Political Science and International Relations

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) is a good example of the new phase in agricultural, scientific and commercial relations in globalised world. The Convention on Biological Diversity and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their utilization regulates topics such as research on genetic material, the genetic transfer to materials and international transfer of genetic material within the scope of freedom of commerce and contract. With this genetic engineering approach, the genetic material is no longer a national wealth, nor natural beings, but transformed into commercial property. International agreements mentioned above were approved immediately by Turkish parliament, but domestic legislative regulation process needed more time . Also some difficulties have arisen during implementation phase of these laws, and private sectors tendency to evade statutory audit was observed. As the...

This is the first article in a series dedicated to colonization as a cause of cultural change. The present study focuses on the different meanings of the concept of “colony” and discusses the effects of colonization on prehistoric communities. In this paper, author will cite four examples of prehistoric colonization: 1- Upper Paleolithic colonization of Europe, 2- Expansion of the PPNB culture from the Northern Syria to the Southern Levant during the Middle PPNB (8200-7500 BC), probably brought by new peoples mingling with indigenous populations. 3- Neolithic colonization of Cyprus (8200 BC).  4- Colonization of temperate Europe by the Linear Pottery culture (5500 BC) and maritime pioneer colonization at the origins of farming in west Mediterranean Europe (Cardium pottery: 6400-5600): Interaction between hunter-gatherers and farmers during the Neolithic transition in Europe.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon frequently called the “Ubaid expansion” or “Ubaid interaction sphere” in which the material culture of Southern Mesopotamia appears in Upper Mesopotamia and the bordering mountains during the 6th-5th millennium. The paper will also attempt to explain how did the “Ubaid expansion” contribute to the formation of hierarchical societies in Greater Mesopotamia. Indeed, the biggest weakness of the model of expansion (drawn from the subsequent “Uruk expansion”) is that it ignores multiregional character of the Ubaid interaction sphere and describes the culture contact between south and north Mesopotamia as a core-periphery dichotomy. Uruk expansion was probably an actual colonial phenomenon, but it is difficult to use the same argument to explain the “Ubaid expansion”. Several arguments (exchange, colonization, emulation and technology transfer) have been proposed for the widespread dissemination of Ubaid material culture in Upper Mesopotamia. The present paper proposes to outline and discuss these competing arguments in the hope of contributing to the early complex societies literature and to answer how and why the Ubaid expansion emerged.

The purpose of this article is to examine the complex relationship between Ancient Egypt and Nubia, involving cultural transmissions, trade expeditions and military raids from the Neolithic times to the Egypt’s Old Kingdom (5000-2700 BC). Currently, scholars debate whether Lower Nubian society was organized as a complex chiefdom or as a proto-kingdom at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC (during the “Early Dynastic period of Egypt”, 3100-2700 BC). Elite demand for exotic/status/prestige/luxury goods can be an initial stimulus to formation of political hierarchy. This statement is likely to be true in the case of early state formation in Egypt. In the same way, Lower Nubia’s (region between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile) prosperity was underpinned by its intermediary position in the long-distance trade networks. The early Nubian policies (Sayala, Qustul) became powerful by controlling the trade routes and shared with their northern neighbors (Egyptian proto-kingdoms) in the moves towards social complexity. But during the maturation of the Egyptian state, early pharaohs conquered the Lower Nubia and could directly control the exchange with the south. While the Lower Nubia experienced cultural decline and poverty, by 2500 BC, a powerful kingdom began to be established around the Third Cataract of the Nile (Upper Nubia): Kerma. A highly stratified (complex) society had emerged in the northern part of Nubia (in direct contact with early Egyptian state), but the first centralized kingdom had emerged in the southern part, in Upper Nubia called “Kush” by the Egyptians.

This article (translated into turkish by İzzet Çıvgın) gives information on Bektashi and the Bektashism based on the Tahrir books dated end 15th and start of 16th centuries. After close investigation of these books belonging to the reign of Mehmet the 2nd and Beyazit the 2nd, it gives information on the Aksaray sanjak only.

