Showing posts with label Caucasian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caucasian. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
VIDEO: Die Swanen - Leben mit den Ahnen. Ein Bergvolk im Kaukasus. Film von Andreas Lünser (arte.tv)
(arte.tv) Im Nordwesten Georgiens pflegen die Swanen einen besonderen Kult um ihre Verstorbenen.
Im Nordwesten Georgiens, in den Bergendes Großen Kaukasus, liegt Swanetien. In der schwer zugänglichen Region scheint die Zeit stehengeblieben zu sein. Die Swanen pflegen einen besonderen Kult um ihre Verstorbenen, und praktizieren auch heute noch Fehde und Blutrache.
Seit Jahrhunderten siedelt der georgische Volksstamm der Swanen in einem Hochtal, umschlossen von den rund 5.000 Meter hohen Gipfeln des Kaukasus-Massivs. Isoliert durch die Abgeschiedenheit der Berge, haben die Swanen bis heute eine eigene Kultur und Sprache bewahren können. Die Wirtschaftsweise der Menschen hat sich hier seit Jahrhunderten kaum verändert. Noch heute transportieren die Swanen schwere Lasten auf den traditionellen Ochsenschlitten über das unwegsame Gelände. Mit einfachen Geräten ringen sie ihren kargen Böden das Nötigste zum Leben ab.
Die frühe Christianisierung der Swanen führte zur Entwicklung volkseigener Praktiken. Neben einem ausgeprägten Ikonenkult pflegen die Menschen hier ein besonderes Verhältnis zu ihren Verstorbenen. Sie glauben fest daran, dass die Seelen der Toten in regelmäßigen Abständen wieder zurückkehren und sich die Ahnen weiter um das Heil der Lebenden kümmern. Das ist ein Grund, warum die Swanen ihr Land so gut wie nie verlassen.
Die rund 40 Dörfer Swanetiens sind geprägt von mittelalterlichen Wehrtürmen. Fast jeder Hof hat einen solchen Turm. In Kriegszeiten oder während Blutfehden boten sie den Sippen Schutz vor ihren Feinden. Obwohl Swanetien offiziell zu Georgien gehört, haben die Swanen eine eigene lokale Gerichtsbarkeit. In Streitfällen schlichtet ein Ältestenrat. Kapitalverbrechen wie Mord oder Totschlag bedeuten auch heute noch Fehde und Blutrache. Swanetien steht für ein Leben wie in vormodernen Zeiten.
Regie: Andreas Lünser
Origin: ZDF
Land: Deutschland, 2011
Wiederholung: Fr, 11.04. um 11:15 Uhr
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
VIDEO: We are from The Caucasus- The Mountain - Jews (youtube.com)
(youtube.com) Documental film, We are from The Caucasus- The Mountain - Jews 1993-1999
Saturday, May 04, 2013
KULTUR: Kaukasische Sprachverwirrung. Unterschiede zwischen Europa und Amerika. Von Andreas Rüesch (nzz.ch)
(nzz.ch) Wer von Russland nach Amerika umzieht,
was unter anderem Generationen von NZZ-Korrespondenten getan haben,
muss bei kaukasischen Begriffen rasch einmal umlernen. Dass «Georgian
food» nichts mit Chatschapuri und anderen Spezialitäten aus dem
Südkaukasus zu tun hat, sondern die Küche eines amerikanischen Südstaats
meint, ginge ja noch. Eher gewöhnungsbedürftig ist, dass man als
hellhäutiger Schweizer in Amerika plötzlich als Kaukasier gilt. Das ist
gleich doppelt verwirrend: Angehörige von Völkern aus dem Kaukasus
werden in Russland abschätzig als Schwarze («tschornije») beschimpft –
in den USA hingegen bezieht sich der Ausdruck «Caucasians» in der
Amtssprache auf die Weissen. Woher kommt nur diese Konfusion?
Als Schöpfer des Begriffs gilt der Anthropologe Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, der 1795 fünf Menschenrassen unterschied und die Bewohner Europas und Westasiens als «Kaukasier» bezeichnete. Die Namensgebung begründete er damit, dass im Kaukasus die schönsten Vertreter dieser Rasse zu finden seien. Anders als in Europa machte der Begriff in Amerika Karriere. Da Weisse im 19. Jahrhundert im Einbürgerungsrecht noch privilegiert waren, stellte sich für die Justiz die Frage, wer überhaupt zu den Weissen gezählt werden konnte. Ein Bundesgericht wies 1878 den Einbürgerungsantrag eines hellhäutigen Chinesen zurück, indem es Blumenbach zitierte und Weisse als «Caucasians» definierte.
Rassenbegriffe wie «Negroide» und «Mongoloide» gelten längst als politisch inkorrekt, aber der «Kaukasier» als Synonym für einen Weissen taucht auf amerikanischen Formularen und in den Medien weiterhin auf. Der Begriffsverwirrung erlag kürzlich auch eine bekannte amerikanische Kolumnistin, als sie den Terrorakt von Boston kommentierte und auf den ethnischen Hintergrund des tschetschenischen Täterpaars zu sprechen kam: Hier sehe man wieder einmal, sagte sie sinngemäss, dass es keinen Zweck habe, bei der Terrorabwehr Angehörige fremder Rassen zu verdächtigen. Denn, wie man nun wisse, seien die beiden Täter ja Kaukasier gewesen.
Als Schöpfer des Begriffs gilt der Anthropologe Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, der 1795 fünf Menschenrassen unterschied und die Bewohner Europas und Westasiens als «Kaukasier» bezeichnete. Die Namensgebung begründete er damit, dass im Kaukasus die schönsten Vertreter dieser Rasse zu finden seien. Anders als in Europa machte der Begriff in Amerika Karriere. Da Weisse im 19. Jahrhundert im Einbürgerungsrecht noch privilegiert waren, stellte sich für die Justiz die Frage, wer überhaupt zu den Weissen gezählt werden konnte. Ein Bundesgericht wies 1878 den Einbürgerungsantrag eines hellhäutigen Chinesen zurück, indem es Blumenbach zitierte und Weisse als «Caucasians» definierte.
Rassenbegriffe wie «Negroide» und «Mongoloide» gelten längst als politisch inkorrekt, aber der «Kaukasier» als Synonym für einen Weissen taucht auf amerikanischen Formularen und in den Medien weiterhin auf. Der Begriffsverwirrung erlag kürzlich auch eine bekannte amerikanische Kolumnistin, als sie den Terrorakt von Boston kommentierte und auf den ethnischen Hintergrund des tschetschenischen Täterpaars zu sprechen kam: Hier sehe man wieder einmal, sagte sie sinngemäss, dass es keinen Zweck habe, bei der Terrorabwehr Angehörige fremder Rassen zu verdächtigen. Denn, wie man nun wisse, seien die beiden Täter ja Kaukasier gewesen.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
SHOP: RARE Genuine Antique Caucasian Gendje Pile Rug Circa 1900 (etsy.com)
(etsy.com) RARE BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE CAUCASIAN
GENDJE PILE RUG Circa 1900
GREAT VEGETABLE DYES
This Rare Authentic Antique Caucasian Pile Rug from the Gendje
Region of the Southern Caucasus Mountains has a Hand Spun Wool Pile
Symmetrically Hand Knotted to Hand Spun, Undyed Wool Warps and Hand Spun
Grey Black Undyed Wefts with Both Sides of the Knot Laying Flat and
Displays Unusual Medallions of Almost Cherlabad Form in the Eagle Style
on a Madder Red Ground and Surrounded by a Wide Border of Hooked Motifs.
The Range of Vegetable Dyes include a Range of Excellent Indigo Blues
and Blue Green Tones, Well Entrenched Madder Reds and a Gorgeous Deep
Aubergine and the Layout of the Field Design Shows a Very Fine Balance.
This Genuine OVER 100 Year Old Gendje Pile Rug from the Caucasus
Mountains has Been Hand Washed, Measures 2.02m x 1.1cm (6ft 7.5 inches x
3ft 7.2 inches) has Original Selvedges and Is Still Suitable for Use on
the Floor in a Household Situation where it will last for many years.
It is in Good Condition for its Age with some minor signs of the years
including wear at the warp ends, some small marginally lower areas of
pile and a couple of very small professionally reknotted areas. See the
Photos for details.
Friday, October 12, 2012
REPORTAGE: Die christlichen Heiden des Kaukasus. Von Tatjana Montik (derstandard.at)
(derstandard.at) Georgien ist im Westen vor allem durch seine brisante geopolitische Lage und den Konflikt mit Russland bekannt. Zu seinen landschaftlich und kulturell reizvollsten Regionen zählt Swanetien im Großen Kaukasus.
Mestia - Wer heute nach Swanetien reist, erfährt die Geschichte, die Traditionen und die legendäre Gastfreundschaft dieses kaukasischen Volkes hautnah. Dazu braucht man nur in einer der zahlreichen Gastfamilien Unterkunft zu finden. Und das Angebot ist groß und günstig: rund 25 Euro pro Person und Nacht mit Vollpension. Mestia, Swanetiens "Hauptstadt", ist derzeit eine einzige Baustelle. Es wird renoviert und gebaggert, die Zentralstraße wird neu gepflastert, die alten Häuser werden mit neuen Dächern, Fenstern und Holzbalkonen versehen.
Über die Swanen erzählt man sich in Georgien so einiges. Etwa dass sie trotz ihres christlich-orthodoxen Glaubens heimliche Heiden geblieben seien (siehe Wissen). Oder dass Frauen nie allein nach Swanetien reisen dürften, weil die swanischen Männer unberechenbar seien.
Unsere Gastfamilie ist jene von Murad und Larissa Margiani. Murad ist Architekt, gebürtiger Mestianer, während seine Frau Ukrainerin aus Sibirien ist. Nach der Heirat zog sie in die Heimat ihres Mannes, um nach swanischer Tradition ihren alten Schwiegereltern einen sorglosen Lebensabend zu sichern. "Diese gute Tradition, die Alten zu verehren und für sie zu sorgen, war mir sofort sympathisch", erzählt Larissa, "denn dann weiß man sicher, dass man selber im hohen Alter gut aufgehoben ist." Inzwischen steht Larissa selber an der Spitze einer Großfamilie, die sie mit ihren drei Söhnen reicher gemacht hat.
Die georgische Gastfreundschaft ist bekannt und berühmt. Hier in Swanetien, in der Margiani-Familie, bekommt man das Gefühl, dass die Gastgeber nur für ihren Besuch da sind. Vom Zimmerbalkon aus bietet sich ein wunderbarer Blick auf ganz Mestia, dessen zahllose Türme und auf den Kaukasus mit über 4000 Meter hohen Gipfeln.
