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  • Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire

    Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire

    Posted by: Marlene Laruelle <marlenelaruelle@yahoo.com>

    Marlène Laruelle.
    Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire
    Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson Press/Johns Hopkins University Press,
    2008, 288 p.

    Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been
    marginalized at the edge of a Western-dominated political and economic
    system. In recent years, however, leading Russian figures, including
    former president Vladimir Putin, have begun to stress a geopolitics
    that puts Russia at the center of a number of axes: European-Asian,
    Christian-Muslim-Buddhist, Mediterranean-Indian, Slavic-Turkic, and so
    on. This volume examines the political presuppositions and expanding
    intellectual impact of Eurasianism, a movement promoting an ideology
    of Russian-Asian greatness, which has begun to take hold throughout
    Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Eurasianism purports to tell Russians
    what is unalterably important about them and why it can only be
    expressed in an empire. Using a wide range of sources, Marl? Laruelle
    discusses the impact of the ideology of Eurasianism on geopolitics,
    interior policy, foreign policy, and culturalist philosophy.

    Marlène Laruelle is currently a research fellow at the Central Asia
    and Caucasus Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
    International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. She has been a
    postdoctoral fellow at the French Institute for Central Asia Studies
    in Tashkent and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center
    for Scholars    . In Paris, she is an associate scholar at the French
    Center for Russian, Caucasian, and East-European Studies at the School
    of Advanced Social Sciences Studies.

    Contents:

    Introduction: Eurasianism – Marginal or Mainstream in Contemporary Russia?

    The Historical Roots of the Eurasianist Idea
    Neo-Eurasianism and Its Place in Post-Soviet Russia
    Marginal or “Mainstream”?
    Premises of This Study

    1. Early Eurasianism, 19201930

    The Life and Death of a Current of Thought
    A Philosophy of Politics
    A Geographic Ideology
    An Ambiguous Orientalism
    Conclusions

    2. Lev Gumilev’s A Theory of Ethnicity?

    >From Dissidence to Public Endorsement:
    An Atypical Biography
    “The Last Eurasianist”?
    Gumilev’s Episteme: Subjecting the Humanities to the Natural Sciences
    Theories of the Ethnos or Naturalistic Determinism
    The Complex History of the Eurasian Totality
    Xenophobia, Mixophobia, and Anti-Semitism
    Gumilev, Russian Nationalism, and Soviet Ethnology
    Conclusions

    3. Aleksandr Panarin: Philosophy of History and the Revival of Culturalism

    Is There a Unified Neo-Eurasianist Theory?
    >From Liberalism to Conservatism: Panarin’s Intellectual Biography
    “Civilizationism” and “Postmodernism”
    Rehabilitating Empire: “Civilizational” Pluralism and Ecumenical Theocracy
    Highlighting Russia’s “Internal East”
    Conclusions

    4. Aleksandr Dugin: A Russian Version of the European Radical Right?

    Dugin’s Social Trajectory and Its Significance
    A Russian Version of Antiglobalism: Dugin’s Geopolitical Theories
    Traditionalism as the Foundation of Dugins Thought
    The Russian Proponent of the New Right?
    Fascism, Conservative Revolution, and National Bolshevism
    A Veiled Anti-Semitism
    Ethno-Differentialism and the Idea of Russian Distinctiveness
    Conclusions

    5. The View from “Within”: Non-Russian Neo-Eurasianism and Islam

    The Emergence of Muslim Eurasianist Political Parties
    The Eurasianist Games of the Russian Muftiates
    Tatarstan: The Pragmatic Eurasianism of Russia’s “Ethnic” Regions
    Conclusions

    6. Neo-Eurasianism in Kazakhstan and Turkey

    Kazakhstan: Eurasianism in Power
    The Turkish Case: On the Confusion between Turkism, Pan-Turkism, and
       Eurasianism

    Conclusion: The Evolution of the Eurasian(ist) Idea in the Twentieth Century

    The Unity of Eurasianism
    Organicism at the Service of Authoritarianism: “Revolution” or “Conservatism”?
    Nationalism: Veiled or Openly Espoused: The Cultural Racism of Eurasianism
    Science, Political Movement, or Think Tank?
    Is Eurasianism Relevant to Explanations of Contemporary Geopolitical Change?
    Psychological Compensation or Part of a Global Phenomenon

