to violent ethnic and religious resistance. First of all, Iraq is a creature of trans-regional geopolitical policy. The non-participation of Kurds and Shiite Arabs in Iraq has manifested itself in the form of violent and armed struggles throughout Iraqi history. The insistence on continuing Kurdish anti-geopolitical resistance in Iraq following the defeat of Saddam's forces in the 1991 US-led Allied invasion during Operation Desert Storm has led to a kind of opening of closed geopolitical borders. The Kurds have been able to exercise a minimum of their ethnic and human rights since UN Security Council Resolution 688 was adopted on April 5, 1991, in the shadow of the no-fly zone. The referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan by the semi-independent government of the region in September 1996 reflects the geopolitical complexities of the region and the world, and the distance between the Kurds and the realization of the Kurdish state. This complexity is due to the geographical realities on the one hand and the disparity of the demands and interests of the influential and influential countries on the independence of Kurdistan.

Syria has strategic importance for Iran. Sudden rise of the Syrian Kurds in the context of regional political developments in the region in a rapid timespan, especially in light of Syrian developments on regional and transregional scales attracted the attention of many scholars. Syrian Kurds who were ignored as invisible ghosts before the crisis suddenly appeared as a serious actor in these developments. Drawing upon a historical approach and using the discourse theory, this article seeks to answer the question of how the Kurds in Syria were marginalized and how they returned to the content. To answer this question, the authors formulated the hypothesis that a set of historical factors such as the policies of the Mandate era, changes in transitional period, the Ba’ath Party and Kurdish-Syrian relations have been among the most important factors in marginalizing Kurds. The authors analyze the historical backgrounds of Kurdish marginalization and study their discursive context. On the other hand, the adoption of the democratic confederal discourse instead of a nationalist one has played a major part, from a discursive perspective, in bringing Kurds to the content in northern Syria in post-2011 period. One of the most important findings of this research has been paying attention to the role of discursive turn in the developments of northern Syria and showing this fundamental issue that, if the situation in northern Syria is stabilized, the hegemony of this discourse will have regional consequences.

The 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence referendum and its results demonstrated that independence and secessionist Kurdish movements in the region would be a persistent political issue in the coming decades. Since their desire to become an independent country in geared in the fundamental right of Self-Determination, it is quite foreseeable that the countries which have considerable Kurdish minorities within their borders would encounter critical challenges on how to deal with their nationalist and secessionist desires. Iran is one of these countries. But the tendency among Iran’s Kurds to be an independent nation is quite lower than in other countries. The present paper seeks to answer this question: what’s the role of Paradiplomacy in dealing with the Kurds for Iran’s government. The findings of the article demonstrate that by boosting the role of sub-national identities, such as Kurds, and their participation in low-politics, Paradiplomacy can strengthen the social cohesion and social cohesion, in its turn, is one of the main impediments on the way of secessionism. At the same time, Kurds can help the Iranian government to reset its relations with the Kurdish population in the region.

Following the ISIL invasion of northern Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga unofficially took control of some parts of the northern Iraq abandoned by Iraqi forces and, as a result, consequently attempted to strengthen the independence of Kurdistan. This event has important internal and regional implications on the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Utilizing the Future Studies scenario technique, the current research aims to answer the following question: Given the Kurdish Peshmarga’s aim for the independent Kurdistan, how their political future can be best predicted? This investigation provides five scenarios in three categories: a) Prefarable scenario: Kurdistan climate negotiations with the central government of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, the United States and its western allies, and the declaration of independence of Kurdistan; the independence of the Kurdistan region and the utilizing Erbil's economic capabilities to influence future actions and reactions (B) Probable scenario: mediating a third actor, and enjoying economic and political privileges via taking part in the disputed areas administration; creating a confederal system in return for postponing or abandoning the independence of Kurdistan; Immediate announcement of the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan after the possible failure of talks with the central government of Iraq and the rest of regional and international states (C) Possible scenario: creation of a great Kurdistan. The findings of the present study indicate that the consequences of the referendum of September 25, 2017, have affected the Kurdistan region. Therefore, if the Kurdish government can not overcome this crisis, many of the current achievements in the economic sphere will lose political, social and cultural freedom.

The diversity of identity/ethnicity in contemporary Iran has been accompanied by the growth of globalization processes and has resulted in inter-ethnic conflicts that the degree of elimination of discrimination and inequalities in order to achieve social development tends to identity seeking and seeking justice, which is the subject of this research among Persians, Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Baluchs of Iran are located. Iranian social identities are dissatisfied with the domination of elements of Persian identity over their elements, and they do not consider the reduced status of Iranian historical identity to be fair and in line with the development of collective identities.This research titled "From border to border" in 13 provinces of Iran with integrated qualitative method (GT and survey) and in-depth interview tools, library documents, and open questionnaire, collects data in the fields of "religious identity and national identity (interaction or confrontation)" ", "inter-ethnic cultural boundaries", "deadlock of ethnic and national movements", "elimination of cultures", "peaceful approach to overcome the crisis", extracted and categorized and achieved a conceptual model in which the main factors ( economic and ideological), intervening factors (media and lifestyle), and background factors (legal, cultural parameters and mismanagement) phenomenon-oriented (demand for justice / social disruption) has been formed and strategic action (peaceful action, acceptance of the existing situation, and government interaction) and the nation) and its consequences (the stability and decline of social capital) are presented.

Among the important factors influencing the position of countries, space, power and identity are the main elements of which are shaping critical geopolitical theory; and in the new era, different countries and actors use them in different ways. Considering this issue, the purpose of this article is to use these elements in analyzing Turkey’s approach to ISIS. The research method of this paper is descriptive and analytical. In the first phase, the elements of critical geopolitical theory are described, and then the Turkey’s approach to ISIS has been analyzed based on these elements. The findings of this study indicate that the approach of the Turkish government against ISIL during ISIL's rule can be analyzed on the basis of critical geopolitical elements. The findings of this study indicate that according to the elements of critical geopolitical theory, the Turkish state, based on the metaphor power, by impalpable support from ISIS, was due to weaken the political and regional status of the regional resistance, especially Iran. In the sphere of metaphor of space, Turkey tried to reduce Federalist tendencies of Kurdish and ultimately in the scope of identity metaphor, alongside alienating and weakening Shiite thinking, gradually to display the identity of Islam that in addition to reproducing the origins of Ottomanism's nostalgia, to make the Islamic and regional identity of the Justice and Development Party more institutionalized.