Jede Mahlzeit wird zu einem lukullischen Fest, bei dem eine Mischung aus georgischen, russischen und ukrainischen Speisen dargeboten wird. Hausgemachter Topfen und Matsoni, georgisches Joghurt, Palatschinken, dünn wie feine Spitze, die mit hausgemachten Marmeladen serviert werden, pikant gewürztes Fleischragout mit jungen Erdäpfeln und milchsauer eingelegten Gürkchen, nach frischen Kräutern duftender Bohneneintopf, zarte Jungsaiblinge, Salatvariationen, Zwetschkensoßen, vieles mit mit dem berühmten, aromatisch-pikanten swanischen Gewürzsalz versehen.
 |
| Gastgeberin Larissa Margiani |
Larissa Margiani kümmert sich um Haushalt und Landwirtschaft, betreut die Gäste. Daneben führt sie Touristengruppen durch das Hausmuseum, während ihr Mann bei der Restaurierung der zahlreichen Wehrtürme mitarbeitet. Als sie 1985 nach Swanetien kam, gab es hier weder Wasserleitung noch Kanalisation. "Gewaschen habe ich am Fluss, das Wasser holte ich vom Brunnen. Und in den wilden 90ern, als hier Banditenwillkür und Mangel an allen Waren des täglichen Bedarfs herrschte, habe ich sogar gelernt, Seife selber zu kochen", erinnert sich die gebürtige Sibirierin ukrainischer Abstammung.
Durch die Entwicklung der touristischen Infrastruktur, im Sommer wie im Winter, haben die Swanen nach und nach mehr Beschäftigung bekommen und ihren Lebensstandard verbessert, berichtet Larissa. Deshalb hat sie sich vor den Parlamentswahlen für die Vereinigte Nationale Bewegung, die Partei von Präsident Michail Saakaschwili engagiert und Unterschriften gesammelt.
Umstrittener Bauboom
"So viel wurde in letzter Zeit bei uns bewegt und gemacht. Es gibt Familien, die sich ohne die staatlichen Hilfen eine gründliche Hausrenovierung nie hätten leisten können." Damit spricht sie den von Saakaschwili im ganzen Land ausgelösten Bauboom an, der in manchen Bereichen, etwa bei teuren Repräsentativbauten, nicht unumstritten ist.
Bei der Führung durch das Museum der Margianis besichtigt man nicht nur ein typisches swanisches Haus aus dem 12. Jahrhundert mit Inventar und den familieneigen Friedhof, sondern man besteigt auch einen der berühmten über 20 Meter hohen Wehrtürme von Mestia und erfährt Details über Sitten und Alltag der Swanen.
Noch bis vor kurzem war in Swanetien die Blutrache verbreitet, die sich oft nicht nur auf eine, sondern auf zwei oder drei Generationen ausdehnte. Zwischen den Clans wurden regelrechte Rachefeldzüge ausgetragen, de nen bis zu 14 Männer auf jeder Seite zum Opfer fielen.
Und um sich vor diesen Rachezügen zu schützen, flüchtete der ganze Familienclan in einen seiner Wehrtürme, der mit Vorräten versorgt und durch unterirdische Gänge mit dem Haus und dem nahe liegenden Wald verbunden war. Manche Familien lebten bis zu einem Jahr in ihren Türmen.
Laut einer Statistik kamen etwa zwischen 1917 und 1924 in Swanetien 600 Männer durch Vendetta ums Leben. Bis heute ist die Blutrache nicht völlig verschwunden. Man praktiziere sie bloß auf eine andere Weise, indem man die gesamte Sippe aus dem Dorf verbanne, erzählt unsere Führerin. Und für einen Swanen gebe es keine schlimmere Strafe, als seine Heimat zu verlieren.
Von Reichtum und Einfluss einer swanischen Familie zeugte unter anderem die Zahl ihrer Wehrtürme. Die einzigartige Bauart der Türme, denen ein eierförmiges Fundament zugrunde liegt, erwies sich über Jahrhunderte als sicherer Schutz auch vor Naturgewalten, etwa Lawinen.
Georgiens Schatzkammer
Der Familie Margiani gehörten einmal acht Türme, von denen vier noch heute stehen, und ein eigener Friedhof. In dieser Friedhofskirche sowie in den anderen über die Berge verstreuten zahlreichen Kirchen, von denen viele mit wertvollen Fresken geschmückt sind, wurden die Schätze des Dorfes, alte Bücher und Schriften aufbewahrt.
Einiges an Kunstgegenständen kam aus ganz Georgien nach Swanetien, denn diese Region war durch ihre schwer erreichbare Lage mitten in den Bergen vor Kriegen und anderen großen Konflikten bewahrt geblieben. Der Legende nach suchten hier die Argonauten nach dem Goldenen Vlies. Swanische Künstler waren für ihre einzigartigen Gravuren auf Ikonen berühmt. Viele dieser Ikonen gibt es noch heute zu sehen, unter anderem in der reichhaltigen Sammlung des Ethnografischen Museums von Mestia, das nach zweijähriger Renovierung in diesem Herbst wiedereröffnet werden soll.
Viele alte Kirchen liegen am Weg zum Dorf Uschguli, 40 Kilometer von Mestia entfernt. Uschguli, das wie andere alte Ortschaften zum Unesco-Weltkulturerbe gehört, ist das höchstgelegene Dorf Europas und das zweithöchste der Welt. (Tatjana Montik, DER STANDARD, 2.10.2012)
Wissen: "Dünne Wand" zwischen den Welten
Swanetien ist eine historische Region Georgiens im Großen Kaukasus. Es schließt im Westen an die abtrünnige Region Abchasien an, die von Russland (aber nicht international) als unabhängiger Staat anerkannt wird, ebenso wie Südossetien seit dem georgisch-russischen Krieg im August 2008.
Die Teilregionen Oberswanetien (Georgisch: Semo Swaneti) und Niederswanetien (Kwemo Swaneti) werden durch das Swanische Gebirge getrennt. In Oberswanetien leben heute etwa 45.000 Menschen. Seine Bergdörfer gehören zum Weltkulturerbe der Unesco. Hauptort der gesamten Region ist Mestia.
Die Swanen werden sowohl von den Griechen als auch von den Römern erwähnt. Das Für-stentum Swanetien gliederte sich etwa im 12. Jahrhundert dem georgischen Königreich an.
Für gläubige Swanen existiert zwischen Diesseits und Jenseits nur eine "dünne Wand", sodass die Verstorbenen einen wichtigen Teil ihres kulturellen und religiösen Lebens darstellen. Sie glauben, dass ihre verstorbenen Angehörigen sich um das Seelenheil der Lebenden kümmern. Zum Dank werden beim Lipanali-Fest (18. Jänner) die Seelen der Verstorbenen bis zum nächsten Morgen in den Häusern ihrer lebenden Angehörigen bewirtet.
Gottesdienste werden außen an der Kirche abgehalten, wo auch weltliche Persönlichkeiten wie Könige abgebildet sind. Das Kircheninnere ist den Seelen der Verstorbenen vorbehalten. (red)
Sunday, September 30, 2012
FOTOGRAFIE: Impression - Offroad in Tuschetien. Von Hans Heiner Buhr (kaukasus-reisen.de)
Hans Heiner Buhr - Reiseleiter von Kaukasus-Reisen schickte mir eben via IPhone diese atemberaubende Landschaftsansicht aus Tuschetien ...
Monday, August 27, 2012
KULTUR: Tanz & Balz - Der Neid der Russen auf die Männer im Kaukasus. Von Volker Pabst (nzz.ch)
(nzz.ch) Volker Pabst, Maikop (Republik Adygeja) ⋅ Das Sozialleben ist im Nordkaukasus durch eine Vielzahl gesellschaftlicher Tabus und Gebote bestimmt, die bis heute weitestgehend befolgt werden. Insbesondere das Geschlechterleben ist streng reglementiert. Öffentlicher Körperkontakt zwischen Mann und Frau ist strikt untersagt.
Der kaukasische Paartanz, die Lesginka, spielt mit diesem Verbot. Dabei tanzt der junge Mann mit Sprüngen und Pirouetten auf seine Partnerin zu, die in letzter Sekunde in anmutigen Schritten der Bedrohung entschwebt. Je näher sich die Tänzer kommen, desto besser – bloss Berührung darf nicht sein. Geschieht das Missgeschick dennoch, so will es der Brauch, dass der Mann den Begleitern der Frau zur Entschädigung eine Runde spendiert. Früher, so heisst es, habe die Ehre nur durch eine sofortige Eheschliessung der beiden Tänzer gerettet werden können.
Auch heute noch ist die Familienehre bei Hochzeitsvorbereitungen von grosser Bedeutung. Die Verhandlungen sind so aufwendig, dass mancher Verehrer die Angebetete lieber entführt und erst dann Emissäre zur Brautfamilie entsendet, die unter diesen Umständen oftmals eher bereit ist, einer Ehe zuzustimmen. Die Furcht, die junge Frau könnte dem Abenteuer nicht unbefleckt entkommen und Schande über die ganze Familie bringen, spielt dabei keine unbedeutende Rolle.
Doch auch nach korrekter Eheschliessung bleibt alles Geschlechtliche suspekt. Für die Brauteltern repräsentiert der Schwiegersohn zeitlebens die Unschicklichkeit, durch welche die Tochter von der Jungfrau zur Frau wurde. Ein anständiger Mann geht daher aus Respekt den Eltern seiner Braut aus dem Weg, vor der Hochzeit und danach. Nicht selten bekommen sich die beiden Parteien ein Leben lang nicht zu Gesicht.
Die meisten Russen haben wenig Sinn für die Sitten und Gebräuche ihrer nichtrussischen Landsleute. Besonders Menschen aus dem Kaukasus werden im russischen Kernland oft offen diskriminiert. «Doch zumindest um etwas beneiden uns die Russen im Geheimen», hört man manchen Mann im Kaukasus lachen. «Wir führen ein Leben ohne Schwiegermütter!»
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
VIDEO: Putin's Mama. By Ineke Smits (youtube.de)
Not much in Vera Putina's 77-year existence distinguishes her from all
those other Russian women who grew up and grew old in the Soviet Union.
Until, in 1999, she recognized in Vladimir Putin the son she thought was
lost forever.
Did the son that Vera thought was lost, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, really become the President of Russia? Vera has not been asking herself this question any longer for a long time; for her it is beyond doubt that her Vova got that far. And not only Vera is convinced of it, her daughters and the other inhabitants of the Georgian village of Metechi are sure that the ten-year old who disappeared so long ago, must be the same as the man who is now President.
Why that is so, and how it came about, is what we hear from Vera who tells us her life story with much flair. Interrupted by neighbours, assisted by Vova's childhood friends and completed by villagers we hear, bit by bit, how Vera lost her Vova. But most of all what emerges is a touching and sometimes humorous portrait of the still vivacious Vera and her life in Metechi, Georgia.
