Category Archives: Regional Affairs journal

Struggle of Revolutionary Organizations of Western Armenians and Operations of Secret Services of Sultan

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

After the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, Western Armenians got two bitter experiences: the ideology of the iron scoop and the using of secret organization for increasing the effectiveness of struggle. During that period a benchmark for Greek, Armenian and Turkish organizations was Young Italia organization. Black Cross secret organization was founded in Van in 1878 and is being considered one of the first of its kind in the new history of Western Armenia. The author discusses mostly inexperienced tactics and strategy of this and other secret organizations, and also presents the tactics of Ottoman Yildiz secret service in its struggle against those Armenian organizations.

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2013 in the Context of Karabakh Conflict Normalization

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

The year was full with visits of OSCE Minsk group co-chairs which resulted in eventual meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in November 2013. The statements of the ministers of foreign affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as those of officials from OSCE Minsk group co-chair countries give opportunity to understand trends in negotiation process. The article also discusses documents and declarations by international organizations having direct or indirect influence on the peace process.

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African Policy of Turkey in 21st century

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

African vector plays a unique role in Turkish foreign policy during AKP era. While development of relations with African countries is beneficial for Turkey both from political and economic points of view, Ankara mostly tries to focus on economic leverage. Turkish-African relations started back in Ottoman times when sultan Selim Yavuz conquered territories in Northern Africa in 16th century.
However, with Ataturks focus on the West, the Republic of Turkey in 1923-1998 paid little or no attention to African continent. And only after 1998 the Turkey started to develop its relation with Africa. If before AKP rule, Turkey had only 12 embassies in Africa, now their number is 35. If in the previous 75 years the leaders of Turkey paid less than dozen of visits to the continent, only within 2004-2013 Erdogan and Gul visited African countries 38 times.
The role of African countries is very important for Turkey in particular as leverage in UN. During the elections of UN SC temporary members in 2008, 52 African countries out of 53 gave their votes to Turkey. This was critical support for Ankara to get elected. Last time it was 47 years ago. Turkey will need those votes also in 2014 when it will again run for the same two-year membership of 2015- 2016 in UN SC.

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Turkey without Erdogan?

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

On December 17, 2013, Turkey again surprised the whole world and its citizens, in particular. Sons of ministers, in line with other important officials were arrested being accused of corruption and money laundering. In a response to this, those prosecutors and police officials who prepared this operation were promptly fired. This was ripening for a long time but still the blast was unexpected: the relationship between Fethullah Gulen, who has enormous influence in Turkey, and the Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erodgan has been finally broken off, and one-time allies became foes. It seems that after getting rid of military, that was a political adversary for both Erdogan and Gulen, prime-minister started to disentangle from the influence of Gulen. Whereas Gulen has not only stopped backing Erdogan, but wishes to see Turkey without charismatic prime-minister. Is this a doable scenario?

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Gezi 2013: Turkey in Tremble

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

Turkish riots of 2013 not only echoed in international media but also had very big influence in domestic politics of Turkey. They expressed the accumulated negative emotions against authoritarian rule of prime-minister Erdogan and his party. The riots had not particular leading group or leader per se. Leftists and ultra-rights, sexual and religious minorities, environmentalists and soccer fan clubs, all of them were united for a short period of time to protest against raising control by AKP, trying to limit internet and approaching to family planning. According to official data, protests have been organized in 80 provinces out of 81. During the whole period total 5532 demonstrations took place during the hot summer of 2013. The social platforms certainly had their multiplier effect; they also helped to create and spread new symbols of the protests: the red woman and the standing man.

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Main developments in domestic politics of Azerbaijan in 2013

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

The most important domestic development of 2013 in Azerbaijan certainly was the presidential elections. However, other factors also contributed to the full picture. 2013 began with protest demonstrations in Baku against deaths of soldiers in the army. In 2012 Azerbaijan has lost 97 soldiers, and only 20% of them were LIA. Moreover, some deaths were very suspicious as the corpses lacked few organs. Only some days after these demonstrations, mass disturbance started in the region of Ismayili populated by Lezgins. The local population burned a hotel owned by the head of local authority as a sign of protest against bureaucratic tyranny.

