Suchergebnisse

The Armenian Genocide (1915–1917) is one of the crucial events defining the character of the final period of the Ottoman Empire existence and the southern front of World War I. It is also a core identity reference for Armenians and a matter of memory dispute with the Turkish Republic. Since the 1970s it has been a relevant research space for historians. Surprisingly, in Polish historiography, the subject is addressed only marginally, and its bibliography is puzzlingly limited. The article aims to discuss the genocide's Polish historiography in the broader context of world research. The description of the number of Polish inputs devoted to it provides background for the main research problem – a reflection on the shape of genocide narratives created by Polish historians. This makes it possible to indicate the discursive structures determining the historical narratives on the Armenian Genocide. Hypothetically, they are the result of both the issue of the time of their creation and the axiology and worldview of the authors. In the second part of this article, quasi-historical narratives are described in order to indicate broadly how the narrative of the Armenian Genocide in Poland is shaped. There is also a critical look at the only text describing the historiography of the genocide in Poland. Most importantly, there is a critical look at the historiography of genocide, combined with an attempt to place it in the typologies created for the world's research output. The whole concludes with a single summary and bibliography.

The Armenian Genocide, which took place from 1915 to 1917, is one of the most crucial events defining the character of both the final period of the Ottoman Empire and the southern front of World War I. It is also a core identity reference for Armenians and a matter of memory dispute with the Turkish Republic. Since the 1970s, it has been a relevant research space for historians. Surprisingly, in Polish historiography, the subject is only marginally addressed, and its bibliography is puzzlingly limited. The article aims to discuss the Polish historiography of the Armenian Genocide in the broader context of world research. The description of the number of Polish inputs devoted to the Armenian Genocide provides background for the main research problem – a reflection on the shape of genocide narratives created by Polish historians. This makes it possible to indicate the discursive structures that determine the historical narratives on the Armenian Genocide. Hypothetically, they result from both the time in which they were created and the authors' axiology and worldview. The article is divided into two parts. The first, in addition to the introduction and description of the state of research, focuses on the interpretation of all Polish historical texts concerning the issue of the Armenian Genocide. A critical analysis is devoted to both compact monographs and broader historical works in which reference is made to the issue of the genocide, above all in the context of the historiography of the declining period of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical experience of the region on the frontier of civilizations that is the South Caucasus is marked by alternating periods of short-term independence and long-term subordination. The geographical location at the meeting point of the Great Steppe, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia invariably means that political and strategic interests intersect in the region. Thus, since ancient times, the subjugation of the South Caucasus has been a goal within the imperial policies of the powers located south of the Arax River and north of the Great Caucasus range (the most commonly accepted borders of the region). Short-lived periods of formal independence usually did not entail full internal sovereignty and subjectivity in external actions. Different forms of dependency - political, economic, military or cultural and social - defined the internal situation in the region. Historically, the South Caucasus has been stuck between Rome and Persia, Arab caliphates and Byzantium, Turkish states and Persia, being also the object of destructive Mongol and Tamerlan invasions. Since early modernity, the region has been a space of clashing influences and attempts to gain dominance of three imperial ideologies and, at the same time, civilizational visions - Persian (Iranian), Turkish (Ottoman) and Russian (including a somewhat different form of Soviet).

Most of the previous revolutions in the post-Soviet sphere were concentrated around two dimensions: reluctance to challenge abuses of power and the will to redirect the external trajectory. The Armenian Velvet Revolution marked the change of the axiology of revolution. Civil disobedience was only focused on the corrupt political system based on clientelism and patronage. It was not addressing any issues related to the international situation. In statements, activists avoided references to foreign policy and change of geopolitical direction. The purpose of the paper is to identify convergent and separate features characterizing the Velvet Revolution in comparison with breakthroughs classified as revolutions in the post-Soviet space after 1989. The research question is how the Armenian Velvet Revolution's features stand out from previous revolutionary changes of power in the post-Soviet space, and to what extent they are convergent. The theoretical framework is based on multi-dimensional academic reflection on the factors characterizing particular revolutionary waves in post-Soviet space. Using comparatively the rich achievements of study on the Autumn of Nations, Color Revolutions, and Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, this essay aims to inscribe the unique and modular factors characterizing the Armenian Velvet Revolution into a broader spectrum of theoretical and practical considerations on political breakthroughs in post-Soviet space.

The ethno-political conflict and riots in the South Caucasus, followed by the regular Armenian-Azerbaijani war, constitute the most violent episodes during the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the light of legal and institutional conditions, the conflict remains open as the Bishkek Protocol signed in May 1994 formally constitutes only a ceasefire. As a consequence of its signing, Nagorno-Karabakh's territory in fact remains an independent state that is not recognised internationally. The permanent state of emergency has a decisive impact on the current relations of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also on the symbolic and political dynamics of transformations occurring in the ethno-political community in the quasi-state. Using ethnographic material collected during field studies conducted over several years, the article attempts to answer the question of how memorial sites devoted to the conflict shape the ethno-political community of Nagorno-Karabakh. Through the exploratory study of this case, in a broader context, I examine the potential of applying the transdisciplinary paradigm of memory research in the analysis of transformations of ethno-political communities in, de facto, independent, non-recognised or partially internationally recognised quasi-states.

Georgia is one of the most democratized states in the post-Soviet space. This article presents the mechanisms of instrumentalization and ideologization of the Georgian constitution and its political and social context. The absence of a consolidated state of the law was found to have four causes: 1) colonial experiences of the Enlightenment; 2) heritage of Soviet legislation; 3) rapid Westernization of the legal system; 4) political actors and parties manipulating the constitution in the name of particularistic interests.