Her memories and her belief in the dream that she will eventually embrace her child once more are so strong that you would wish every lost child in the world on her.
Written and directed by Ineke Smits
Camera: Giorgi Beridze
Sound: Maarten van Gent
Editor: Menno Boerema
Producer: Pieter van Huystee
Executive producer: Denis Vaslin
Line producer: Hetty Krapels
Commissioning editor NPS: Cees van Ede
Did the son that Vera thought was lost, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, really become the President of Russia? Vera has not been asking herself this question any longer for a long time; for her it is beyond doubt that her Vova got that far. And not only Vera is convinced of it, her daughters and the other inhabitants of the Georgian village of Metechi are sure that the ten-year old who disappeared so long ago, must be the same as the man who is now President.
Why that is so, and how it came about, is what we hear from Vera who tells us her life story with much flair. Interrupted by neighbours, assisted by Vova's childhood friends and completed by villagers we hear, bit by bit, how Vera lost her Vova. But most of all what emerges is a touching and sometimes humorous portrait of the still vivacious Vera and her life in Metechi, Georgia.
Her memories and her belief in the dream that she will eventually embrace her child once more are so strong that you would wish every lost child in the world on her.
Written and directed by Ineke Smits
Camera: Giorgi Beridze
Sound: Maarten van Gent
Editor: Menno Boerema
Producer: Pieter van Huystee
Executive producer: Denis Vaslin
Line producer: Hetty Krapels
Commissioning editor NPS: Cees van Ede
Source: www.youtube.com
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
RUSSLAND: "Russische Märsche" gegen Gastarbeiter und Andersdenkende. Von Ulrich Heyden (heise.de)
Nachdem Rechtsradikale den russischen Feiertag der "Volkseinheit" mit ihrem "Russischen Marsch" prägten, hat nun die Kreml-nahe Jugendorganisation Naschi den Markennamen übernommen
Die Fenster in dem 13geschossigen Plattenbau im Moskauer Bezirk Ljublino öffneten sich, trotz Nieselregen. Neugierige Anwohner schauten nach unten auf die breite Pererwa-Straße. Dort zog am 4. November ein "Russischer Marsch" vorbei. 5.000 Rechtsradikale marschierten nach Polizeiangaben, 12.000 waren es nach Meinung der Veranstalter. Die meist sehr jungen Demonstranten riefen, "Es lebe Russland" und "Moskau den Moskauern". Die Gastarbeiter aus dem Kaukasus und Zentralasien – so genannte Schwarzärsche - sollen aus Moskau verschwinden, grölte die Demonstranten, die oft nicht älter als 20 Jahre waren.
Der ganze Artikel >>>
Die Fenster in dem 13geschossigen Plattenbau im Moskauer Bezirk Ljublino öffneten sich, trotz Nieselregen. Neugierige Anwohner schauten nach unten auf die breite Pererwa-Straße. Dort zog am 4. November ein "Russischer Marsch" vorbei. 5.000 Rechtsradikale marschierten nach Polizeiangaben, 12.000 waren es nach Meinung der Veranstalter. Die meist sehr jungen Demonstranten riefen, "Es lebe Russland" und "Moskau den Moskauern". Die Gastarbeiter aus dem Kaukasus und Zentralasien – so genannte Schwarzärsche - sollen aus Moskau verschwinden, grölte die Demonstranten, die oft nicht älter als 20 Jahre waren.
Der ganze Artikel >>>
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SCIENCE: PUBL.- Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, Volume 3, Issue 6
Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies
Posted by: Koray Guven <kgmirza@gmail.com>
The new issue contains the following articles:
Foreword
"Andijon'da Nima Bo'ldi?": Terror, Security and Democracy in Uzbekistan (in Turkish)
Author: Salih BICAKCI
Predicaments and Prospects in Uzbek Islamism: A Critical Comparison with the Turkish Case (in English)
Author: Ihsan YILMAZ
EU's Response to the Georgia Crisis: An Active Peace Broker or a Confused and Divided Actor? (in English)
Author: Omer KURTBAG
Revisiting "Sovereign" Tatarstan (in English)
Author: Matthew DERRICK
Formation, Rising, and Declining Processes of States in Eurasia: Turkish and Russian Cases (in Turkish)
Author: Omer Goksel ISYAR
The Caucasian Politics of the Ottoman State at the Beginning of the First World War (in Turkish)
Author: Reha YILMAZ
The Relationship between Population and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from the Central Asian Economies (in English)
Author: Bilal SAVAS
Book Reviews
Recent Publications
Conferences
Abstracts and Key Words
About the Authors
Notes for the Contributors
Index
_______________________________________________
Central-Eurasia-L mailing list
Central-Eurasia-L@lists.fas.harvard.edu
List Info / Subscription: http://cesww.fas.harvard.edu/ces_cel.html
Change Your Subscription: http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/central-eurasia-l
Friday, December 05, 2008
PROJEKTE: ASA-Programmkatalog für 2009 für Zentralasien und den Kaukasus
Ich würde gerne auf den neuen ASA-Programmkatalog für 2009 aufmerksam machen und insbesondere auf die Projekte im Kaukasus und Zentralasien.
Entwicklungspolitische Bildungsarbeit und Praktika in Zentralasien und im Kaukasus bei ASA
Informationen zum ASA-Programm unter www.asa-programm.de Bis zum 10.01.2009 können Sie sich auf das ASA-Programm bewerben. Die Bewerbung ist ausschließlich online möglich. Die 3-monatige
Praxisphase im ASA-Programmzyklus 2009 beginnt ab Juli 2009 (spätestens Dezember 2009). Vorher finden zwei Seminare statt (April und Juni). Die Seminare vermitteln Wissen über globale Zusammenhänge, interkulturelle Kommunikation, Konfliktfähigkeit und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Sie schulen die Teilnehmenden in der Teamarbeit und bereiten sie auf die Praxisphase und die Zusammenarbeit mit der Partnerorganisation im Gastland vor. Es werden Methoden und Möglichkeiten vermittelt, die im Ausland gewonnenen Erfahrungen im eigenen persönlichen und beruflichen Umfeld weiter zu geben und sich in der entwicklungspolitischen Bildungsarbeit zu engagieren.
ASERBAIDSCHAN
- Vogelschutz im Kaukasus (2 Plätze); Studienrichtung: Biologie, Ornithologie, Geographie; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01353.html
- Neue Konzepte zur Stadtentwicklung in Baku (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Fotografie, Filmproduktion; Studienrichtung: Architektur, Fotografie, Filmwissenschaften, Stadt- oder Landschaftsplanung, Sozialwissenschaften, Wirtschaftswissenschaften;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01462.html
GEORGIEN
- Physiotherapie für Patienten mit Multipler Skelerose (2 Plätze);
Berufsfelder: Physiotherapie; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01357.html
KASACHSTAN
- Ökologischer Tourismus in Zentralkasachstan (2 Plätze);
Berufsfelder: Reiseverkaufsfachfrau/-mann; Studienrichtung:
Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Tourismus, Umwelterziehung, Sozialwissenschaften (insbes. Sozioökonomie), Management;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01456.html
- Grünes Klassenzimmer - Energiesparen an Schulen (2 Plätze);
Studienrichtung: Energie-, Gebäude- und Umwelttechnik, Webdesign;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01457.html
KIRGISISTAN
- Schautafeln und Infotexte für einen Naturerlebnispfad in Karakol (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Grafikdesign, Landschaftsgärtnerei, Tierpflege;
Studienrichtung: Naturschutz, (Umwelt-)Pädagogik, Lehramt, Grafik-/Kommunikationsdesign, Geographie, Landschaftsplanung;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01455.html
TADSCHIKISTAN
- Kunsthandwerk mit Kindern (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Design, ErzieherIn, Schneiderei, Fundraising ; Studienrichtung: Design, Public Relations, Marketing, Pädagogik; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01452.html
- Rock 'n' Roll im Pamir ? ein Musikprojekt für Kinder und Jugendliche (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: MusikerIn, Ton-/Studiotechnik, Kulturschaffende (Künstler); Studienrichtung: Musik, Musikpädagogik, Kulturmanagement Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01368.html
- Nachhaltiger Tourismus in der Bergregion der Alpen und des Pamirs (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: BergführerIn, Hotelfach, Tourismus ;
Studienrichtung: Geographie, Tourismus; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01449.html
Entwicklungspolitische Bildungsarbeit und Praktika in Zentralasien und im Kaukasus bei ASA
Informationen zum ASA-Programm unter www.asa-programm.de Bis zum 10.01.2009 können Sie sich auf das ASA-Programm bewerben. Die Bewerbung ist ausschließlich online möglich. Die 3-monatige
Praxisphase im ASA-Programmzyklus 2009 beginnt ab Juli 2009 (spätestens Dezember 2009). Vorher finden zwei Seminare statt (April und Juni). Die Seminare vermitteln Wissen über globale Zusammenhänge, interkulturelle Kommunikation, Konfliktfähigkeit und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Sie schulen die Teilnehmenden in der Teamarbeit und bereiten sie auf die Praxisphase und die Zusammenarbeit mit der Partnerorganisation im Gastland vor. Es werden Methoden und Möglichkeiten vermittelt, die im Ausland gewonnenen Erfahrungen im eigenen persönlichen und beruflichen Umfeld weiter zu geben und sich in der entwicklungspolitischen Bildungsarbeit zu engagieren.
ASERBAIDSCHAN
- Vogelschutz im Kaukasus (2 Plätze); Studienrichtung: Biologie, Ornithologie, Geographie; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01353.html
- Neue Konzepte zur Stadtentwicklung in Baku (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Fotografie, Filmproduktion; Studienrichtung: Architektur, Fotografie, Filmwissenschaften, Stadt- oder Landschaftsplanung, Sozialwissenschaften, Wirtschaftswissenschaften;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01462.html
GEORGIEN
- Physiotherapie für Patienten mit Multipler Skelerose (2 Plätze);
Berufsfelder: Physiotherapie; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01357.html
KASACHSTAN
- Ökologischer Tourismus in Zentralkasachstan (2 Plätze);
Berufsfelder: Reiseverkaufsfachfrau/-mann; Studienrichtung:
Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Tourismus, Umwelterziehung, Sozialwissenschaften (insbes. Sozioökonomie), Management;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01456.html
- Grünes Klassenzimmer - Energiesparen an Schulen (2 Plätze);
Studienrichtung: Energie-, Gebäude- und Umwelttechnik, Webdesign;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01457.html
KIRGISISTAN
- Schautafeln und Infotexte für einen Naturerlebnispfad in Karakol (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Grafikdesign, Landschaftsgärtnerei, Tierpflege;
Studienrichtung: Naturschutz, (Umwelt-)Pädagogik, Lehramt, Grafik-/Kommunikationsdesign, Geographie, Landschaftsplanung;
Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01455.html
TADSCHIKISTAN
- Kunsthandwerk mit Kindern (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: Design, ErzieherIn, Schneiderei, Fundraising ; Studienrichtung: Design, Public Relations, Marketing, Pädagogik; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01452.html
- Rock 'n' Roll im Pamir ? ein Musikprojekt für Kinder und Jugendliche (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: MusikerIn, Ton-/Studiotechnik, Kulturschaffende (Künstler); Studienrichtung: Musik, Musikpädagogik, Kulturmanagement Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01368.html
- Nachhaltiger Tourismus in der Bergregion der Alpen und des Pamirs (2 Plätze); Berufsfelder: BergführerIn, Hotelfach, Tourismus ;
Studienrichtung: Geographie, Tourismus; Projektbeschreibung unter:
www.asa-programm.de/projekt/projektsuche/p01449.html
Thursday, August 21, 2008
UNPO: Caucasian Concerns - Report on Trans-Caucasus Region. (unpo.org)
UNPO has launched "Caucasian Concerns", a paper to brief European decision-makers on the history, political background and issue for self-determination in the trans-Caucasian region.
