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The Shia Crescent (or Shiite Crescent) is the notionally crescent-shaped region of the Middle East where the majority population is Shia or where there is a strong Shia minority in the population. The corresponding term is especially common in German, where it is known as ''Schiitischer Halbmond'' ("Shia Halfmoon"). The term was coined in 2004 by King Abdullah II of Jordan at a time when Iran was reportedly interfering in Iraq in the run-up to the January 2005 parliamentary elections.〔 This was in the context of a threatened, later realised, boycott of the elections by Sunnis in Iraq potentially leading to a Shia-dominated government and the assumption that a Shia Iraq might fall under the influence of Shia Iran. The suggestion was that the common religion gives good potential for cooperation between Iran, Iraq, Alawite-dominated Syria and the politically powerful Shia militia Hezbollah in Lebanon; as well, the suggestion was that these others would be proxies for Iran in a regional power play.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Iraq, Jordan See Threat To Election From Iran )〕 The term has developed since to encompass other Shia areas of the Middle East. The nations where Shia Muslims form a dominant majority are Iran and Iraq. Shias also represent a large majority in Azerbaijan, however it is constitutionally a secular state. Those who are actual practicing adherents are much lower,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Azerbaijan )〕 which has led to them generally being excluded from the crescent.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Emerging Shia "Crescent" of Power in the Core of the Middle East )〕 Shia are also the majority of citizens in Bahrain, however the government is largely Sunni.〔 Large Shia minorities also exist in Lebanon, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and to a lesser extent, UAE. Excepting Lebanon, where the weak central government structure of Lebanon has allowed Hezbollah to become involved in the Syrian civil war,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Analysis - Hezbollah's Syria victory risks wider Sunni-Shi'ite conflict )〕 these are not usually described as part of the crescent. ==See also== * Axis of Resistance * Shia–Sunni relations * Shia Islam: Demographics (For current estimates of Shia proportion of population) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shia Crescent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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