Suchergebnisse

Since the early twentieth-century, Kurds have challenged the borders and national identities of the states they inhabit. Nowhere is this more evident than in their promotion of the 'Map of Greater Kurdistan', an ideal of a unified Kurdish homeland in an ethnically and geographically complex region. This powerful image is embedded in the consciousness of the Kurdish people, both within the region and, perhaps even more strongly, in the diaspora. Addressing the lack of rigorous research and analysis of Kurdish politics from an international perspective, Zeynep Kaya focuses on self-determination, territorial identity and international norms to suggest how these imaginations of homelands have been socially, politically and historically constructed (much like the state territories the Kurds inhabit), as opposed to their perception of being natural, perennial or intrinsic. Adopting a non-political approach to notions of nationhood and territoriality, Mapping Kurdistan is a systematic examination of the international processes that have enabled a wide range of actors to imagine and create the cartographic image of greater Kurdistan that is in use today.

Since the early twentieth-century, Kurds have challenged the borders and national identities of the states they inhabit. Nowhere is this more evident than in their promotion of the 'Map of Greater Kurdistan', an ideal of a unified Kurdish homeland in an ethnically and geographically complex region. This powerful image is embedded in the consciousness of the Kurdish people, both within the region and, perhaps even more strongly, in the diaspora. Addressing the lack of rigorous research and analysis of Kurdish politics from an international perspective, Zeynep Kaya focuses on self-determination, territorial identity and international norms to suggest how these imaginations of homelands have been socially, politically and historically constructed (much like the state territories the Kurds inhabit), as opposed to their perception of being natural, perennial or intrinsic. Adopting a non-political approach to notions of nationhood and territoriality, Mapping Kurdistan is a systematic examination of the international processes that have enabled a wide range of actors to imagine and create the cartographic image of greater Kurdistan that is in use today.

The aim of this paper is to manifest the changing alliance systems at the onset and during the Balkan Wars, as well as to discuss, how the alliance system system contributed to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. In order to achieve that goal, a brief introduction to international political system will be provided. It will be noted that the most fertile environment for establishing and maintaining alliances are the bi-polar and multi-polar political systems. The tight alliance systems just before World War I created a multi-polar international system. The multipolar system will be defined and its actors during the time period will be examined.After establishing the theoretical framework of the paper, the second part will provide a brief historical background for the Balkan Wars. The international setting, power structures and the political arena will be dealt with. The next part of the paper will concentrate on interacting alliance structures and their outcomes on the Ottoman Empire. The reason why certain states allied with each other will be discussed. The paper will discuss how alliance formations resulted in first crippling and then eradicating the Ottoman Empire. It is obvious that the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire is a comprehensive and multi-causal process and the Balkan Wars are not the only cause. This paper, will however attempt, to establish the Balkan Wars contributed to the disintegration process and the First World War finalized it.The final part will analyze the outcomes of the alliances and the multipolar international political system. It will be concluded that the Balkan Wars despite their duration and causes were a major prerequisite in both the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the outbreak of World War I. Due to these two essential functions, the Balkan Wars on its 100thanniversary deserve to be reanalyzed and reconsidered.

This just serves to highlight the pessimistic state of Turkish democracy today. What is more, it should certainly not be assumed that the HDP are the great democratic hope of Turkish politics.