    Notes
    Bibliography
    Index

  • Turkey Pushes for More Nagorno-Karabakh Talks amid Warming Ties with Armenia

    Turkey Pushes for More Nagorno-Karabakh Talks amid Warming Ties with Armenia

    Turkey is sponsoring additional Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an apparent effort to hasten the normalization of its historically strained ties with Armenia.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan sat down with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in New York on September 26 as Ankara sought to keep up the momentum in its unprecedented rapprochement with Yerevan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The trilateral meeting came amid signs that the United States and other international mediators will make another attempt to hammer out a framework peace accord on Karabakh before the end of this year.

    Babacan and Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan disclosed few details about their discussions, telling journalists only that they focused on a Turkish proposal to create a new regional organization that would include the three South Caucasus states as well as Russia and Turkey. “We discussed the Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Platform, an initiative proposed by Turkey, and started negotiating on some concrete regional issues during today’s meeting,” Babacan said in remarks broadcast by Armenian state television. He said Nalbandian and Mammadyarov reaffirmed their countries’ support for the platform and asked the Turkish side to init

    EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight – Turkey Pushes for More Nagorno-Karabakh Talks amid Warming Ties with Armenia.

  • Turkey’s widening diplomatic horizons

    Turkey’s widening diplomatic horizons

    Long before Turkey sought to join the European Union, the European powers were eager to penetrate deep into Turkey’s hinterland.

    On the eastern side of the Bosphorus, maybe just 20 steps into Asia, stands one of the finest relics of this failed imperial ambition.

    Hydarpasha railway station was designed by two German architects Otto Ritter and Helmut Conu in the neo-renaissance style. That at least is what the guidebooks tell you.

    The building sits astride the end of the platforms with a tower at each of its front corners looking for all the world like some provincial German town hall.

    The stone is dirty. The whole edifice slightly decaying. But once inside the vaulted ticket office, there is no doubting the grandeur of the enterprise of which this was the westernmost gateway.

    BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Turkey’s widening diplomatic horizons

  • Consent of Armenia to Participate in Turkish Project is Positive Trend

    Consent of Armenia to Participate in Turkish Project is Positive Trend

    29.09.08 13:15Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 September /corr. Trend News E.Tariverdiyeva / Consent of Armenia to participate in the Turkish project “Platform of security and stability in Caucasus” is a positive trend for discussions over many disputable questions in the Caucasus region. However, the opinions of political scientists do not conver the question of the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the help of the Turkish initiative.

    “It is very important that the Armenian leadership is more opened to the Turkish role in the region and this is positive changes, which now occur,” American expert on Caucasus, Svante Cornell, told TrendNews by telephone from Stockholm.

    At the meeting in New York on 26 September, the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia supported Turkish initiative to establish “Platform of security and stability in Caucasus”, Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ali Babajan, told CNN Turk television.

    “Negotiations in format of troika will be continued further. There is real desire of the authorities of the two states to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” said the diplomat.

    In mid September, Russia and Turkey began realization of plan with regards to establishment of “Platform of security and stability in Caucasus” for five countries – Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Armenia. The aspiration of Turkey for the prompt solution of the territorial conflicts in Caucasus between Armenia and Turkey, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan was the purpose of the creation of this platform.

    Observers consider that the consent of Armenia to participate in the Turkish initiative is the first step to the beginning of constructive talks on the problems in the region.

    The European Commission considers that Turkey could make a contribution to the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

     

    “Turkish initiative to establish “Platform of security and stability in Caucasus” is very interesting, and it can contribute to the solution of conflicts in this region,” the Head of the Diplomatic Mission of the European Commission to Azerbaijan, Alan Waddams, told TrendNews .

    The proposal of Turkey is interesting and should be considered, he said.

    “I believe that with the initiative of Turkey, the OSCE Minsk Group can achieve solution of protracted conflicts,” the diplomats said.

