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Category: Europe

  • Mount Athos (Aynoroz)

    Mount Athos (Aynoroz)

    mount athos monasteries

    Mount Athos is a peninsula in northern Greece (in the geographical region of Macedonia). It is home to 20 Orthodox Christian monasteries and administratively it is an autonomous polity, governed by a Holy Community consisting of representatives of those monasteries. Civil authority is represented by a Civil Governor appointed by the Foreign Ministry of Greece.

    A fresco with Saint Mercurius and Artemius of Antioch

    A fresco with Saint Mercurius and Artemius of Antioch.

    In terms of culture, however, Mount Athos retains many Byzantine traditions & items and indeed some commentators have stated that it is like a place ‘frozen in time’. The Mount operates under a charter granted by Emperor Ioannes Tzimisces in 972. Byzantine cultural and religious practices are retained in those monasteries, most of which were built between the 10th and 15th centuries and are scattered over the heavily forested, hilly peninsula. They posses many medieval art treasures, including liturgical objects and vestments, Christian texts, Byzantine imperial chrysobulls (decrees), icons and holy relics. As such, one can say that Mount Athos is still Byzantine in a way.

    mount athos aynaroz dagi
  • Russia’s East Compass and the shadow of Kim Jong-un

    Russia’s East Compass and the shadow of Kim Jong-un

    eastern economic forum

    On September 10-13, Russian Vladivostok hosted the Eastern Economic Forum -for the eighth time. This year, the international component of the EEF has come to the fore: Business in Southeast Asia is showing an active interest in any projects and is ready to participate not only in dialogue.

    Main focus: new economy, trade and logistics

    Politicians, businessmen and journalists from 50 countries came to Russky Island this week. According to the tradition, the Forum started on September,10 with the “Falcon Day,” during which the authorities announce the agenda of a global program for the conservation of gyrfalcon population.

    The next day was devoted to the main business program of the Eastern Economic Forum started. One of its key events was a series of sessions entitled “International cooperation in a changed world.” Here Russian business discussed the peculiarities and potential of building relations with colleagues from Southeast Asia. The dialogue between the countries has taken a very serious turn in the recent years: this year, China strengthened its position in Russian market for passenger cars, cell phones and televisions. In general, the volume of trade with China alone jumped by 40% in the first half of 2023. And the total investments of this country in Russia, according to the Ministry of Economic Development, as of May, amounted to $165 billion.

    Among the main goals of the Forum was to establish contacts with Eastern partners within specific projects, so the forum became a platform for a dialogue with China and Asian countries.

    Much attention was paid to increasing trade turnover with Asian countries and creating favorable conditions for this, including expanding logistics routes, modernizing existing corridors for the movement of goods and creating new ones.

    New old friends

    Some foreign and Russian sources reported on a possible visit to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was supposed to meet with V. Putin and discuss issues of cooperation in the military sphere. But the main purpose of his visit is negotiations with Vladimir Putin on arms supplies. In return, North Korea wants to receive modern technologies for the development of a nuclear submarine fleet.

    However, the visit of the North Korean leader was not confirmed.

  • BBC Was Biased and One-sided

    BBC Was Biased and One-sided

    By Azer HASRET

    Just a few days ago BBC World News aired an interview with two Armenian activists. One of them was connected live from Los Angeles, another one from Azerbaijani city of Khankendi.

    For those who is not quite enough familiar with the region of South Caucasus, Khankendi is a city within Karabakh Economic Region of Azerbaijan with the majority Armenian population. The city alongside with other parts of Karabakh and now Eastern Zangezur was under occupation of Armenia starting from early 1990s And the whole region was liberated by Azerbaijan during the 44-day war of 2020 provoked by Armenia to capture new lands.

    As Azerbaijan managed to end the war with total victory it has offered to local Armenians to stay and live in peace. Those days Armenian population of about 30-40 thousand people was ready for reconciliation. And under the control of the Russian peacekeepers, they started again to live usual life.

    Azerbaijan has kept open The Lachin Corridor for the Armenians of Karabakh to be in touch with Armenia as the region being under occupation of Armenia was connected to the latest. Thus, people have ties in Armenia, and they need to be in touch. Azerbaijan instead of being winner of the war, took into consideration this issue as well as a humanitarian need.

    But after some times Azerbaijan has discovered that Armenians are using The Lachin Corridor to carry in weapons and heavy army units in order to prepare for the new war. Alongside with this Azerbaijan managed to build completely new road connecting Karabakh’s center Khankendi with Armenia. Afterwards, a year ago the new road was open, and Armenians were happy to use this more suitable connection. But it was misused as well. That’s why Azerbaijan starting from April 23, 2023, installed new checkpoint at the border with Armenia in order to prevent illegal use of the road.

    Afterwards Armenians started to spread a propaganda, that Azerbaijan is “killing 120 thousand peaceful Armenians in Karabakh through starvation”. They call it even a new “genocide” again Armenians by Turks…

    But during these past months no single Armenian was killed due to starvation. And Azerbaijan did not close the road in full leaving it open for humanitarian needs. And by today as well Armenians are using the road in both directions to connect between Armenia and Azerbaijan Karabakh region. (Plus, Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society has sent 40 tons of wheat flour for Armenians in Karabakh which is still blocked by the Armenians and can’t be delivered to the people in need…)

    Instead of this situation Armenians are trying illegally pass through The Lachin Road. And Azerbaijan is preventing them from doing this. Plus, Armenian propaganda machine calls The Lachin Border Checkpoint “illegal installation”. According to their minds Azerbaijan must keep open its border with Armenia with no control. Is it possible? Or is there any country on the world which keeps its borders open with no checkpoints? Does Armenia itself keep its borders open to other countries as well? Not of course! But they demand that Azerbaijan must keep its borders open with no checkpoint for Armenians, even for others from foreign countries whom they wish to see in Karabakh!