Mon approche étant socio-historique en ce qui concerne les faits sociaux, j’ai une tendance de plaider pour une vision historiciste du phénomène religieux, une vision s’appuyant sur la négation des thèses essentialistes et refusant de parler de l'islam en soi. Les institutions religieuses sont soumises au changement, bien qu’ils soient aussi porteurs de l’imprégnation du passé dans temps actuel. Le monde de l’islam est sujet des mêmes lois comme le reste de l’humanité. L'islam n’est pas un obstacle au développement, ni égalitaire en soi. Je considère l'islam comme un facteur neutre. Ce point de vue m’oblige d’attester que la religion n’est pas un système fermé défini une fois pour toutes et d’écarter délibérément l’explication essentialiste de la collusion entre le politique et le religieux.

En étudiant l’évolution des institutions islamiques, j’ai trouvé l’occasion d’examiner le processus de conversion des tribus turques nomades. Cette étude m’a permis de mettre en évidence l’émergence de l’islam turc et ses particularités. Cet islam, adopté notamment au Xe siècle par les communautés turques, n’empêche guère la survivance de croyances anciennes, coexistant avec les pratiques dites islamiques dans de nombreux comportements. La conversion a accéléré l’assimilation de la civilisation arabo-persane par les peuples nomades et aussi leur sédentarisation. Pour les Turcs nomades, l’islam désignait la civilisation, la justice et l’assise idéologique d’un État qui devait reposer sur une politique fiscale solide. Devenus musulmans tout en conservant leurs coutumes tribales, les Turcs ont largement influencé la formation des institutions sociales, politiques et religieuses du monde musulman.

Les Turcs Seldjoukides s’imposent en 1055 comme les protecteurs du calife abbaside. Le calife ne disposait plus d’une force coercitive suffisante pour maintenir le pouvoir. Les Turcs, nouvellement convertis à l’Islam, modifient la structure traditionnelle de l’État musulman, en créant une grande confusion entre autorité (droit de commander) et pouvoir (force coercitive avec laquelle on oblige les autres à obéir). C’est encore les Turcs qui mettent fin en 1517 à la dualité concernant les notions d’autorité et de pouvoir : Selim devient le premier sultan ottoman à porter le titre de calife. Pour la première fois, la dynastie califale est non-arabe. C’est encore un turc, Mustafa Kemal, fondateur de la Turquie moderne et laïque, qui abolit le califat (1924).

On retrouve dans la société ottomane les traces de la culture byzantine et celles de la culture arabo-persane. Les phénomènes d’échanges, de transmission et de successions progressives accompagnent le passage de l’Empire byzantin à l’État ottoman, d’où le titre des sultans comme Kayser-i Rûm (César de Rome). L’Empire ottoman est un État islamique, certes, mais aussi une sorte de Troisième Rome. La République de Turquie fondée en 1923 par Kemal Atatürk se veut un État laïque. D’un point de vue, c’est une rupture avec l’Ancien régime ottoman. D’un autre point de vue, la sécularisation de la société turque était déjà assez avancée à cause des grandes réformes du XIXe siècle.

Il n’est donc pas possible d’examiner l’époque républicaine sans analyser les dynamiques de l’empire ottoman mourant. Les notions occidentales (positivisme, parlementarisme, libéralisme, nationalisme, constitution) étaient déjà présentes à l’époque impériale. La république est fondée sur les ruines de l’Empire. Toute idéologie ottomane avait pour objectif de sauver l’Empire. La priorité de la jeune république, c’est encore faire survivre le nouvel État. Pour la survie de l’État, on est prêt à réprimer les revendications ethniques/religieuses. L’identité culturelle devient une affaire d’État-nation, gérant de l’identité. On veut laïciser l’État, mais loin de promulguer une loi comparable à la loi de 1905, on domestique plutôt le discours religieux par l’intermédiaire d’une institution étatique, Direction des affaires religieuses. On défend la participation des citoyens à la prise de décision politique, mais on se demande si l'État n’est pas menacé quand les citoyens discutent les lois. On rejette l’héritage ottoman, mais on n’arrive pas à dépasser le système des millet ottomans (communautés confessionnelles légalement protégées) et l’approche discriminatoire envers les non musulmans. On désire que ces derniers soient fidèles envers l’autorité centrale, mais on refuse de les considérer comme composantes essentiels de la nation.

