[SEJeff]

Regarding your comments on tribe and ethnicity being an absolute bedrock of the people's identities, much of the middle east is the exact same way. I made the mistake of calling my turkish translator an Iraqi, even though he was born and raised in Iraq, as was his family. It took the better part of 20 minutes to calm him down and make sure he understand I meant no insult by calling him an Iraqi. The western concept of nationalism is very foreign to much of the current middle east even today... in 2015 :/