CALL FOR PAPERS

Fuat

Assoc. Prof. Dr.

In the process of disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of independent nation-states brought along minorities and border problems. A significant part of the disputes between Turkey and Greece today are also related to the contractual arrangements signed by these states during their independence processes. In this study, in addition to the main debates concerning territorial sovereignty between Turkey and Greece, disputes regarding sovereign rights, especially arising from the Law of the Sea, are examined.In the international community, the borders of sovereign states are necessarily determined by a treaty arrangement. In addition to limitations, special arrangements and obligations such as the demilitarisation of some regions can also be agreed upon between neighboring states. Such arrangements are also in question in determining the territorial borders between Turkey and Greece. For example, it is seen that the islands transferred to Greece by treaties were transferred with the obligation to be demilitarized. On the other hand, the determination of maritime borders as well as land borders may cause disputes between neighbouring states. As a result of technical studies on the determination of the land borders between Turkey and Greece, the land borders between the two countries could be made indisputable. However, since the entry into force of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, there has been no joint work on determining maritime borders between the two countries. Due to the developments in the Law of the Sea, the tendency of states to benefit more from the seas has brought Turkey and Greece, which are coastal countries in the Aegean Sea, against each other in terms of both sovereignty borders and limitation of sovereign rights. The fact that no study has been carried out to determine the boundaries of sovereignty of the maritime country makes it unclear what the limits of the sovereign rights of these countries are. Therefore, it is not possible to determine the limits of sovereign rights regarding maritime jurisdiction areas without determining the common and indisputable border of the maritime country.In the study, it is discussed how the country transfers were carried out between the two states and how and with what constraints the borders of sovereignty were determined within the framework of the contractual arrangements that created the status. In essence, it can be said that the disputes between Turkey and Greece have three dimensions that are directly related to the contractual status. Accordingly, although there is a contractual arrangement that creates a status, one of the parties may violate this regulation with a fait accompli. Secondly, although it&nbsp;is a general contractual arrangement, either party may interpret the provisions of this regulation differently or the contractual arrangement does not contain a provision regarding the relevant dispute. Thirdly, no contractual arrangement specific to the dispute between the parties has ever been made, and one of the parties is trying to create a de facto situation by making a fait accompli. It is possible to observe these three features in the relations between Turkey and Greece. As a matter of fact, according to the study conducted by the Turkish Foreign Policy Crisis Studies Group, there were 14 foreign policy crises between Turkey and Greece between 1923 and 2016. The vast majority of these crises are directly related to the sovereignty and/ or sovereign rights of the parties.Therefore, the handling of the existing disputes between the parties by using peaceful resolution methods and reaching a permanent and satisfactory solution is directly related to the parties' compliance with the contractual status, the realization of contractual arrangements that have not yet been realized, and the avoidance of fait accomplis that will escalate the tension between the parties. If the parties try to change the status quo for their benefit, it will not only trigger a new crisis but also increase the risk of a hot military conflict. The starting point for the negotiation is the Lausanne Peace Treaty (and other contractual arrangements) signed between the parties. It is not possible to establish an undisputed sovereignty order without completing the unfinished work of determining the borders of territorial sovereignty. The demarcation of an undisputed territorial border would also make it easier for the parties to agree on more flexible options for sovereign rights and technical responsibilities. In this context, the point that will challenge the parties in the negotiations is due to the originality of the political geography in the Aegean Sea. In particular, both the numerical multiplicity of the islands surrounding the Anatolian coasts and the fact that they belong to Greece, which is a country with a distant coast, restrict the policies of the parties in an equitable, just and optimum solution.The emergence of independent nation-states during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire brought with it minority and border problems. A significant part of the disputes between Türkiye and Greece today are related to the contractual arrangements signed by these states during their independence processes. In this study, in addition to the basic debates regarding territorial sovereignty between Turkey and Greece, the disputes regarding sovereign rights arising from the Law of the Sea are examined.