La Turquie est un pays constitutionnellement laïc depuis 1937, mais certains pensent aujourd’hui que cette laïcité a bloqué la sécularisation, parce qu’elle a été imposée par la force depuis le «haut». Selon les tenants de cette perspective, le projet kémaliste aurait été celui d’une réforme fondamentale de la religion en vue de débarrasser l’islam de ses éléments rétrogrades et de substituer à l’islam populaire/confrérique un islam rationnel/pro-laïc sous le contrôle de l’État. L’élite kémaliste s’attachait à propager un islam ethno-national, une sorte d’islam modernisée s’exprimant en turc. Ainsi, la laïcité autoritaire constitue un frein à la sécularisation, à la démocratisation et au processus d’individuation à l’œuvre en Turquie. Mais elle contribue d’autre part au raffermissement d’un espace public libéré de l’emprise de la religion. Cet acquis offre un contexte favorable à la sécularisation, maudite par les acteurs islamiques comme un processus de protestantisation de la société. Si les fondateurs de la République n’arrivent pas à créer un individu libéré de la contrainte communautaire (ils plaident eux aussi pour un communautarisme national), les pratiques cultuelles deviennent aujourd’hui moins communautaires. Même les nouveaux acteurs islamiques essaient de concilier leur foi et leur réussite mondaine. L’islam politique turc participe ainsi au mouvement de l’individuation et se réfère de moins en moins à un État islamiste. La société turque parait en situation de sortie d’un monde où la religion est structurante pour passer dans un monde où elle continue d’exister, mais à l’intérieur d’une forme politique et d’un ordre collectif qu’elle ne détermine plus. Si l’islam risque de devenir plus visible et influent dans l’espace public, l’islam politique turc a connu un échec et s’est avoué vaincu ; l’utopie islamiste est discréditée. Le leader du parti au pouvoir, issu de la mouvance islamiste, répète sans cesse qu’il a dévêtu la chemise islamiste et se revendique démocrate conservateur. Mais ce n’est pas la mort de l’utopie islamique ; si on reprend une clichée, le passé est toujours présent et le présent est retranché du passé.

To this day, the question of the internal or external origin of the “Indo-Aryan speaking Vedic people” is one of the most popular subjects of scientific speculation. While some scholars (archaeologists, linguists, geneticists, anthropologists, historians) still devoted to the Aryan Migrationist theory which states that nomadic Aryans invaded India between 1500 - 1200 BCE, destroyed the Harappan Civilization and pushed its inhabitants -the Dravidian people- to the south of India; others suggests that Aryans were the indigenous population and that an invasion of India from the outside around 1500 did not occur. This presentation will discuss the linguistic, literary and archaeological evidences of these two contradicting theories and outline the cultural exchanges between dravidian and aryan cultures in light of recent data. I will also discuss the reasons for the decline of Indus-Harappan Civilization and the collapse of urban society in 1500 BCE: Invasion of the nomadic Aryan warriors, social instabilities, decline in trade, climate shift that caused great droughts for several centuries or human-induced environmental degradation? One of the consequences of the disintegration of the Harappan civilization (perhaps because of continued aridification) has been the large-scale depopulation of Indus cities and the concentration of new settlements in the Ganges Plain.

This study is the fifth of an article series dedicated to colonization as a cause of cultural change. It discusses the effects of culture contact between lower (northern) and upper (southern) Egypt and the southern Levant during so-called Naqada expansion (widespread distribution of southern material culture at sites at the northern Egypt), and Egyptian colonization of the southern Levant assumed to be founded in the last quarter of the 4th millennium B.C. The ultimate objective of this study is to examine the relationship between long-distance trade, colonization and the state formation (state ideology, emergence of early elites, specialized craft production and political economy).

Bu kitap, Orta-Çağ Tarihi hakkında bilgilenmek isteyen okura dönemin temel karakteristiklerini tanıtmayı amaçlamaktadır. Kitabın merkezinde Akdeniz Havzası ve onun yarattığı uygarlıklar duruyor. Dönemi, üç ana coğrafya etrafında yansıtmaya çalıştık: Avrupa, Bizans dünyası ve İslam’la yoğrulmuş Orta-Doğu. Yazarın hedefi, Akdeniz uygarlıkları çerçevesinde Orta-Çağ halklarının ekonomik, toplumsal, siyasal, hukuksal ve dinsel gerçeklerini olabildiğince kapsamlı biçimde tartışmaktır.