    The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

    The Azerbaijan side hopes for Turkish initiative in the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    “It is completely possible that after the visit of the Turkish President to Yerevan, Armenia will also participate in the establishment of peace and stability in Caucasus,” member of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Aydin Mirzazade, said.

    This means the new way of Armenian policy, and in the near future, it is completely possible that we will observe changes in the policy of Armenia, he said.

    “Azerbaijan, as state close to Turkey, and Armenia, which wants to establish relations with Turkey, helped Turkey and gave worthy assessment to its initiative, which is no longer pointless talk and proposal in air,” Mikhail Remizov, President of Russian Institute of National Strategy, told TrendNews.

    However, the political scientist does not consider this decision of Armenia and Azerbaijan in linkage to the Karabakh conflict. “I do not here see the Karabakh theme, with exception of the fact that in the case of creating this format, this will be favorable for discussion of similar questions,” he said.

    Turkish political scientist Arif Keskin does not believe in the success of platform, proposed by Turkey, in the Karabakh problem solution.

    “Talks with the mediation of Turkey can at best lead to the liberation of Azerbaijani regions around Karabakh, which will make a Karabakh problem even more difficult,” representative of Eurasian Research Strategic Center (Ankara), Keskin, told Trend News by telephone.

    American expert on Caucasus Cornell connects further solution of the conflict with the actions of Russia.

    According to him, the conflict will not be resolved unless there are serious signals that Russia is inclined to the peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    “In the present situation, when Russia became stronger in the region, and the West is weaker, it would be good be see changes in the direction of the solution of conflict in Karabakh,” Cornell, Research Director of Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University, told TrendNews by telephone.

    E.Ostapenko (Baku), B.Hasanov (Baku), I.Alizade (Baku) and R.Agayev (Moscow) attended the preparation of the material.

    The correspondent can be contacted at: trend@trend.az

  • Turkey launches first national warship

    Turkey launches first national warship

    ANKARA (Xinhua) — The national warship “”Heybeliada”” and mine-sweeper “”Akcay”” were put to sea in a ceremony held at a dockyard in Pendik, Istanbul, according to the report.

    Heybeliada and Akcay are the first part of Turkey’s national corvette program of “”Milgem,”” the purpose of which is to build a modern littoral combat warship with indigenous capabilities, extensively using the principles of stealth technology in its design.

    “”We have set minimizing independence of our Turkish Armed Forces on foreign countries and meeting the needs of the Naval Forces Command through national industry our prior target,”” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying in the ceremony.

    The construction of Heybeliada began on July 26, 2005, and is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 25, 2010, when it will start undergoing full sea trials before being officially commissioned. It is expected to enter service in 2011.

    A total of twelve Milgem class warships (eight corvettes and four frigates) will be built for the Turkish Navy, with possible exports to other countries.

    Ilker Basbug, chief of the General Staff, was quoted as saying that it was an indispensable obligation to ensure security of the seas surrounding Turkey and have a strong naval force to cope with threats.

    Basbug said, “”With the national ship project, we aim to have a more qualified and deterring naval force that is capable of countering symmetric and asymmetric threats and that can continue its mission without any interruption in the most challenging conditions.””

  • Are Turkey’s women too posh to push?

    Are Turkey’s women too posh to push?

    By Fazile Zahir

    FETHIYE, Turkey – Turkey is suffering from an epidemic that seems to out of control. Like many developing countries, as the level of wealth and standards of education increase there has been a reluctance to give birth naturally and, consequently, a staggering rise in the number of Caesarean-section births.

    The first recorded Caesarean, or C-section, in Turkey was in 1879. After 36 hours in labor, a Turkish mother cut her own belly and uterus open with a razor. The wound was sewn up by a neighbor and both mother and infant survived. Since then, C-sections have become increasingly common.

    In the late 1980s, 92% of women had natural births. By the mid-1990s this figure had dropped to 81%, and in 2004, normal births constituted 79%. But the past four years have seen an explosion

    in these figures and last year only 59% of women were giving birth naturally. It seems that Turkish women have become either too scared, or too posh, to push.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has a recommended upper limit for medically justified C-section births of around 15% in any country – Turkey’s current level is more than double this. The figures are even more astounding if looked at on a geographical, educational or monetary basis.

    Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs.