The level and comparison of ethnic identity and national identity in Turkmen and Sistani ethnic groups of Golestan province

Introduction and objectives: Most of the nations and countries of the world do not have the same population composition and have ethnic diversity and plurality. Ethnic identity is one of the intermediate identities in the new era, which is beyond individual identity and below national identity. Therefore, this identity has common elements such as; Culture, history, place, language, race, religion, etc. are with national identity. The issue of ethnicity is one of the most complicated issues in various countries, and countries with social and ethnic diversity experience many challenges. Iran is also a multinational society that includes various cultural, linguistic and religious groups. What is extremely important in such societies is the creation and strengthening of national solidarity and at the same time preserving the diversity that can be seen in different fields in ethnic groups.Method: In order to investigate the two mentioned issues, the current research was conducted within the framework of quantitative method and with survey analysis. The statistical population is 299 Turkmen people and 127 Sistani people in different cities of Golestan province. Both ethnic groups are from 9 clans, which were filled in the questionnaires according to population balance. The data were analyzed in two descriptive and inferential levels, which in the descriptive level; frequency distribution and average and at the inferential level; Pearson's correlation coefficient and T-test were used. Also from theories; Modernization, relative deprivation, identity categorization were used as the theoretical framework.Findings: The results show that there are similarities and differences between Turkmens and Sistanis of Golestan province in terms of ethnic identity and national identity. In other words, although the ethnic tendencies among these two peoples are not very strong, they are more than average. But in a comparison, the statistics show that the tendency towards national identity and ethnic identity among the Turkmens of Golestan province was more than the average. On the other hand, in a comparison, there is a significant difference between the tendency towards ethnic identity and national identity, and the average tendency towards ethnic identity among these peoples is more than the tendency towards national identity. Regarding the Sistanis, these statistics show that the tendency towards national identity and ethnic identity among the Sistanis of Golestan province is higher than the average. Moreover, in a comparison, there is a significant difference between the tendency towards ethnic identity and national identity, and the average tendency towards national identity among these ethnic groups is more than the tendency towards ethnic identity. In general, the results show the relative weakness of understanding the dimensions of history among these peoples, which reveals the lack of education in the relevant fields for these peoples. At the same time, the structural limitations in the introduction and retelling of the identity and dominance of the macro culture have led the ethnic groups (especially the small population ethnic groups) to a reluctance and neglect to preserve and introduce their ethnic history, which is somehow caused by ethnic isolation.Conclusion: Therefore, in the light of cognitive, emotional and value elements, and in order to preserve ethnic diversity, ethnic re-reading should be done for these ethnic groups. On the other hand, deprivations and social gaps in the light of ethnic attitudes can provoke ethnic conflicts and tensions, which is also important with the fair establishment of social rights, not only a barrier to the feeling of discrimination and dissatisfaction and ethnic tensions arising from it. rather, it strengthened the ethnic harmony in Iran's macro-society.