Julian Saurin @ Free University Brighton |
the Syrian war & the Turkish crisis
Here are two photos. One of a city in Turkey, a NATO member state, parliamentary democracy and EU candidate state. The other is of a city in Syria after five years of civil war, alternating in 2012 and 2015 between Assad-government control and rebel control. Cizre is a city in south-east Turkey of about 100,000 people. Idlib is a city of similar size in north-west Syria.
Which city is which in the photos below ? The photo to the left is of two casualties. From which city are the casualties, Turkey or Syria ? |
Class TwoThe Syrian War & the Turkey crisis
Both Turkey and Syria were long regarded as stable and strong states, for different reasons, by the 'world powers.' From Turkish independence in 1923, initially under the founding tutelage of Mustafa Kemal Pasha ('Ataturk'), until the end of the second world war, Turkey strove for an independent policy free from great power entanglements. From 1945 onwards though, Turkey moved closer and closer to an alliance with the USA and western Europe against the Soviet Union. Turkey was an early member of NATO, alongside Greece, and became a bulwark against the USSR throughout the anti-communist cold wars. And yet almost one hundred years after its creation Turkey shows signs of both weakness and fracture, but also of collapse. What is the history of this state, these citizens, these laws .... ? Whatever happened to the minorities of the Ottoman empire ? Or the Kurds ? or the Greeks or the Armenians ? Or the Laz or the Jews ?
And what of Syria ? Arising out of the Mandate system, having had almost half of its population shorn off into Lebanon, Syria shared with Egypt the promise and standard-bearing of pan-Arabism. Whither pan-Arabism ? Did the Assad dynasty simply become a regional client of, first, the USSR and then Russia ? Had what the Czar singularly failed to do in the 18th and 19th centuries - assert an interest in the Holy Land - been accomplished by an atheist USSR together with a dissenting Islamic sect (Alawite) ? What are the roots of the current Syrian state collapse - are these to be found in Syria or outside ? Are they to be found in religion, culture, military, economics or .... what ? And is there any connection between the Syrian crisis and the neighbouring Turkish crisis ? Here you will find a set of slides (in .ppt format) that guide the second class
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Readings on Syria and TurkeyIt would be useful to read, or at least briefly skim through, the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey. Pay particular attention to the Preamble and the first few articles (excerpts of which we'll look at in class). Ask how a community - the Ottoman Empire - famed for its ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity has been reduced legally to an ethnocratic, mono-lingual, single religion, 'secular' state. What kinds of historical processes and actions must have occurred for this one-dimensionality to have resulted ? Further, consider whether diversity can (or even should) be protected by constitutional requirements ? |