The most outrage development of 2013 was the persecution of 75-year-old writer Akram Aylisli for his novel ‘Stone dreams’ where he inter alia discusses pogroms of Armenians in Baku in 1990. Not only radical masses stigmatized the writer but the President of Azerbaijan also joined the forces by imposing different types of repression. On October 9, Ilham Aliyev was re-elected for the third consecutive time as the president of the country with 85% of votes. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, US State Department, European Parliament and other international observers considered the elections as non-democratic. In reality,
those elections were just an occasion for two ruling clans (Nakhijevan clan, headed by Aliyev family, and Pashayev clan headed by the relatives of first lady Mehriban) to re-draw the lines of influence. Is stable Azerbaijan beneficial for its neighbors, NKR and Armenia, in particular? The answer is definitely positive as any tremble beyond the border can bring to undesirable consequences, including military escalation.

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The Difficulties of Marash Station of Committee of Frankfurt of “German Union of the Armenian Aid” in the years of Armenian Genocide and the First World War

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

In 1896 “German Union of the Armenian Aid” was founded in Germany to support the Armenians suffered in the Ottoman Empire during Hamid massacres. The GUAA established stations in several cities of the Ottoman Empire including Marash. The staff of the station could support the Armenians both in peacetime and wartime. They more or less alleviated, first the consequences of Hamid massacres’ and Adana massacres’, then those of the Genocide. The staff encountered serious difficulties particularly in the years of the Genocide and the First World War.

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The Origin and Development of Secret Services in the Ottoman Empire. The Factor of National Liberation Struggle

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

This article explores the origin of Turkish Secret Services, their development, as well as tradition building. In the article the characteristic features of activities of Turkish Intelligence Agencies were also revealed. Owing to this activity the Ottoman Empire managed to get its bearings “right” in the field of International Relations as well as to build a favorable foreign policy. The research gives us the opportunity to conclude that the applied prospecting activities in the Ottoman Empire served as а major tool in the liberation struggle pressure of Christianity and subjugated people.

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The Process of Regaining State Independence in Azerbaijan (1988–1992)

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

In the late 1980s, the rise of the national movement in Azerbaijan was not based on the idea of separation from the Soviet Union and the creation of an independent state, like the other Soviet republics, but in general, on the xenophobia and anti–Armenian propaganda, Armenians that were citizens of the Soviet Azerbaijan.New established political parties and oppositional leaders did their best to spread those ideas among ordinary people and turned them against peaceful Armenians living in the Soviet Azerbaijan. At the same time, the issue of Nagorno–Karabakh was used by the Communist Party of Azerbaijan as a tool in the negotiation process with the Kremlin.Subsequently, the issue of Nagorno–Karabakh has become a tool for the opposition to overthrow President Mutalibov and seize power.

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The Iranian Knot: The Positiion of China on Security Council Resolutions 1696, 1737, 1747, 1803, 1835, 1929

by Թողնել մեկնաբանություն

In the UN SC China plays a constructive role trying to direct the increasing tense situation on Iranian nuclear program to negotiations and to exclude the sanctions regarding Iranian oil and gas production. The West in its turn tries to make the sanctions in such a way that China has chance to continue its energetic relations with Iran. It is worth mentioning the role of Saudi Arabia and Israel within this respect. Saudi Arabia is number one oil supplier for China, and the second one, Israel supplies China with modern military weapons. China will use veto only if West tries to put sanctions on import and export of Iranian oil and gas. It is the red line which was drawn by China. Unless the West does not stand against the interest of China and does not suggest banning import and export of Iranian oil and gas, China will support resolutions.

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