    Now that was a small portion of the history or some kind of enlightenment for those who is not quite familiar with the region and the issues, which are misused by Armenian propaganda.

    As the situation is very clear, BBC World News a couple of days ago has aired and interview with two above mentioned Armenians. Of course, the media is and must be free to cover any issue. But even the BBC’s code of conduct requires to be balanced and impartial while airing any news or commentary.

    In BBC’s above-mentioned broadcast under the title “The Context” only one side was interviewed and given an opportunity to speak. And unfortunately, both interviewers were Armenians and both of them failed to speak in a fair manner. What did they do? Of course, they accused Azerbaijan for “killing and genociding 120 thousand Armenians of Karabakh through starvation”.

    We have noted that there are not 120 thousand Armenians in Karabakh. This is a small portion of population with a figure of between 30 to 40 thousand people.

    What was stranger and more unacceptable, the BBC presented an interviewer from Khankendi, Karabakh as a “Former Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Artsakh”!

    “Republic of Artsakh”? Where is it? What is that? Does the world know about this so-called republic? Not of course! There is nothing called a “Republic of Artsakh” and no world country, no international organization recognizes such an entity. But the BBC, seems does “recognize” it…

    Of course, we could stop a bit on the wordings of the interviewers. But we don’t do that. Because it was alongside with official Armenian fake propaganda and based on the accusations towards Azerbaijan with no base!

    We understand Armenian propagandists. But it is not easy to understand the BBC which is to serve the truth and only truth.

    That’s why as a career journalist with about 30 years of professional activity and international practice I do accuse the BBC’s this kind of stance and call on this news media to air apology and refutation. Hope, that BBC will find enough courage to do this…

  • Was Romania part of the Ottoman Empire?

    Was Romania part of the Ottoman Empire?

    Yes, Romania was part of the Ottoman Empire for a significant portion of its history. The region that is now Romania was under Ottoman rule for several centuries, starting in the late 14th century and lasting until the 19th century.

    The Ottoman Empire began to expand into the Balkans in the late 14th century, and by the early 15th century, it had established control over various territories in what is now Romania. Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the three historical regions that make up modern Romania (the third being Transylvania), came under Ottoman suzerainty, meaning they had to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire and were subject to Ottoman influence.

    While Wallachia and Moldavia were technically under Ottoman control, they also retained a degree of autonomy and had their own local rulers (voivodes) who governed with a degree of independence, provided they paid tribute and maintained loyalty to the Ottoman Sultan.

    Transylvania, on the other hand, was not directly ruled by the Ottomans but was often caught in the struggle for influence between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy.

    Although Romanians will deny this information saying that they were never Ottoman citizens and they had their own citizenship even before their independence, their claim was not recognized by the Ottoman Empire and neither by any state as a matter of fact.

    During the XIXth century, when modern diplomacy did not recognize any relationship of vassality and suzeranity between states as in the Middle Ages, Moldavians and Wallachians were considered as special subjects (citizens) of the Ottoman Empire. As far as international and Ottoman law was concerned, this means that they had Ottoman citizenship and the Ottoman Law of citizenship of 1869 applied to them. Any child born from a Moldavian or Wallachian father and mother or just from the father was by jus sangvinis also considered an Ottoman citizen and was issued an Ottoman passport. Any foreigner naturalized on Moldavian or Wallachian soil also became Ottoman citizen. All this till Romania gained its independence in 1878.

    When a Romanian was traveling within the Ottoman Empire outside of the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, in their own minds they were a foreigner, but as far as Ottoman authorities were concerned, they were an Ottoman national travelling in their own country, even if they were in Constantinople, Damascus or Tunis. Romanians also like to call their country before their independence as United Principalities but again, they had no international status as “principalities” and officially they were just provinces (memalik-i mahruse) of the Ottoman Empire.

  • How many Turks lived in Balkans

    How many Turks lived in Balkans

    How many Turks lived in Balkans (approximately) before the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Turks/Muslims living there were forced to migrate or slaughtered?

    Muhacir refugees escaping from the 1912–1913 Balkan war waiting at the quay of Ottoman Istanbul
    (Muhacir refugees escaping from the 1912–1913 Balkan war waiting at the quay of Ottoman İstanbul)

    There’s no exact or approximate estimate pertaining to how many Turks lived in the Balkans before the Ottoman Empire collapsed. However, over a period of a few centuries, especially after the Ottoman Empire lost almost all its territory during the Balkan War of 1912-13 and World War I, many Turks/Muslims in Europe were forced to migrate to the Ottoman Empire. Around 10 million, to be precise. An estimated 25% to 33% of Türkiye’s 85 million population descend from these refugees who were called ‘Muhacir1’ (transl. refugees). Millions of these people were either persecuted, exiled, or killed2.

    1. Muhacir – Wikipedia ↩︎
    2. Persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction – Wikipedia ↩︎
  • Will Turkey and Greece go to War?

    Will Turkey and Greece go to War?

    Discover the centuries-old conflict between Greece 🇬🇷 and Turkey 🇹🇷! Territorial disputes, historic rivalries, and access to resources fuel this tension. Could it lead to Europe’s next war? Find out now!