The Hague, 20 August 2008- "The conflict in Georgia has shown the need to address issues relating to self-determination through the ascertainment of the international rule of law", states Marino Busdachin, General Secretary of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.
"With this report, UNPO wishes to bring to the attention of Members of the European Parliament, and legislators around Europe, the possible future hotspots in the Caucasus. We urge European decision-makers to listen to the voices of the peoples of that region, who wish to live peacefully, but cannot do so unless their rights are granted by mechanisms of international legality".
The document titled Caucasian Concerns: History, Political Background and Self-Determination Issues in the Trans-Caucasian Region was prepared at UNPO Headquarters in The Hague and will be presented on 20 August at the European Parliament by Senator Marco Perduca, UNPO Treasurer and co-Vice President of the NonViolent Radical Party, and Radical MEPs Marco Pannella and Marco Cappato. They launch the report before a special meeting of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee convened for an exchange of views with Mr Jean-Pierre Jouyet, acting President-in-Office of Council and Secretary of State for European Affairs of the Republic of France on the results of the extraordinary GAERC meeting of 13 August and the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting of 19 August; to hear a report by Ms Marie Anne Isler Beguin, Chair of the Delegation for the relations with the South Caucasus on her fact-finding visit to Georgia on behalf of the President of the European Parliament and to listen from Ms Eka Tkeshelashvili, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.
The can be accessed here:
Caucasian Concerns: History, Political Background and Self-Determination Issues in the Trans-Caucasian Region
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary
Paviljoensgracht 76
2512 BR The Hague
The Netherlands
Tel: +31(0)70 3646504
Fax: +31(0)70 3646608
unpo@unpo.org
www.unpo.org
August 2008
The Hague, 20 August 2008- "The conflict in Georgia has shown the need to address issues relating to self-determination through the ascertainment of the international rule of law", states Marino Busdachin, General Secretary of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.
"With this report, UNPO wishes to bring to the attention of Members of the European Parliament, and legislators around Europe, the possible future hotspots in the Caucasus. We urge European decision-makers to listen to the voices of the peoples of that region, who wish to live peacefully, but cannot do so unless their rights are granted by mechanisms of international legality".
The document titled Caucasian Concerns: History, Political Background and Self-Determination Issues in the Trans-Caucasian Region was prepared at UNPO Headquarters in The Hague and will be presented on 20 August at the European Parliament by Senator Marco Perduca, UNPO Treasurer and co-Vice President of the NonViolent Radical Party, and Radical MEPs Marco Pannella and Marco Cappato. They launch the report before a special meeting of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee convened for an exchange of views with Mr Jean-Pierre Jouyet, acting President-in-Office of Council and Secretary of State for European Affairs of the Republic of France on the results of the extraordinary GAERC meeting of 13 August and the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting of 19 August; to hear a report by Ms Marie Anne Isler Beguin, Chair of the Delegation for the relations with the South Caucasus on her fact-finding visit to Georgia on behalf of the President of the European Parliament and to listen from Ms Eka Tkeshelashvili, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.
The can be accessed here:
Caucasian Concerns: History, Political Background and Self-Determination Issues in the Trans-Caucasian Region
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary
Paviljoensgracht 76
2512 BR The Hague
The Netherlands
Tel: +31(0)70 3646504
Fax: +31(0)70 3646608
unpo@unpo.org
www.unpo.org
August 2008
GEORGIEN: Im Konvoi von Tiflis nach Gori. Von Ulrich Heyden
Hätte man die Markthändler von Tiflis gefragt, ob man um Südossetien Krieg führen soll, wäre es wohl zu keinem Waffengang gekommen. Mit wem man auch spricht, von patriotischem Feuer ist auf dem Markt, wo mit Kinderschuhen und Kleidern aus der Türkei sowie Elektronik aus China gehandelt wird, nichts zu spüren. "Normale Leute wollen keinen Krieg", meint Gennadij, ein Kurde, der Armbanduhren aus Dubai verkauft. Spannungen habe man in Georgien schon genug. Um diese Aussage zu unterstreichen, zieht er den Daumen einmal quer über seinen Hals, was soviel heißt wie: Es reicht! Tiflis ist eine multinationale Stadt. Hier leben nicht nur Georgier, auch Armenier, Aserbaidschaner, Kurden und Russen.
Der Flughafen von Tiflis wurde vor einer Woche bombardiert. "Wozu war das gut?" Gennadij wohnt direkt daneben und weiß, wovon er spricht. Für die russischen Kontraktniki - die Vertragssoldaten - und die paramilitärischen Einheiten, zumeist Kosaken und Osseten, die - wie das georgische Fernsehen fortwährend berichtet - plündernd durch die Dörfer zwischen Gori und Zchinwali ziehen, hat er nur Verachtung übrig. Die würden sogar Kloschüsseln wegschaffen. Das Fernsehen zeigt Videos aus verlassenen Banken und Kasernen. Ein Plünderer sagt: "Wir leben wie Obdachlose, und die leben wie Könige". Den Satz kennt inzwischen jeder Georgier. Russische Barbaren eben.
Der ganze Text >>>
Der Flughafen von Tiflis wurde vor einer Woche bombardiert. "Wozu war das gut?" Gennadij wohnt direkt daneben und weiß, wovon er spricht. Für die russischen Kontraktniki - die Vertragssoldaten - und die paramilitärischen Einheiten, zumeist Kosaken und Osseten, die - wie das georgische Fernsehen fortwährend berichtet - plündernd durch die Dörfer zwischen Gori und Zchinwali ziehen, hat er nur Verachtung übrig. Die würden sogar Kloschüsseln wegschaffen. Das Fernsehen zeigt Videos aus verlassenen Banken und Kasernen. Ein Plünderer sagt: "Wir leben wie Obdachlose, und die leben wie Könige". Den Satz kennt inzwischen jeder Georgier. Russische Barbaren eben.
Der ganze Text >>>
Sunday, January 27, 2008
BOOK REVIEW: The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. By Charles King
TRACKING THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE CAUCASUS
1/18/08 A Book Review by Alex van Oss (www.eurasianet.org)
The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus
By Charles King2008 Oxford Press, 291 p., ISBN: 978-0-19-517775-6
Most Caucasus writing these days is either journalistic or academic, obsessed for the most part with conflicts or oil. The Ghost of Freedom manages to break the mold: Charles King, a professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown University, has produced a work that is at once informative, eclectic, and immensely satisfying.
In fewer than 300 pages King provides a comprehensive and gracefully written account of the South and North Caucasus, plus Black Sea regions of Russia, such as Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Excellent maps by Chris Robinson depict political boundaries of 1780, 1890, and 2008, showing dramatically how Persian or Ottoman territory one century became Russian the next, and now, independent. The title, "The Ghost of Freedom," comes from Pushkin’s 1821 poem "Captive of the Caucasus" whose Byronic protagonist, tiring of Mother Russia,
"...quit the confines of his native land, and flew away to a far off strand with freedom’s cheerful apparition..."
… Or its illusion. The hero gets captured by locals, finds romance, and then escapes. The poem inspired sundry other stories, operas, a ballet, a book, plus a film or two--all with the same title; and it prompted thousands of restless Russians to "go West" (go south, that is) and seek love, profit, epiphany, and adventure in the mountains.
***
So much for Pushkin. When pondering this seductive part of the world, it is useful to keep a couple of points in mind; first, the Caucasus is not Russia, and second, Russia is not the Caucasus. The Ghost of Freedom explains why the region is no longer the "jewel in the crown," or a proving ground for a Big Brother; nor can it in any way be considered a single political entity. Rather, its extremely variegated terrain also harbors distinct cultural ecosystems that at various times have been called a "museum of mankind," a "mountain of tongues," and even a "sculpture" (see below), with a bewildering array of languages, ethnicities, and views of history.
Indeed, the Caucasus can be likened to the classic children’s finger-puzzle in which 15 little sliding squares, enclosed in a frame, must be reconfigured in correct sequence. This is devilishly hard to do. In the living puzzle of the Caucasus there are of course many more pieces, which King rearranges in various illuminating ways, while neatly summarizing vast amounts of history.
King begins at the beginning, 25 million years ago, with the collision of continents that forced up most of the mountain ranges of Eurasia, including the Caucasus and its deposits of oil and gas. (By the way, this geological train-wreck is still in progress, albeit in extremely slow motion.) There has been much cultural as well as tectonic grinding in the Caucasus over the centuries. Scores of indigenous peoples and invaders have collided, traded, and genetically intermingled, leaving remnants and pockets of themselves in valleys, among alpine meadows, and in isolated auls (aerie-like highland villages) between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Caucasus has paid the price of being a cultural crossroads, and has weathered incursions from every quadrant: Persians from the southeast; Greeks and Romans (plus Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and Turks) from the southwest; Huns, Avars, Mongols (and Russians, British, Germans, and so forth) from the north. The result--as cartographers soon discover to their dismay -- is what King describes as "borders on the move" (a concept reminiscent of certain ancient Caucasus legends that describe a time when the mountains could actually walk around...on ’legs’ of clouds!)
Maps are never the territory, of course, but King’s "surfeit of borders" precisely describes a neck of land historically chock-a-block with feudal clans and feuding vassalages, suzereinties, satrapies, and client states--and their shifting alliances. Add to this the poking and prodding by great powers and no wonder Caucasus politics displays a certain operatic quality (Bolshevik Revolution here, Rose Revolution there, charming folk dances and drinking songs over yonder, while oil wheeler-dealers and ’frozen conflict peacekeepers’ wait in the wings). Readers of The Ghost of Freedom will perhaps not be surprised to learn that the maneuvering continues, the United States being but the latest partner (or padrone) active in the South Caucasus. Tomorrow--who knows?--that role may revert to Russia, Turkey, or even China, and once again we would need to redraw the maps.