Kitabın en başında, Avrupa’nın büyük bir zihinsel devrim geçirmesine neden olan Coğrafi Keşifler, Rönesans ve Reform dönemleri aktarılmaya çalışıldı. Daha sonra, Orta-Çağ’a özgü devlet anlayışını simgeleyen Kutsal Roma-Cermen İmparatorluğu’nun, modern dünyanın gerekleri doğrultusunda nasıl değiştiği anlatıldı. Günümüzün siyasal sistemleri üzerinde derin izler bırakan Büyük İngiliz Devrimi, Amerikan Bağımsızlık Savaşı ve Fransız Devrimi de olabildiğince kapsamlı biçimde aktarıldı. Böylece, Haklar Bildirgesi, Bağımsızlık Bildirgesi, İnsan ve Yurttaş Hakları Bildirgesi gibi anayasal metinlerin hangi koşullar altında ortaya çıktığı gösterilmeye çalışıldı. Bu bölümler hazırlanırken, tarih ve anayasa hukuku gibi farklı disiplinlerin konuya yaklaşımlarını yansıtmaya özen gösterildi. Avrupa’nın geçirdiği kültürel evrimi aktarmak için Aydınlanma Yüzyılı’nı, Batı’nın diğer ülkeler üzerinde kurduğu ekonomik hâkimiyetin temellerini ortaya koymak için de Sanayi Devrimleri’ni anlatmak zorunluydu. Öte yandan, yalnızca Avrupa’daki değil, dünyanın farklı coğrafyalarındaki siyasal dengeleri yeniden kuran Viyana Kongresi (1815) ve Berlin Konferansı (1885) gibi tarihsel süreçlere de değinmek gerekiyordu ki, Koloni İmparatorlukları etraflı biçimde okura aktarılabilsin. Kolonicilik konusuna girdikten sonra, Bağımsızlık Savaşları ve Bandung Konferansı'na değinmemek olmazdı. Böylece kitabın son bölümünde "3. dünya"ya odaklanıldı.

This study discusses the effects of cultural contact between lower and upper Mesopotamia during the so-called ‘Uruk expansion’ in the 4th millennium B.C. 1- The paper argues that the world’s first cities were developed in Southern Mesopotamia of the 4th millennium. The reason is that these settlements participated in large networks of trade and cultural exchanges. 2- Uruk seems to have been at the heart of an interactive network of cities competing for import of raw materials necessary to produce “status goods” used by political elites as means of consolidating political power. 3- It is possible to classify the earliest cities as microstates. 4- The long-distance trade was one of the stimuli of early state formation. 5- The early city-states, which were characterized by their lack of economic self-sufficiency, had a natural inclination to seek for colonial expansion. 6- The Uruk expansion was an actual colonial phenomenon, involving the emergence of Mesopotamian trading enclaves among preexisting local polities.

The present study discusses the effects of cross-cultural contact between lower and upper Mesopotamia, during so-called “Uruk expansion” (widespread distribution of southern Uruk-style material culture at sites at the North) in the 4th millennium BCE. 1- This paper claims that Uruk expansion was an actual colonial phenomenon, involving the emergence of Mesopotamian trading enclaves among preexisting local polities. 2- There was a symmetrical exchange between southern city-states and northern non urban societies. This long-distance trade, however, was particularly beneficial for more complex societies of the southern alluvial lowlands, because of the positive effect of trade on the emergence of more centralized states. 3- There was not a kind of world-system in which the core dominates an underdevelopped periphery politically and exploits it economically, rather a peaceful colonization/acculturation was.

This study is the 8th of an article series dedicated to cross-cultural encounters (trade, emulation, colonization, conquest) as a primary cause of social and political change. Its purpose is to examine the complex relationship between Ancient Egypt and Nubia during the First Intermediate Period and Early Middle Kingdom (2200-1950 BC). The author of the present study see troubled times of the First Intermediate Period (political unrest, civil war, lack of central authority, emergence of local warlords, years of warfare and strife) as a stimulus of the colonization and the later conquest of Nubia. The Middle Kingdom, which emerged from the “chaos” of the First Intermediate Period, is marked by an increase in foreign trade and wealth. It’s a return to classical order: The Egyptian state was reconsolidated. However, unlike the Old Kingdom, the new political elite pursued an agressive foreign policy, colonized Lower Nubia and undertook building projects including military fortresses and mining quarries. During the Middle Kingdom, numerous forts and fortified settlements (military and trading posts), and seasonal quarry and mining camps co-existed alongside the indigenous Nubian population.