&nbsp;In the international society, the borders of sovereign states are determined by a contractual regulation. In these contractual arrangements, in addition to limitations, special arrangements and obligations can also be agreed upon between neighbouring states, such as the demilitarisation of some regions. Such regulations also apply to determining the territorial borders between Turkey and Greece. For example, it seems that the islands transferred to Greece through treaties were transferred with the obligation of being demilitarized. On the other hand, determining maritime borders as well as territorial borders may cause disputes between neighbouring states. As a result of technical studies on determining the land borders between Türkiye and Greece, the land borders between the two countries have become indisputable. However, since the&nbsp;Lausanne Peace Treaty came into force, no joint work has been carried out between the two countries regarding determining maritime borders. Due to the developments in the Law of the Sea, states' tendency to benefit more from the seas has brought Turkey and Greece, which are coastal countries in the Aegean Sea, face to face in terms of both sovereignty boundaries and limitation of sovereign rights. The fact that no study has been carried out to determine the borders of sovereignty regarding the maritime country makes it unclear what the limits of the sovereign rights of these countries are. Therefore, it is not possible to determine the boundaries of sovereign rights regarding maritime jurisdiction areas without determining the common and undisputed border of the maritime country.In the study, how territorial transfers took place between two states is discussed and it is discussed how and with what restrictions the borders of sovereignty are determined within the framework of the contractual regulations that create the status. In essence, it can be said that the disputes between Türkiye and Greece have three dimensions that directly concern the contractual status. Accordingly, although there is a contractual regulation that creates a status, one of the parties may violate this regulation. Secondly, although it is a general contractual regulation, any party may interpret the provisions of this regulation differently or the contractual regulation does not contain a provision regarding the relevant dispute. Thirdly, no contractual regulation has been made specifically for the dispute that has arisen between the parties, and one of the parties is trying to create a de facto situation by making it a fait accompli. It is possible to observe these three features in the relations between Turkey and Greece. As a matter of fact, according to the study conducted by the Turkish Foreign Policy Crisis Investigation Group, there were 14 foreign policy crises between Turkey and Greece between 1923 and 2016. The majority of these crises are directly related to the sovereignty and/or sovereign rights of the parties.Therefore, addressing the existing disputes between the parties using peaceful resolution methods and reaching a permanent, satisfactory solution is directly related to the parties' compliance with the contractual status, realization of contractual arrangements that have not yet been realized, and avoiding fait accomplis that will escalate the tension between the parties. If the parties attempt to change the status quo to their advantage, it will not only trigger a new crisis but also increase the risk of a hot military conflict. The starting point for negotiations is the Lausanne Peace Treaty (and other contractual arrangements) signed between the parties. It is not possible to achieve an undisputed sovereignty order without completing the unfinished work of determining the borders of territorial sovereignty. Determining an undisputed territorial border will also make it easier for the parties to agree on more flexible options regarding sovereign rights and technical responsibilities. In this context, the point that will challenge the parties in the negotiations stems from the uniqueness of the political geography, especially in the Aegean Sea. In particular, both the numerical abundance of the islands surrounding the Anatolian coast and the fact that they belong to Greece, a distant coastal country, restrict the policies of the parties in an equitable, fair and optimum solution.

