National Projects and Ethnic Minorities in the Middle East: Turkey, Syria, Iraq

National projects in the post-Ottoman space drew scholarly attention with the growth and institutionalization of political activity of ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria, which was caused by the US operation in Iraq (2003) and the events of the Arab Spring. Is there a place for minorities, the largest of which are the Kurds, in the national projects of these countries? On the analysis of the Turkish and Arab versions of nationalism, it is shown that initially they have features of both the French (civil) and German (ethnic) models of nationalism and imply the implementation of minority rights subject to the acceptance of the majority culture. However, according to the constructivist approach, a civic component is expected to develop. This shift occurred in the Iraqi version of nationalism when the democratic constitution of 2005 granted minorities administrative-territorial (Kurds) or cultural (Turkomans, Assyrians) autonomy. Changes towards the recognition of the cultural rights of the Kurds have also been recorded in Turkey. In Syria, the ruling elite still adheres to the ideas of Arab nationalism, however, many Syrian opposition organizations are ready to recognize the multi-ethnic character of the Syrian nation, thus the Syrian national narrative is also becoming more complex.