***
Today’s nations can be old or spanking new. Azerbaijan, King writes, is only a 20th-century construct; but even ancient entities such as Georgia and Armenia can wink on and off over the centuries:
"Two hundred years ago the map of the Caucasus looked very different from the one that exists today. Unified places called Georgia and Armenia had long ago disappeared, the former in the fifteenth century, and the latter in antiquity. Both were geographical rather than political expressions. A place called Azerbaijan, when the term was used at all, was more likely to refer to what one would now call northwestern Iran [p. 14-15].
"Modern maps that show great swaths of colored territory as clearly belonging to one or another khanate, kingdom, principality, or empire are fundamentally misleading about the real nature of sovereignty on the ground. The goal of any political power was to control the locus of extraction, such s a key bridge, port, mountain pass, or fortress. When borders did serve something like a modern purpose, they were usually meant not to keep people out but to keep them in." [ p.21]
The photographs in this volume are subtle and bear close examination. Two poignant images from the Library of Congress depict victims of war and massacres in 1919: one shows a row of Armenian orphans (bareheaded, barefoot), the other a similarly posed rank of Muslim/Turkish orphans (shod, hatted, holding staves). A 1935 photograph from the Hoover Institution Archives portrays Stalin’s henchman, Lavrenty Beria, standing next to three colleagues from Armenia, Abkhazia, and Azerbaijan. In retrospect it is a chilling artifact, for the following year the Armenian and Abkhazian would die under unusual circumstances after meeting with Beria (expiring by ’suicide’ and spasms, or possibly a ’heart-attack,’ respectively); the Azerbaijani was liquidated three years later. The Caucasus can be unkind to its own.
Battle and treaty dates can make for notoriously tedious reading; happily King manages to quick-march through history with panache, pausing frequently to clarify events and their wider implications (which events in the Caucasus always have). He also de-romanticizes the region:
"The legendary horsemanship and daring of Caucasus fighters were acknowledged even by their enemies. Russian painters depicted engagements between [Russian allied] Cossacks-of-the-line and their Circassian and Daghestani counterparts, with riders galloping at full tilt toward one another, meetings with the clash of saber and lance. However, such engagements were probably the exception rather than the rule. The Caucasus wars were always partly guerilla campaigns--what would today be called seasonal counterinsurgency operations. They rarely involved anything approximating pitched battles, at least of the type that Russian officers and men knew from their wars with other empires." [p.73]
The world learned about the Caucasus from travel accounts, 19th century Russian writers (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, and others), and from press coverage of the long wars between highlanders and tsarist armies. To this must be added the allure of show business: Buffalo Bill Cody featured "Cossack" horsemen--actually Georgians--in his Wild West Show, while P.T. Barnum hawked "Circassian Beauties" (Irish, perhaps) as sideshow attractions. Exotic representations of the Caucasus continue to this day: John le Carré’s spy-thriller Our Game takes readers to some of the wilder-and-woolier parts of southern Russia; and John Ringo has a popular series of science fiction novels set in eastern Georgia: Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach.
The Caucasus was home to early Christian and Muslim states, and even earlier Jewish and Zoroastrian communities; paganism, once widespread, continues to exist. While never a paragon of tolerance, the Caucasus has avoided "clashes-of-civilizations"--although imperial Russia periodically used religion in its recruitment of Armenians to fight the Ottomans, and radical imams sought to unite the North Caucasus in jihad against the Russian advance. But somehow the spark never caught fire, due in part to the region’s heterogeneity. This was its strength and also its weakness. King describes the tsarist strategy of dividing and conquering the Caucasus by way of its geographical "flanks" (corresponding roughly to the Caspian and Black Sea watersheds):
"The middle ground... between the right and the left flanks was also home to a variety of peoples, some of whom were loyal to the tsar, while others lived in out-of-the-way areas and consequently posed no immediate threat to imperial power. Among the latter groups were the Turkic-speaking Karachai and Balkars; the Ossetians, whose villages helped insulate the road against highlander attacks; and the peoples of mountainous Georgia, the Svans, Khevsurs, Pshavs, and Tush. The great dream of some highland leaders was to unite the two flanks, which were separated by no more than 150 miles, into a single front. The great success of Russian policy was that it prevented them from ever doing so." [p.68]
The quaint term "Caucasian," as an ethnic category, harks back to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1775), in which the German physician tried to link physical characteristics (such as skull size) to culture. Blumenbach considered Caucasians to be the world’s most ancient--and beautiful--white people. (Caucasians actually come in all shapes, sizes, and hues of hair and skin color.) Ethnography has often been politicized, and in the Caucasus Russian and Soviet academics demonstrated what King calls the "Enlightenment urge to taxonomize." As King puts it, Russian popular imagination fed upon the works of writers and painters (sometimes one and the same, as with Mikhail Lermontov), who in turn fed on volumes of ethnography. Their curiosity was wide and deep; King includes the instructions from the St. Petersburg imperial academy to a German explorer, Julius von Klaproth, in 1807; the academy wanted to know:
"Are there traditions respecting the existence of Amazons? Who are the likely descendants of the Scythians, the ancient steppe dwellers described by Herodotus? Where are the passes in the mountains? What is to be found in the districts south of the highlands, especially along the black Sea? What s the word for "tribe" in the Lezgin dialects? Are the women of the Caucasus as beautiful as is often claimed?" [p.104]
Another scholar, Semyon Bronevskii, toiled for years over a massive two-volume overview of earlier explorers’ notes, all the while working at administrative posts. The fruits of his labor, titled The Latest Geographical and Historical Information on the Caucasus, brought the Caucasus out of academia and into Russian consciousness--and King continues this tradition for western readers.
***
The Ghost of Freedom perforce covers a lot of ground. Divided into five chapters, the book describes geology and geography; imperial and colonial designs on the Caucasus (and staunch resistance to it); Caucasus ethnography and imagery in popular culture; the Bolshevik, Soviet, and independence periods--and much more. Thirty subsections bear catchy titles, such as "Ermolov Comes!," "There is Something to Be Gained on the Heights," and "Eros and the Circassian."
For the most part it is smooth sailing, but some sections are filled to bursting and dense. Chapter Two, for example, covers the complexities of Islam, Caucasus military strategy, fighting techniques, biographies of imams, Georgia’s bureaucracy, the Circassian diaspora--all fascinating, but a lot to absorb. More headings would have been helpful; as it is, readers will need to rely on the index or write notes in the margins (a shame, for this book is too handsome to mark up).
That said, King certainly writes engagingly: he leavens the narrative with anecdotes and verse, and swoops and soars on his magic Caucasus carpet from region to region and one time period to another. Such verve conveys a marvelous sense of the Caucasus as being almost a work of art, physically and culturally: a natural sculpture, no part of which can be truly understood without awareness of the whole--a whole which underwent considerable modification in the 1800s, as Russian troops fortified, cut down vast forests, and built military highways in order to extirpate resistance.
***
The Ghost of Freedom brings together current research, and also classic works by English, French, German, and Russian adventurers, and scholars. We read of Douglas Freshfield’s epiphanies while climbing in the Caucasus mountains in 1869--epiphany, King points out, being a crucial aspect of climbing in those days that was soon to be overcome by the newer craze of seeking ever greater technological challenges, not just a good view. (This is a pity: I recall my own delight at discovering in my local public library a rare masterpiece of Victorian nature writing by James Bryce, a British parliamentarian and ambassador to the United States. Bryce climbed Mount Ararat in 1876 in one of the earliest ascents on record. It was an arduous adventure; nevertheless Bryce took careful notes and describes every interesting pebble encountered, every geological formation, every species of flora and fauna, and every fog patch, cloud and shift of light. Evidently Lord Bryce carried no camera.)
Charles King offers a wealth of surprising and trenchant perceptions about, for example, the ambiguous role of British officers during the fighting between Russians and highlanders, and the fate of soldiers taken into slavery. There is a long Caucasus tradition of slaves, hostages, deserters, and renegades; the analogy to North America is inescapable: many soldiers in the Caucasus "went Indian" by choice, or by an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Sometimes Caucasus history can seem like musical chairs, and in this regard King tackles a delicate subject: the fact that Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, despite their ancient artistic and religious heritage, owe a considerable cultural debt to Russia and Europe. Printing, jurisprudence, pedagogy, theater, literature, music, philosophical inquiry, and more: all got a vitamin injection from 19th century graduates of universities in St. Petersburg and abroad. Consider the remarkable British-educated Mikhail Vorontsov, whom Tsar Nicholas I made commander-in-chief of Caucasus forces; he was certainly ruthless, but also cosmopolitan:
"Vorontsov was convinced that the Caucasus needed a genuine political, cultural, and economic center--much as Odessa had become the effective capital of New Russia--and Tiflis was to be it. Parts of the city had remained in ruins since the Persian onslaught of 1795. Vorontsov laid on plans for its rebuilding, creating wide thoroughfares and designing new residential districts...the first drama theaters were established in 1850 and 1851 (one for Georgian plays, another for Russian), and the famous Tiflis opera house was soon inaugurated, complete with an Italian company regularly performing well-known pieces...the booming cultural life in Vorontsov’s Tiflis was a sign of the city’s gradual rise from garrison town to urban imperial outpost." [p.86]
Baku was soon to boom as well, thanks to oil; Yerevan had to wait until after the First World War, when its population swelled from the influx of Armenians uprooted from Ottoman Turkey.
***
One of the lesser known chapters of world history concerns the 19th century mass expulsion by Russians of Circassians and other groups from the northwestern Caucasus and Black Sea coast. Highlanders and Abkhaz were forced into Anatolia, the Balkans, and further corners of the Ottoman Empire. Inadequately housed and fed, a great many perished from disease or in storms at sea. Up to 500,000 Caucasus peoples (often labeled as ’Circassians,’ regardless of origin) left in the 1860s; King puts the total from 1859-1878 at 2 million. These deportees resettled and often attained high military and administrative positions in their new homes. From revolutionary Russia and the Middle East, thousands emigrated to Europe and the United States, not infrequently maintaining their traditional vocations and codes of honor, and finding employment in diplomacy, various military or security agencies, and other government services. To this day there are Circassian villages in Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and elsewhere.