Yüksek Lisans tezinde, Cumhuriyet tarih yazıcılığının gelişimi “Türk Tarih Tezleri”, “Anadoluculuk akımı”, “Hümanist Akım” ve “Türk-İslam Sentezi” yaklaşımları çerçevesinde incelenmiştir. Tezin genel amacı, bu akımların ilk-orta öğretimde ve genel olarak akademik dünyada Eski Yunan algısı üzerindeki etkilerini görmektir. Böylece, Cumhuriyet dönemindeki siyasal akımların, ulusçuluğun ve kimlik inşa sürecinin tarih yazıcılığı üzerindeki etkilerini saptamak hedeflenmiştir. Yukarıda adı geçen akımların her biri, Cumhuriyet yurttaşları için farklı kimlikler (farklı “biz” tahayyülleri) önermektedir. 1930’lara damgasını vuran, I. ve II. Türk Tarih Kongreleri’nde (1932, 1937) olgunlaştırılan ve nihayet “Türk tarihi’nin Ana Hatları adlı kitapla taçlandırılan ilk yaklaşımda “biz”in öznesi, “Orta Asya’dan göçlerle dünyaya yayılan ve gittiği her yere uygarlık götüren Türkler”dir. Yine devlet eliyle desteklenen ve 1943’teki III. Tarih Kongresi’nden sonra ilk/ortaokul-lise ders kitaplarında yerini alan “Hümanist Akım”ın “biz”i ise, “İnsanlık aleminin bir parçası olarak Anadolulu Türkler”dir. Arif Müfit Mansel gibi akademisyenlerin geliştirdiği “Hümanist Akım”, batılılaşma tercihi doğrultusunda Grekoromen kültürü-tarihi anlama ve bunu genç kuşaklara eksiksiz biçimde aktarma” derdindedir. Azra Erhat, Halikarnas Balıkçısı, Vedat Günyol ve Sabahattin Eyuboğlu’nun (“Mavi Yolcular”ın) çabalarıyla gelişen Anadoluculuk, “biz”i kuran unsur olarak Anadoluluğu öne çıkarır ve “Grek Mucizesi”nin temeline Anadolu uygarlıklarını koyar. Ancak burada sözü edilen Anadoluluğun çoğu kez Türklükle iç-içe geçmiş biçimde kullanıldığı gözden kaçırılmamalıdır. İbrahim Kafesoğlu gibi Orta Çağ Türk-İslam tarihçileri ve özellikle de Aydınlar Ocağı’na mensup milliyetçi-muhafazakar yazarlarca desteklenen “Türk-İslam Sentezi”ne gelince… Burada Türklüğün İslam’ın kılıcı olarak tarif edildiğini, İslam-öncesi Türk kültürünün de aslında İslam ile ortak karakteristikler sergileyen (içinde İslamlaşma eğilimi taşıyan) bir halkın macerası olarak aktarıldığını gözleriz. 1980 Darbesi’nden sonra Milli eğitim tarih programlarının resmi yaklaşımına dönüşen bu akım, “çağdaş düşman” Yunan’ın “eski” tarihini Türk çocuklarına okutmayı yakışıksız bulur; Grekoromen tarihin ders kitaplarındaki yeri azalırken “biz”i kuran İslam’ın ve Türklüğün 10. yüzyıldaki “kutlu karşılaşma”sı yüceltilir.

This study is the 7th of an article series dedicated to cross-cultural encounters (trade, emulation, colonization) as a primary cause of social change and State formation. Its purpose is to examine the complex relationship between Ancient Egypt and Nubia, involving cultural transmissions, trade expeditions and military raids during the Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC). The author of the present study see long-distance trade as a direct stimulus of the formation, institutionalization and consolidation of the early states in order to control sources of trade items and protect trade routes. Elite demand for raw materials used in the construction of monumental public buildings and exotic/status goods (“conspicuous consumption”) can be an initial stimulus to formation of political hierarchy. This statement is likely to be true in the case of early state formation in Egypt. In the same way, Lower Nubia’s (region between the first and second cataracts of the Nile) prosperity was underpinned by its intermediary position in the long-distance trade networks. During the maturation of the Egyptian state, however, the early Nubian policies (A-Group culture) experienced cultural decline and poverty, while a powerful kingdom began to be established around the third cataract of the Nile (Upper Nubia): Kerma.