Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria

Tuba Yıldız; Ayhan Sarı

doi:10.36484/liberal.1937940

TR EN

Taraf olmayan bertaraf olur, ya da tam tersi mi? Suriye’de Dürziler

Abstract

Etnik çatışma literatürü, toplumsal kimlikleri büyük ölçüde şiddeti tetikleyen ayrışmalar olarak ele almakla birlikte, çatışmanın etnik kimlikleri ve siyasal yönelimleri nasıl yeniden şekillendirdiğini yeterince açıklayamamaktadır. Bu makale, siyasal elitlerin etnik kimlikleri nasıl araçsallaştırdığını ve bireylerin varoluşsal belirsizlik koşullarında siyasal bağlılıklarını neden yeniden düzenlediklerini açıklamak amacıyla “elit manipülasyonu” tezini belirsizlik-kimlik kuramıyla birleştirmektedir. Suriye’deki Dürzi toplumu, bu dinamikleri Suriye iç savaşı sırasında ve sonrasında incelemek için kritik bir örnek oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma, teori sınayıcı süreç izleme yöntemiyle, Suriyeli mültecilerle gerçekleştirilen kırk bir yarı yapılandırılmış mülakat, Lübnanlı Dürziler arasında yürütülen saha çalışması ve 2011–2025 dönemini kapsayan ikincil kaynaklara dayanmaktadır. Bulgular, Esed rejiminin söylemsel manipülasyon, dini liderlere yönelik seçici himaye ve ekonomik bağımlılık yoluyla güvensizlik ortamı oluşturduğunu, bunun da Dürzilerin herhangi bir tarafa tam olarak yönelmektense parçalı ve güvenlik odaklı bir tutum benimsemelerine yol açtığını göstermektedir. Esed sonrası dönemde ise İsrail aynı mekanizmayı yeniden üretmiş, aktör değişse de işleyiş mantığının devam ettiği ortaya konulmuştur.

Keywords

Suriye, Dürziler, Mezhepçilik, Elit Manipülasyonu, Güvensizlik-Kimlik Teorisi, İç Savaş

Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria

Abstract

The ethnic conflict literature largely treats communal identities as divisions that drive violence but pays limited attention to how conflict reshapes ethnic identities and political alignments. This article combines the elite manipulation thesis with uncertainty-identity theory to explain how political elites instrumentalize ethnicity and why individuals recalibrate their loyalties under existential uncertainty. The Syrian Druze constitute a critical case for examining these dynamics during and after the civil war. Using theorytesting process tracing, the study draws on forty-one semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugees, fieldwork among Lebanese Druze, and secondary sources from 2011– 2025. The findings show that the Assad regime fostered insecurity through discursive manipulation, selective patronage of religious leaders, and economic dependence, leading the Druze to adopt a fragmented, security-oriented posture. In the post-Assad period, Israel reproduced the same mechanism, indicating that while the manipulating actor changed, the underlying logic remained intact.

Keywords

Syria, Druze, Sectarianism, Elite Manipulation, Uncertainty-Identity Theory, Civil War.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

International Politics

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Tuba Yıldız ^*
0000-0002-7152-4421
Türkiye

Ayhan Sarı
0009-0009-3917-8563
Türkiye

Publication Date

September 20, 2026

Submission Date

April 25, 2026

Acceptance Date

July 27, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Number: 123

DOI

https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1937940

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA66HR87EY

APA

Yıldız, T., & Sarı, A. (2026). Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, 123. https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1937940

AMA

1.Yıldız T, Sarı A. Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi. 2026;(123). doi:10.36484/liberal.1937940

Chicago

Yıldız, Tuba, and Ayhan Sarı. 2026. “Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or Is It the Opposite? The Druze in Syria”. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, nos. 123. https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1937940.

EndNote

Yıldız T, Sarı A (September 1, 2026) Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi 123

IEEE

[1]T. Yıldız and A. Sarı, “Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria”, Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, no. 123, Sept. 2026, doi: 10.36484/liberal.1937940.

ISNAD

Yıldız, Tuba - Sarı, Ayhan. “Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or Is It the Opposite? The Druze in Syria”. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi. 123 (September 1, 2026). https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1937940.

JAMA

1.Yıldız T, Sarı A. Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi. 2026. doi:10.36484/liberal.1937940.

MLA

Yıldız, Tuba, and Ayhan Sarı. “Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or Is It the Opposite? The Druze in Syria”. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, no. 123, Sept. 2026, doi:10.36484/liberal.1937940.

Vancouver

1.Tuba Yıldız, Ayhan Sarı. Those Who Remain Neutral Are Eliminated, or is it the Opposite? The Druze in Syria. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi. 2026 Sep. 1;(123). doi:10.36484/liberal.1937940

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– For translated works, authors must submit documented permission from both the original author and the publishing institution.
– Individuals who have not made an intellectual contribution to the study must not be listed as authors.
– Authors may be asked to provide raw data related to their study during the review process and must be prepared to share such data with the editorial and scientific boards upon request.
– Authors must confirm that they have the rights to use the data employed in their research, obtained all necessary permissions for analysis, and secured informed consent from any human subjects involved.
– If the author(s) discover any significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted or published work, they must promptly notify the editor or publisher and cooperate in the correction or retraction process.
– Authors may not submit the same article to more than one journal at the same time. New submissions should begin only after the previous process has been concluded.
– Authors may not propose any changes to authorship (such as adding, removing, or reordering authors) once the review process has started.
– Authors are obliged to address reviewers’ revision requests within the specified time frame. If an author refuses to make the suggested revisions, the editorial board may reject the manuscript.
– Upon acceptance for publication, the copyright of the manuscript is considered transferred to The Journal of Liberal Thought. Authors may not publish the manuscript elsewhere (including journals, edited volumes, websites, or blogs) without written permission from the journal’s editorial office.

Submissions must also comply with Article 4 of the Higher Education Council’s Directive on Scientific Research and Publication Ethics. The following are considered violations of scientific research and publication ethics:

Article 4 – Scientific Misconduct Includes:
a) Plagiarism: Presenting others' original ideas, methods, data, or works as one's own without proper citation.
b) Fabrication: Using non-existent or falsified data in research.
c) Falsification: Distorting research records or data, misrepresenting the use of tools or materials, or manipulating results to fit institutional or funding expectations.
ç) Duplicate Publication: Presenting the same research as separate publications for academic promotion.
d) Salami Slicing: Fragmenting a study inappropriately into multiple publications to inflate publication count.
e) Unjustified Authorship: Including individuals who did not contribute intellectually as authors or excluding those who did; making unauthorized changes to authorship lists.

Other Types of Ethical Violations Include:
a) Not acknowledging the support or contributions of institutions or individuals who aided the research.
b) Using unpublished theses or research without permission from the author.
c) Violating ethical standards in research involving human or animal subjects or patient rights.
ç) Violating legal or institutional regulations in biomedical or clinical studies involving humans.
d) Sharing the contents of a manuscript assigned for review without the author’s explicit consent.
e) Misusing resources, spaces, or equipment allocated for research purposes.
f) Making baseless, malicious, or deliberate accusations of ethical misconduct.
g) Publishing data obtained from participants without their informed consent or without institutional approval when required.
h) Harming animal welfare or ecological balance during research.
ı) Failing to obtain necessary written permissions from relevant authorities before commencing research.
i) Violating applicable national and international legal frameworks governing research.
j) Failing to inform relevant parties about potentially harmful research practices.
k) Misusing data obtained from others beyond the limits of granted permission or breaching data confidentiality.
l) Making false or misleading statements about research or publications during academic evaluations.