Historical Legacies in the Region: “What’s Past is Prologue”?

Historical Legacies in the Region: “What’s Past is Prologue”?, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
On the occasion of the centennial of the onset of World War I, in this issue of TPQ, we explore historical legacies in Turkey and across its neighborhood. In doing so, we reflect on the effects of history on current politics of identity and on...

Nigâr Göksel

Turkish–Armenian Relations: Is a “Just Memory” Possible?, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
The greatest injustice that has been visited on both history and to any two nations is to set aside their previous rich centuries of shared history and to begin instead with traumatic events like war and conflict, or to reconstruct the previous...

Ahmet Davutoğlu

The New (Dis)Order of the Middle East, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
As the Cold War’s domination of the geopolitics of the Middle East recedes, a new architecture is emerging, reminiscent of that of Europe in the 19th century. It is an architecture of mid-sized powers engaging in ever shifting alliances and...

Einat Wilf

Cultural Diplomacy in the Post-Communist Space, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Cultural diplomacy remains neglected as a tool of intercommunal relations in many parts of the world. In particular, the “classic” model of cultural diplomacy is ineffective in the post-communist area. This article argues that the source...

Egidijus Vareikis

Historical Commissions, Democracy, and Diversity, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Numerous historical or truth commissions have been set up in the last few decades. They have generally contributed to laying the foundations of a new coexistence in context of conflicts. In this regard the recognition of the past events is playing a...

Mô Bleeker

The First World War 100 Years Later, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Turkish Republic, along with a number of other states in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, represents the end product of the dissolution of multiethnic and multireligious empires. In contrast to other defeated nations of the First...

İlter Turan

Turkish Society: Driving the Politics of Memory, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Over the last decade, during which the discussion of memory was opened in the Turkish public sphere, Turkish civil society has taken part in initiatives that go well beyond those launched by the state and the political elite, especially concerning...

Cengiz Aktar

1912–18 in Greek Literature, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
The events of the turbulent years of 1912-18 surface in the novels and memoirs of several Greeks born as Ottoman subjects. All writers quoted in this article were later forced to emigrate, and all eventually ended up in Greece. Their works have...

Alexandros Massavetas

Towards Deconstructing Greek–Turkish Enmity, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Even though the last war between Greece and Turkey ended nearly 100 years ago, the ill feelings generated by the conflict are still quite common in both societies. In this article, the author traces the roots of this enmity, analyzing the effects of...

Nefin Dinç

Non-Muslim Minorities in Modern Turkey, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
The differentiation between the ruling Muslim segment of Ottoman society and the non-Muslim communities marked the de facto social and political –albeit not economic– marginalization of the latter in the Empire. This marginalization...

Laki Vingas

History Education in the South Caucasus, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
As the entire South Caucasus has been immersed in ethnically-framed conflicts since the late 1980s, an ethos of conflict has been constructed in the region. The commonly held views of the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Georgian-South Ossetian,...

The Balkan Wars of 1912–13, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Balkan Wars of 1912-13 represent a milestone in the transformation of Southeastern Europe. From a region managed on the basis of multiculturalism under Ottoman authority, an area of nationalist states emerged. While this process was already well...

Richard C. Hall

Kurds at the Transition from Empire to Republic, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Kurds constitute one of the largest ethnic groups without a state of their own, with an estimated population of 25 to 30 million dispersed across Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. This article highlights the dynamics of Kurdish autonomy during the...

Maya Arakon

The Alevis’ Latest Struggle Against Discrimination, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
This article is an attempt to elaborate on recent political and sociological discussions between Alevis and the state institutions. The current stage of the “Alevi issue” is composed mainly of four problem areas: difficulties encountered...

Nil Mutluer

Elements of Uncertainty in Turkey’s Refugee System, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Located at the crossroads of regions in turmoil, Turkey has been a safe haven for refugees for years. Refugees from Iran, Iraq, Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Kosovo have arrived in Turkey at different periods, receiving different policy responses. With the...

Deniz Sert

The Gallipoli Campaign and its Commemoration, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
People from Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain come to Gallipoli to commemorate their fallen soldiers who were lost nearly one hundred years ago, in 1915, during the Great War. This article elaborates on the rediscovery of the...

Kenan Çelik

The North Caucasus Diaspora in Turkey–Russia Relations, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Chechen, Abkhazian, and Circassian peoples, including those who had to immigrate to the Ottoman Empire, still remember the difficult and painful times faced in the Northern Caucasus under Czarist Russian rule. In particular, those communities that...

Orkhan Gafarli

Bosnia–Turkey Relations: A Political Romance?, Spring 2014Thursday, June 5, 2014
Turkish influence over deeply fragmented Bosnia has been omnipresent in recent years. This article explains the foundations and dynamics of this relationship, both historically and in contemporary Bosnia, examining how Bosnia–Turkey relations...

Alida Vracic

Historical Legacies in the Region: “What’s Past is Prologue”?Vol. 13 No. 1 - Spring 2014

Historical Legacies in the Region: “What’s Past is Prologue”?
Vol. 13 No. 1 - Spring 2014