The Communication Tools of Turkey’s Arab Tribes With Other Ethnic Groups: Marriage, Religion and Music

Abstract

This study analyzes the Turkish Arabs's security concepts, intra-tribal marriage, cultural dimension of religion and their interactions with the other groups they live together through the example of Shego and Bıdri tribes. The Arab tribes of Shego and Bidri remained in the area surrounded by mountains for a very long time and stayed away from the reform policies of the central government and the interaction with the rest of the world. Therefore, the ethnocultural identities of these tribes, which were recognized as a result of their rebellions that started with centralization and continued with the Republican administration process, exhibit an endemic characteristic and are influenced by the societies in which they live with. In these tribes, the local Arabic language, daily life, their relations with the religion and state are shaped as a result of their identity codes. This study reveals the ethnocultural identities and interactions of Shego and Bidri tribes, which are recorded just in the late Ottoman period and continue with the Republic of Turkey, on an anthropological and sociological basis.