The Role of National Identity in Building a Kurdish State in the Iraq

The main aim of this book is to describe the events and consequent thinking which led to the formation of an independent state and highlighting the role of several important elements of Kurdish national identity, such as history, religion, language, land, and culture in building the Kurdish state in Iraqi Kurdistan region. In addition, the study design employed a qualitative methodology. After getting consent, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with male participants. The results of this exploratory study of national identity; it has an effective and main role in building the state. For this purpose, the Iraqi Kurds have their own national identity, such as, language, land and culture. However, these three elements still have problems. For instance, Kurds in Iraq do not have a standard language or independent land, and their culture is known to tribalism. Furthermore, Kurds do not have problem with the religion as elements of national identity, but they could not use the religion for protecting national interests and building a Kurdish state; and they have a long history in the Middle East.Finally, nowadays, Iraqi Kurds wish to separate with the central government.

Autorentext

Saied Qadir Faqe Ibrahim is an assistant lecturer in the Faculty of Arts/ department of Sociology at Soran University. He received his MRES in Sociology, Planning and Policy from Sheffield/ United Kingdom, University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013. He earned his BA (Hons) in sociology from Salahaddin University in 2008.