The ripple effects of Caucasus politics spread outwards, even to the United States, in the form of business ventures to political misadventures (an Armenian bishop was assassinated in New York in 1933) and political lobbying. Wrangling on Capitol Hill over official United States recognition of an Armenian genocide has, directly or indirectly, ended the career of one American ambassador to Armenia, obstructed the ratification of another, and threatens to be a perennial stone in many peoples’ shoes. On the matter of Ottomans, Armenians, and genocide, King states bluntly:
"In nearly all instances of large-scale violence, state manipulation and local circumstances come together in a contingent, complicated, and ultimately deadly mix. The Armenian genocide was neither explicitly ordered as a single act of violence, nor was it the unavoidable consequence of some ancient quarrel between Muslims and Christians. Rather, it was the result of communal fear, ethnic reprisals, government paranoia, and fitful experimentation with targeted killing as a tool of modern statecraft." [p 197]
King continually reminds us of the multiple dramas unfolding in Anatolia at the turn of the 20th century: the collapse of empires and the formation of new nations, the First World War, the brutality and chaos of times a-changing, and the eruption of local antagonisms into something widespread and genocidal. Such a saga ought to inspire great novels, films, and television series--of the scope and subtlety, say, of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet, about the final years of British rule in India--but they have yet to appear.
***
The last part of The Ghost of Freedom brings us into the present, and shows how today Caucasus is of a piece with the region in earlier times, and how post-Soviet changes have been a mixed blessing:
"The real story [post-Soviet] ... is not about deep-rooted sentiments of ethnicity or ancient grievances but about the ways in which personal ambition, structural incentives, and the simple presence of sufficient quantities of guns led to bloody conflict." [p.212]
The author evenhandedly describes the political ecology of the intractable "legacy conflicts" in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and in the North Caucasus. Too often the dreary occurrences in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and increasingly other regions--lawless police arrests, citizen ’disappearances,’ executions, systemic brutality, and also acts of terrorism, such as the occupation of the Beslan elementary school in North Ossetia--are viewed as remote and internal Russian affairs. Journalists traveling to those regions risk their lives. The sad truth is that Caucasus unrest only undermines Russia’s security, as it lines the pockets of the purveyors of weapons, narcotics, and contraband. Human trafficking and illegal wheeling and dealing, while not new or unique to the Caucasus, is increasingly profitable and international.
Paul Goble, a specialist on CIS minorities, asserts ominously that Russia has never controlled the North Caucasus without first controlling the South. But control need not be the result of invasion or occupation. Russia now owns and coordinates much of the Caucasus energy infrastructure, while militarily it fosters close ties with Armenia and maintains proxies and "peacekeepers" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Russia is not the only player in this region: newcomers to the game include the United States (which openly pursues its interests and maintains agents of influence, including military, in the South Caucasus), not to mention Kazakhstan and China.
Finally, The Ghost of Freedom touches upon an old and extremely important question: Is the Caucasus a part of Asia, the Middle East, or Europe? The first two certainly. As for the latter, I have heard all kinds of enthusiastic assertions: that, for example, Europe and the Caucasus have a natural affinity, and that everything from chivalry and horsemanship, to the "look" of Hellenic statues and temples, to Romanesque and Gothic construction techniques, to the fancy footwork of "Irish" dancing--in short, many of the key aspects of European culture arose in those parts. Be that as it may, the European Union, motivated by its need for Caspian energy resources, has finally begun to adjust its bureaucratic gears to become more usefully engaged in the Caucasus. Should Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan ever find themselves in the EU, it would mean radical changes in self-perception throughout Europe, and the Black Sea and Caspian regions. Charles King’s The Ghost of Freedom helps us understand why.
Editor’s Note: Alex van Oss is the Chair of Caucasus Advanced Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC.
1/18/08 A Book Review by Alex van Oss (www.eurasianet.org)
The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus
By Charles King2008 Oxford Press, 291 p., ISBN: 978-0-19-517775-6
Most Caucasus writing these days is either journalistic or academic, obsessed for the most part with conflicts or oil. The Ghost of Freedom manages to break the mold: Charles King, a professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown University, has produced a work that is at once informative, eclectic, and immensely satisfying.In fewer than 300 pages King provides a comprehensive and gracefully written account of the South and North Caucasus, plus Black Sea regions of Russia, such as Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Excellent maps by Chris Robinson depict political boundaries of 1780, 1890, and 2008, showing dramatically how Persian or Ottoman territory one century became Russian the next, and now, independent. The title, "The Ghost of Freedom," comes from Pushkin’s 1821 poem "Captive of the Caucasus" whose Byronic protagonist, tiring of Mother Russia,
"...quit the confines of his native land, and flew away to a far off strand with freedom’s cheerful apparition..."
… Or its illusion. The hero gets captured by locals, finds romance, and then escapes. The poem inspired sundry other stories, operas, a ballet, a book, plus a film or two--all with the same title; and it prompted thousands of restless Russians to "go West" (go south, that is) and seek love, profit, epiphany, and adventure in the mountains.
***
So much for Pushkin. When pondering this seductive part of the world, it is useful to keep a couple of points in mind; first, the Caucasus is not Russia, and second, Russia is not the Caucasus. The Ghost of Freedom explains why the region is no longer the "jewel in the crown," or a proving ground for a Big Brother; nor can it in any way be considered a single political entity. Rather, its extremely variegated terrain also harbors distinct cultural ecosystems that at various times have been called a "museum of mankind," a "mountain of tongues," and even a "sculpture" (see below), with a bewildering array of languages, ethnicities, and views of history.
Indeed, the Caucasus can be likened to the classic children’s finger-puzzle in which 15 little sliding squares, enclosed in a frame, must be reconfigured in correct sequence. This is devilishly hard to do. In the living puzzle of the Caucasus there are of course many more pieces, which King rearranges in various illuminating ways, while neatly summarizing vast amounts of history.
King begins at the beginning, 25 million years ago, with the collision of continents that forced up most of the mountain ranges of Eurasia, including the Caucasus and its deposits of oil and gas. (By the way, this geological train-wreck is still in progress, albeit in extremely slow motion.) There has been much cultural as well as tectonic grinding in the Caucasus over the centuries. Scores of indigenous peoples and invaders have collided, traded, and genetically intermingled, leaving remnants and pockets of themselves in valleys, among alpine meadows, and in isolated auls (aerie-like highland villages) between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Caucasus has paid the price of being a cultural crossroads, and has weathered incursions from every quadrant: Persians from the southeast; Greeks and Romans (plus Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and Turks) from the southwest; Huns, Avars, Mongols (and Russians, British, Germans, and so forth) from the north. The result--as cartographers soon discover to their dismay -- is what King describes as "borders on the move" (a concept reminiscent of certain ancient Caucasus legends that describe a time when the mountains could actually walk around...on ’legs’ of clouds!)
Maps are never the territory, of course, but King’s "surfeit of borders" precisely describes a neck of land historically chock-a-block with feudal clans and feuding vassalages, suzereinties, satrapies, and client states--and their shifting alliances. Add to this the poking and prodding by great powers and no wonder Caucasus politics displays a certain operatic quality (Bolshevik Revolution here, Rose Revolution there, charming folk dances and drinking songs over yonder, while oil wheeler-dealers and ’frozen conflict peacekeepers’ wait in the wings). Readers of The Ghost of Freedom will perhaps not be surprised to learn that the maneuvering continues, the United States being but the latest partner (or padrone) active in the South Caucasus. Tomorrow--who knows?--that role may revert to Russia, Turkey, or even China, and once again we would need to redraw the maps.
***
Today’s nations can be old or spanking new. Azerbaijan, King writes, is only a 20th-century construct; but even ancient entities such as Georgia and Armenia can wink on and off over the centuries:
"Two hundred years ago the map of the Caucasus looked very different from the one that exists today. Unified places called Georgia and Armenia had long ago disappeared, the former in the fifteenth century, and the latter in antiquity. Both were geographical rather than political expressions. A place called Azerbaijan, when the term was used at all, was more likely to refer to what one would now call northwestern Iran [p. 14-15].
"Modern maps that show great swaths of colored territory as clearly belonging to one or another khanate, kingdom, principality, or empire are fundamentally misleading about the real nature of sovereignty on the ground. The goal of any political power was to control the locus of extraction, such s a key bridge, port, mountain pass, or fortress. When borders did serve something like a modern purpose, they were usually meant not to keep people out but to keep them in." [ p.21]
The photographs in this volume are subtle and bear close examination. Two poignant images from the Library of Congress depict victims of war and massacres in 1919: one shows a row of Armenian orphans (bareheaded, barefoot), the other a similarly posed rank of Muslim/Turkish orphans (shod, hatted, holding staves). A 1935 photograph from the Hoover Institution Archives portrays Stalin’s henchman, Lavrenty Beria, standing next to three colleagues from Armenia, Abkhazia, and Azerbaijan. In retrospect it is a chilling artifact, for the following year the Armenian and Abkhazian would die under unusual circumstances after meeting with Beria (expiring by ’suicide’ and spasms, or possibly a ’heart-attack,’ respectively); the Azerbaijani was liquidated three years later. The Caucasus can be unkind to its own.
Battle and treaty dates can make for notoriously tedious reading; happily King manages to quick-march through history with panache, pausing frequently to clarify events and their wider implications (which events in the Caucasus always have). He also de-romanticizes the region:
"The legendary horsemanship and daring of Caucasus fighters were acknowledged even by their enemies. Russian painters depicted engagements between [Russian allied] Cossacks-of-the-line and their Circassian and Daghestani counterparts, with riders galloping at full tilt toward one another, meetings with the clash of saber and lance. However, such engagements were probably the exception rather than the rule. The Caucasus wars were always partly guerilla campaigns--what would today be called seasonal counterinsurgency operations. They rarely involved anything approximating pitched battles, at least of the type that Russian officers and men knew from their wars with other empires." [p.73]
The world learned about the Caucasus from travel accounts, 19th century Russian writers (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, and others), and from press coverage of the long wars between highlanders and tsarist armies. To this must be added the allure of show business: Buffalo Bill Cody featured "Cossack" horsemen--actually Georgians--in his Wild West Show, while P.T. Barnum hawked "Circassian Beauties" (Irish, perhaps) as sideshow attractions. Exotic representations of the Caucasus continue to this day: John le Carré’s spy-thriller Our Game takes readers to some of the wilder-and-woolier parts of southern Russia; and John Ringo has a popular series of science fiction novels set in eastern Georgia: Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach.
