Knowledge Booster: Ethnic Groups in the News

Subject: International Relations
Relevance: Understanding ethnic groups in the news is important for the UPSC exam as it helps in analyzing global conflicts, migration issues, and geopolitical dynamics. UPSC has previously asked questions on ethnic groups (e.g., in UPSC CSE 2016 prelims).

Key Takeaways:

1. Alawites (Syria):

   • A Shia sect of Islam.

   • A minority group that dominated government posts under Bashar al-Assad.

   • Fear persecution under hardline Sunni regimes.

2. Kurds (Middle East):

   • An ethnic group of around 40 million people.

   • Centered in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

   • Speak several dialects of Kurdish (not linked to Turkish or Arabic).

   • Majority are Sunni Muslims.

   • Turkey has been battling an armed insurgency led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which seeks better rights for the Kurdish minority.

   • Following World War I, world powers promised the Kurds their own homeland, but this promise was never fulfilled.

3. Uighurs (China):

   • Live in Xinjiang, China’s largest and westernmost administrative region.

   • Muslim, speak a language close to Turkish, and are culturally and ethnically closer to Central Asia than the rest of China.

   • Uighurs allege the Chinese state has been repressive, clamping down on mosques and religious schools.

4. Houthis (Yemen):

   • A large clan belonging to the Zaidi Shia sect.

   • Zaidis make up around 35% of Yemen’s population.

   • Iran is believed to back the Houthis.

   • Support for Palestine is a manifestation of existing regional rivalries.

5. Baloch (Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan):

   • Roughly 9 million ethnic Baloch live on either side of the Iran-Pakistan border.

   • Another 500,000 live in the neighboring areas of Afghanistan.

   • The Baloch share cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious links that transcend modern borders.

   • Nurse deeply rooted grievances against both the Pakistani and Iranian states.

   • The Baloch are an ethnic minority physically and politically distant from the Punjabi-dominated regime in Pakistan.

   • In Iran, the majority-Sunni Baloch are also a religious minority who have been persecuted by the state.

   • Baloch nationalism traces its roots to the early decades of the 20th century.

   • Marginalisation in both countries in subsequent years fuelled several separatist movements for a “Greater Balochistan” nation-state.

Beyond the Nugget: Levant Region

• The name “Levant” refers to the historical and geographical subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the west and central West Asia, also known as the Middle East.

• Encompasses Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, with parts of Iraq, Turkey, and Cyprus also often included.

• Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Arabian Desert to the east, with the Taurus Mountains in the north and the Sinai Peninsula in the south.