The Caucasus was home to early Christian and Muslim states, and even earlier Jewish and Zoroastrian communities; paganism, once widespread, continues to exist. While never a paragon of tolerance, the Caucasus has avoided "clashes-of-civilizations"--although imperial Russia periodically used religion in its recruitment of Armenians to fight the Ottomans, and radical imams sought to unite the North Caucasus in jihad against the Russian advance. But somehow the spark never caught fire, due in part to the region’s heterogeneity. This was its strength and also its weakness. King describes the tsarist strategy of dividing and conquering the Caucasus by way of its geographical "flanks" (corresponding roughly to the Caspian and Black Sea watersheds):
"The middle ground... between the right and the left flanks was also home to a variety of peoples, some of whom were loyal to the tsar, while others lived in out-of-the-way areas and consequently posed no immediate threat to imperial power. Among the latter groups were the Turkic-speaking Karachai and Balkars; the Ossetians, whose villages helped insulate the road against highlander attacks; and the peoples of mountainous Georgia, the Svans, Khevsurs, Pshavs, and Tush. The great dream of some highland leaders was to unite the two flanks, which were separated by no more than 150 miles, into a single front. The great success of Russian policy was that it prevented them from ever doing so." [p.68]
The quaint term "Caucasian," as an ethnic category, harks back to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1775), in which the German physician tried to link physical characteristics (such as skull size) to culture. Blumenbach considered Caucasians to be the world’s most ancient--and beautiful--white people. (Caucasians actually come in all shapes, sizes, and hues of hair and skin color.) Ethnography has often been politicized, and in the Caucasus Russian and Soviet academics demonstrated what King calls the "Enlightenment urge to taxonomize." As King puts it, Russian popular imagination fed upon the works of writers and painters (sometimes one and the same, as with Mikhail Lermontov), who in turn fed on volumes of ethnography. Their curiosity was wide and deep; King includes the instructions from the St. Petersburg imperial academy to a German explorer, Julius von Klaproth, in 1807; the academy wanted to know:
"Are there traditions respecting the existence of Amazons? Who are the likely descendants of the Scythians, the ancient steppe dwellers described by Herodotus? Where are the passes in the mountains? What is to be found in the districts south of the highlands, especially along the black Sea? What s the word for "tribe" in the Lezgin dialects? Are the women of the Caucasus as beautiful as is often claimed?" [p.104]
Another scholar, Semyon Bronevskii, toiled for years over a massive two-volume overview of earlier explorers’ notes, all the while working at administrative posts. The fruits of his labor, titled The Latest Geographical and Historical Information on the Caucasus, brought the Caucasus out of academia and into Russian consciousness--and King continues this tradition for western readers.
***
The Ghost of Freedom perforce covers a lot of ground. Divided into five chapters, the book describes geology and geography; imperial and colonial designs on the Caucasus (and staunch resistance to it); Caucasus ethnography and imagery in popular culture; the Bolshevik, Soviet, and independence periods--and much more. Thirty subsections bear catchy titles, such as "Ermolov Comes!," "There is Something to Be Gained on the Heights," and "Eros and the Circassian."
For the most part it is smooth sailing, but some sections are filled to bursting and dense. Chapter Two, for example, covers the complexities of Islam, Caucasus military strategy, fighting techniques, biographies of imams, Georgia’s bureaucracy, the Circassian diaspora--all fascinating, but a lot to absorb. More headings would have been helpful; as it is, readers will need to rely on the index or write notes in the margins (a shame, for this book is too handsome to mark up).
That said, King certainly writes engagingly: he leavens the narrative with anecdotes and verse, and swoops and soars on his magic Caucasus carpet from region to region and one time period to another. Such verve conveys a marvelous sense of the Caucasus as being almost a work of art, physically and culturally: a natural sculpture, no part of which can be truly understood without awareness of the whole--a whole which underwent considerable modification in the 1800s, as Russian troops fortified, cut down vast forests, and built military highways in order to extirpate resistance.
***
The Ghost of Freedom brings together current research, and also classic works by English, French, German, and Russian adventurers, and scholars. We read of Douglas Freshfield’s epiphanies while climbing in the Caucasus mountains in 1869--epiphany, King points out, being a crucial aspect of climbing in those days that was soon to be overcome by the newer craze of seeking ever greater technological challenges, not just a good view. (This is a pity: I recall my own delight at discovering in my local public library a rare masterpiece of Victorian nature writing by James Bryce, a British parliamentarian and ambassador to the United States. Bryce climbed Mount Ararat in 1876 in one of the earliest ascents on record. It was an arduous adventure; nevertheless Bryce took careful notes and describes every interesting pebble encountered, every geological formation, every species of flora and fauna, and every fog patch, cloud and shift of light. Evidently Lord Bryce carried no camera.)
Charles King offers a wealth of surprising and trenchant perceptions about, for example, the ambiguous role of British officers during the fighting between Russians and highlanders, and the fate of soldiers taken into slavery. There is a long Caucasus tradition of slaves, hostages, deserters, and renegades; the analogy to North America is inescapable: many soldiers in the Caucasus "went Indian" by choice, or by an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Sometimes Caucasus history can seem like musical chairs, and in this regard King tackles a delicate subject: the fact that Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, despite their ancient artistic and religious heritage, owe a considerable cultural debt to Russia and Europe. Printing, jurisprudence, pedagogy, theater, literature, music, philosophical inquiry, and more: all got a vitamin injection from 19th century graduates of universities in St. Petersburg and abroad. Consider the remarkable British-educated Mikhail Vorontsov, whom Tsar Nicholas I made commander-in-chief of Caucasus forces; he was certainly ruthless, but also cosmopolitan:
"Vorontsov was convinced that the Caucasus needed a genuine political, cultural, and economic center--much as Odessa had become the effective capital of New Russia--and Tiflis was to be it. Parts of the city had remained in ruins since the Persian onslaught of 1795. Vorontsov laid on plans for its rebuilding, creating wide thoroughfares and designing new residential districts...the first drama theaters were established in 1850 and 1851 (one for Georgian plays, another for Russian), and the famous Tiflis opera house was soon inaugurated, complete with an Italian company regularly performing well-known pieces...the booming cultural life in Vorontsov’s Tiflis was a sign of the city’s gradual rise from garrison town to urban imperial outpost." [p.86]
Baku was soon to boom as well, thanks to oil; Yerevan had to wait until after the First World War, when its population swelled from the influx of Armenians uprooted from Ottoman Turkey.
***
One of the lesser known chapters of world history concerns the 19th century mass expulsion by Russians of Circassians and other groups from the northwestern Caucasus and Black Sea coast. Highlanders and Abkhaz were forced into Anatolia, the Balkans, and further corners of the Ottoman Empire. Inadequately housed and fed, a great many perished from disease or in storms at sea. Up to 500,000 Caucasus peoples (often labeled as ’Circassians,’ regardless of origin) left in the 1860s; King puts the total from 1859-1878 at 2 million. These deportees resettled and often attained high military and administrative positions in their new homes. From revolutionary Russia and the Middle East, thousands emigrated to Europe and the United States, not infrequently maintaining their traditional vocations and codes of honor, and finding employment in diplomacy, various military or security agencies, and other government services. To this day there are Circassian villages in Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and elsewhere.
The ripple effects of Caucasus politics spread outwards, even to the United States, in the form of business ventures to political misadventures (an Armenian bishop was assassinated in New York in 1933) and political lobbying. Wrangling on Capitol Hill over official United States recognition of an Armenian genocide has, directly or indirectly, ended the career of one American ambassador to Armenia, obstructed the ratification of another, and threatens to be a perennial stone in many peoples’ shoes. On the matter of Ottomans, Armenians, and genocide, King states bluntly:
"In nearly all instances of large-scale violence, state manipulation and local circumstances come together in a contingent, complicated, and ultimately deadly mix. The Armenian genocide was neither explicitly ordered as a single act of violence, nor was it the unavoidable consequence of some ancient quarrel between Muslims and Christians. Rather, it was the result of communal fear, ethnic reprisals, government paranoia, and fitful experimentation with targeted killing as a tool of modern statecraft." [p 197]
King continually reminds us of the multiple dramas unfolding in Anatolia at the turn of the 20th century: the collapse of empires and the formation of new nations, the First World War, the brutality and chaos of times a-changing, and the eruption of local antagonisms into something widespread and genocidal. Such a saga ought to inspire great novels, films, and television series--of the scope and subtlety, say, of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet, about the final years of British rule in India--but they have yet to appear.
***
The last part of The Ghost of Freedom brings us into the present, and shows how today Caucasus is of a piece with the region in earlier times, and how post-Soviet changes have been a mixed blessing:
"The real story [post-Soviet] ... is not about deep-rooted sentiments of ethnicity or ancient grievances but about the ways in which personal ambition, structural incentives, and the simple presence of sufficient quantities of guns led to bloody conflict." [p.212]
The author evenhandedly describes the political ecology of the intractable "legacy conflicts" in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and in the North Caucasus. Too often the dreary occurrences in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and increasingly other regions--lawless police arrests, citizen ’disappearances,’ executions, systemic brutality, and also acts of terrorism, such as the occupation of the Beslan elementary school in North Ossetia--are viewed as remote and internal Russian affairs. Journalists traveling to those regions risk their lives. The sad truth is that Caucasus unrest only undermines Russia’s security, as it lines the pockets of the purveyors of weapons, narcotics, and contraband. Human trafficking and illegal wheeling and dealing, while not new or unique to the Caucasus, is increasingly profitable and international.
Paul Goble, a specialist on CIS minorities, asserts ominously that Russia has never controlled the North Caucasus without first controlling the South. But control need not be the result of invasion or occupation. Russia now owns and coordinates much of the Caucasus energy infrastructure, while militarily it fosters close ties with Armenia and maintains proxies and "peacekeepers" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Russia is not the only player in this region: newcomers to the game include the United States (which openly pursues its interests and maintains agents of influence, including military, in the South Caucasus), not to mention Kazakhstan and China.
Finally, The Ghost of Freedom touches upon an old and extremely important question: Is the Caucasus a part of Asia, the Middle East, or Europe? The first two certainly. As for the latter, I have heard all kinds of enthusiastic assertions: that, for example, Europe and the Caucasus have a natural affinity, and that everything from chivalry and horsemanship, to the "look" of Hellenic statues and temples, to Romanesque and Gothic construction techniques, to the fancy footwork of "Irish" dancing--in short, many of the key aspects of European culture arose in those parts. Be that as it may, the European Union, motivated by its need for Caspian energy resources, has finally begun to adjust its bureaucratic gears to become more usefully engaged in the Caucasus. Should Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan ever find themselves in the EU, it would mean radical changes in self-perception throughout Europe, and the Black Sea and Caspian regions. Charles King’s The Ghost of Freedom helps us understand why.
Editor’s Note: Alex van Oss is the Chair of Caucasus Advanced Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC.
Monday, September 17, 2007
FLÜCHTLINGE:
Polen - Gazeta Wyborcza
Tschetschenische Flüchtlinge im polnischen Grenzgebiet erfroren
Das eurotopics-Magazin kommetiert einen Fall aus Polen, wo drei Tschetscheninnen umgekommen sind - erforen, draußen vor der Tür:
Polen - Gazeta Wyborcza
Tschetschenische Flüchtlinge im polnischen Grenzgebiet erfroren
Das eurotopics-Magazin kommetiert einen Fall aus Polen, wo drei Tschetscheninnen umgekommen sind - erforen, draußen vor der Tür:
Im polnischen Grenzgebirge zur Ukraine sind am 14. September drei Mädchen aus Tschetschenien erfroren aufgefunden worden, die illegal ins Land gekommen waren. Marcin Wojciechowski kommentiert: "Seit dem EU-Beitritt ist Polen ein Paradies für Flüchtlinge geworden, die Schutz im sicheren und satten Europa suchen. Wir sind nicht so reich wie Franzosen oder Deutsche, aber dafür ist es einfacher, zu uns zu gelangen, weil wir eine einige hundert Kilometer lange Grenze zu ehemaligen Sowjetrepubliken haben... Im polnischen Außenministerium oder in den EU-Institutionen sagt es niemand offiziell, aber die Konsulate aller EU-Staaten haben die vertrauliche deutliche Anweisung, Bürgern mit russischen Pässen, die in Tschetschenien ausgestellt wurden, keine Visa zu erteilen... Wenn Flüchtlinge also nicht legal nach Polen einreisen dürfen, versuchen sie es auf andere Weise... Das scheinbar humane Migrationsrecht der EU ist in Wirklichkeit ungerecht. Gerade sind wieder einige, die ins Paradies wollten, Opfer dieses Gesetzes geworden." (15.09.2007)
» zum ganzen Artikel (externer Link, polnisch)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
VORTRAG:
Xenophobie und Ausländerfeindlichkeit auch gegen Kaukasier in Russland
Link: Vortrag "Faschismus und Ultrakonservatismus im heutigen Russland"
Faschismus und Ultrakonservatismus imheutigen Russland: Definition und Interpretation
Vortrag von Dr. Andreas Umland
Termin: Dienstag, 26. Juni 2007, 12:00-13:30 Uhr
Ort: Interimsgebäude der Universität Leipzig in der Dresdner Bank, Dittrichring 5-7, EG, Raum 13
Seit Beginn der 90er Jahre haben fremdenfeindliche, rassistische undantisemitische Gewalttaten in Russland stark zugenommen. Heute schätzt man allein die Skinhead-Szene auf rund 50.000 Personen, hinzukommen Zehntausende Anhänger höchst unterschiedlicher rechtsextremer Gruppierungen und Organisationen. Übergriffe aufAngehörige nationaler Minderheiten, vor allem aus dem Kaukasus undZentralasien, sowie Attacken gegen Juden, Homosexuelle und andere Bevölkerungsgruppen bis hin zu Morden gehören in einer Reihe russischer Städte inzwischen zum Alltag. Allein im Jahr 2005 wurden in Russland 40 fremdenfeindlich motivierte Morde gezählt. Die Politikunter Präsident Putin übt an solchen Erscheinungen zwar öffentlich Kritik, neigt insgesamt aber dazu, die Problematik zu unterschätzen bzw. zu verharmlosen.
Dr. Andreas Umland ist Lektor am Institut für Internationale Beziehungen der Nationalen Taras-Schew tschenko-Universität Kiew,Ukraine. Er promovierte an der Freien Universität Berlin zum Aufstieg Vladimir Zirinovskijs in der russischen Politik 1990-1993 und ist seit Sommer 2004 Herausgeber der Buchreihe „Soviet and Post-SovietPolitics & Society" des ibidem-Verlags Stuttgart(http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/spps.html).
In seinem anschaulichen Vortrag präsentiert Herr Umland exklusive und hoch brisante Bilder zu seinem Thema und geht auf die Frage ein, wie auf der förderalen Ebene der politische Wettbewerb im Russland Putins zwischen verschiedenen Ausprägungen von gemäßigtem Nationalismusund von Ultranationalismus stattfindet.
Kontakt:Kompetenzzentrum Mittel- und Osteuropa Leipzig (KOMOEL)
Steffi Nickel
Tel.: 0341 /973 78 65
Mail: snickel@uni-leipzig.de
Xenophobie und Ausländerfeindlichkeit auch gegen Kaukasier in Russland
Link: Vortrag "Faschismus und Ultrakonservatismus im heutigen Russland"
Faschismus und Ultrakonservatismus imheutigen Russland: Definition und Interpretation
Vortrag von Dr. Andreas Umland
Termin: Dienstag, 26. Juni 2007, 12:00-13:30 Uhr
Ort: Interimsgebäude der Universität Leipzig in der Dresdner Bank, Dittrichring 5-7, EG, Raum 13
Seit Beginn der 90er Jahre haben fremdenfeindliche, rassistische undantisemitische Gewalttaten in Russland stark zugenommen. Heute schätzt man allein die Skinhead-Szene auf rund 50.000 Personen, hinzukommen Zehntausende Anhänger höchst unterschiedlicher rechtsextremer Gruppierungen und Organisationen. Übergriffe aufAngehörige nationaler Minderheiten, vor allem aus dem Kaukasus undZentralasien, sowie Attacken gegen Juden, Homosexuelle und andere Bevölkerungsgruppen bis hin zu Morden gehören in einer Reihe russischer Städte inzwischen zum Alltag. Allein im Jahr 2005 wurden in Russland 40 fremdenfeindlich motivierte Morde gezählt. Die Politikunter Präsident Putin übt an solchen Erscheinungen zwar öffentlich Kritik, neigt insgesamt aber dazu, die Problematik zu unterschätzen bzw. zu verharmlosen.
Dr. Andreas Umland ist Lektor am Institut für Internationale Beziehungen der Nationalen Taras-Schew tschenko-Universität Kiew,Ukraine. Er promovierte an der Freien Universität Berlin zum Aufstieg Vladimir Zirinovskijs in der russischen Politik 1990-1993 und ist seit Sommer 2004 Herausgeber der Buchreihe „Soviet and Post-SovietPolitics & Society" des ibidem-Verlags Stuttgart(http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/spps.html).
In seinem anschaulichen Vortrag präsentiert Herr Umland exklusive und hoch brisante Bilder zu seinem Thema und geht auf die Frage ein, wie auf der förderalen Ebene der politische Wettbewerb im Russland Putins zwischen verschiedenen Ausprägungen von gemäßigtem Nationalismusund von Ultranationalismus stattfindet.
Kontakt:Kompetenzzentrum Mittel- und Osteuropa Leipzig (KOMOEL)
Steffi Nickel
Tel.: 0341 /973 78 65
Mail: snickel@uni-leipzig.de
Saturday, May 19, 2007
POLITIC:
EurasiaNet Weekly Update
THE FOLLOWING STORIES APPEARED ON EURASIANET OVER THE PAST WEEK:
RUSSIA TAKES A STEP TOWARD THE FORMATION OF A NATURAL GAS CARTEL
Stephen Blank
The bevy of energy deals that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed with the leaders of the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan marks a major step toward the Kremlin's stated objective of creating a natural gas cartel. The deals simultaneously can help Moscow realize several other geopolitical goals - wrecking Western pipeline plans for the region, as well as increasing the dependency of Central Asian states on Russia.
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051707.shtml
GEORGIA PUSHES FOR CLOSER TIES WITH "ALTERNATIVE" SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADER
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051707a.shtml
RUSSIA CELEBRATES ITS CENTRAL ASIAN ENERGY COUP
Sergei Blagov
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051607.shtml
ARMENIA: A NEW ERA FOR A NEW OPPOSITION?
Haroutiun Khachatrian
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051607b.shtml
WEST GIVES ARMENIAN LEADERS A BOOST AFTER DISPUTED ELECTION WIN
Emil Danielyan
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051507a.shtml
RUSSIA REGISTERS VICTORY IN CASPIAN BASIN ENERGY GAME
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051407a.shtml
RUSSIA'S CENTRAL ASIA ENERGY STRATEGY EXPERIENCES A FEW SETBACKS
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051107_.shtml
ARMENIAN LEADERS EXPECT TIGHT GRIP ON NEW PARLIAMENT
Emil Danielyan
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051107a.shtml
CHANGE BEGINS AT THE BORDER
Joshua Kucera
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051007a.shtml
ARMENIA AND RUSSIA AGREE: FOREIGN POLICY CHANGE UNLIKELY AFTER ELECTIONS
Haroutiun Khachatrian
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051007b.shtml
POLICE, OPPOSITION MEMBERS CLASH IN YEREVAN
Marianna Grigoryan
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051007d.shtml
Thursday, May 17, 2007
CULTURE:
Zaza Shatirishvili
"Shota Rustaveli" Tbilisi Georgian Literature State Institute, Georgia
"Shota Rustaveli" Tbilisi Georgian Literature State Institute, Georgia
National narratives and Caucasian identity
When we speak, for example, about European or Western identities, less or more it is clear that in this case we mean a space of shared liberal values, common views on the human rights, more or less homogenised economical or legal space, etc.
From this viewpoint, the Caucasian identity is a concept rather problematic and blurred. There is no common Caucasian legal or economical space and even less there are shared liberal values. If by Caucasian identity we mean a kind of ethnical or linguistic community, then the situation becomes even more complicated. The only shared aspect is the colonial past within the framework of the Russian Empire and the inclusion in the borders of the Soviet Union.
As a social and cultural phenomenon, the Caucasus has a certain historical context. It emerged at the beginning of XIX century as a concept that belongs to the imperial discourse and an addendum of the imperial narrative. It is only in this context that we can speak about a Caucasian identity without controversy. Then, however, it will turn out that, for example, Georgia have not at all identified itself on common Caucasian grounds. On the contrary, in the framework of the Russian Empire, the Georgian public actively opposed the Caucasian mountaineers.
The national identity frames the national narratives. In the Georgian national narratives, the Caucasian entity is either completely lacking or its function is the one of the Antagonist.
Source: Zaza Shatirishvili “Shota Rustaveli” Tbilisi Georgian Literature ...
Friday, March 16, 2007
Daniela SchulzALDE KAKABADSE
Die Mutter der georgischen Keramik ("New Ceramics"12.99 )
In ihren Arbeiten sind Malerei und Plastik, Poesie und Musik, die ganze Vielfalt der kulturellen Wurzeln Georgiens lebendig.Sculpture and painting, poetry and music, the whole variety of Georgia's cultural roots is alive in her work.
Lies weiter
Mehr von Daniela Schulz:
* REVAS JASCHVILI Der Pirosmani der georgischen Keramik
* Georgische Keramiker zu Gast im Erzgebirge
Neutempler Keramik: Daniela Schulz & Manana Menabde
Thursday, March 08, 2007
There Are A Very Impressive Blog About
About the author: Josh is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. From March through June 2007 he is traveling through the Caucasus and Central Asia to write a serial travelogue for EurasiaNet.org. His articles have appeared in Jane's Defence Weekly, The New Republic, Time, The Nation and Slate. In 2003 he had a blog from Iraq, The Other Side
What they're saying about Josh's blogging:
-- “thoughtful” (Chicago Tribune)
-- “details that convey the flavor of a distant, frightened place” (Boston Globe)
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