Maritime Jurisdiction Disputes in Turkey-Greece Relations

Mustafa

Prof. Dr.

Turkey and Uzbekistan are two new nation-states that gained their independence, the first in the first quarter of the 20th century and the second in the last quarter of the same century. Although Turkey and Uzbekistan are new states, they are the successors of the Ottoman Empire and Turkistan Khanates, which were established in two ancient geographies of Turkish-İslamic civilization, Anatolia and Transoxiana. Moreover, Turkey and Uzbekistan have similarities in terms of origin, religion, language, history, and culture. İn fact, they have common political, scientific, and religious personalities such as Amir Timur, Ali Kuscu, Ulugh Begh and Imam Bukhari. Therefore, the Ottoman Empire maintained political military, scientific, and cultural relations with the Khanates of Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, and Hokand in Turkestan between XVI.-XX. Centuries.&nbsp;As it is known, Ottoman-Uzbek relations began with the defeat of the Uzbek khan, Muhammed Shaybani Khan, to the Safavid ruler Shah Ismail in Mahmudabad near Merv in 1510 and later, Shah İsmail sends the head of Shaybani to the Ottoman Sultan, Beyazid II. This was Shah Ismail’s challenge to the Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II. At the same time, this challenge caused the start of the Ottoman-Safavid struggle and caused the establishment of OttomanUzbek political relations because Ottoman sultans wanted to establish a Sunni alliance with the Uzbek khans against the Safavids. Also, the Uzbek khans were afraid of the Safavids taking over the Sunni regions in Transoxiana. Thus, Ambassadors began to come and go between the Ottoman sultans and the Uzbek khans. Firstly, Selim I, the Ottoman Sultan, sent Muhammed Beg to Köçküncü Han Samarkand Khan, before the Battle of Çaldıran dated 1514. The purpose of Selim I was to cooperate with Samarkand Khan against Shiites. Likewise, Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, sent letters to the rulers of Samarkand (Ubeydullah Khan) and Bukhara (Ali Sultan) before the Iraqi expedition, calling for “jihad” against Shiite Iran. These letters pleased the two Uzbek khans. Despite the Amasya (1555) and İstanbul (1590) treaties, the Ottoman Empire left the Uzbek khans alone against the Safavids because the Safavids had promised not to attack the Uzbeks. But they didn’t promise that by encouraging wars with Austria of the Ottoman Empire. Safavids declared war against the Uzbeks. Unfortunately, the Ottomans did not answer the Uzbeks’ calls for help. On the contrary, the Ottomans replied “We&nbsp;are at peace with Iran. You live in peace”. This attitude of the Ottomans was purely political pragmatism. In addition, the power struggle between the Uzbek khans played an important role in the attitude of the Ottomans. Finally, the Russians benefited from this rivalry and after the middle of the last quarter of the 19th century, Turkestan was occupied by the Russians. As it is known, Turkestan pilgrims were going to Mecca on three roads. One of these roads was the Crimea-Istanbul-Mecca road via the Caspian. Moreover, Istanbul was the center of the caliphate for Turkestan pilgrims. The pilgrimage would not be accepted for them without visiting Istanbul for them. The Ottoman Sultans attached great importance to the safety of pilgrimage routes. In addition, this issue was a matter of political superiority for the Ottoman Sultans. Therefore, the Turkestan pilgrims preferred this route.&nbsp;&nbsp;On the other hand, Turkestani Pilgrims who came to Istanbul were hosted in the Naqshbandi Uzbek lodges in Istanbul. These lodges acted as consulates. Likewise, the Ottoman governments were meeting their needs and allocating ferries for pilgrims After the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy, students from Turkistan came to Istanbul for education. One of these was the Uzbek writer Abdurrauf Fitrat. Turkistan youth like him wrote articles in magazines like Sırat-ı Müstakim. In addition, the people of Bukhara helped the Ottoman Empire financially in the Balkan War and the First World War. Towards the end of the war, Enver Pasha and his friends joined the Basmacilik movement. These relations lasted until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The main source of this study is the Ottoman Archive of the Directorate of State Archives, Presidency of Republic of Turkey. In addition, books and articles related to the subject were also used.&nbsp;

The Historical Background of The Relationships of TurkeyUzbekistan: The Political and Cultural Relations Between the Ottoman Empire and Turkestan (XVI.-XX. Centuries)

Ramile

Personal friendship between presidents is of great importance in international relations. The friendship between Heydar Aliyev and Suleyman Demirel played a great role in the development of Azerbaijan-Türkiye relations. As a result of the personal friendship between two great political figures - Heydar Aliyev and Suleyman Demirel, National Leader Heydar Aliyev released Nakhchivan from the blockade, supplied it with food and energy, built a bridge connecting Türkiye to Azerbaijan, and built a bridge between Türkiye and Nakhchivan. The friendship of Heydar Aliyev and Suleyman Demirel increased the mutual respect, sympathy and love of the people of Türkiye and Azerbaijan. When Nakhchivan was attacked by Armenia, Suleyman Demirel announced the essence of the Kars Treaty of 1921 to the whole world. In addition to the official meetings of the two statesmen, in each of their private meetings, views were exchanged on the consistent development of Azerbaijan-Türkiye cooperation, the international situation, and a number of regional problems. Along with President Heydar Aliyev, Suleyman Demirel also kept the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijani conflict under his control, and always stood by Azerbaijan in international meetings and the adoption of important documents. The friendship of the two leaders was important in the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects. Remembering the words of his friend Suleyman Demirel about Türkiye's great need for gas, Heydar Aliyev directed Azerbaijan's gas to meet Türkiye's needs.Conceptual views of Heydar Aliyev in laying the foundation of fraternal relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Türkiye have been accounted for today. Türkiye recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the first time among the countries of the world, and mutual diplomatic missions began to operate. Heydar Aliyev, who relied on Türkiye as a brotherly state with the same language and roots and tried to strengthen&nbsp;its influence in the Caucasus, pursued a balanced policy with other neighboring countries, including Russia, which is one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and has the right to veto decisions. He also had official visits to France, Great Britain, China, and the United States, clarified the fair position of Azerbaijan, and signed documents. However, the National Leader knew that the support of Azerbaijan in the region and in the world could be a brotherly Turkish state with one language and one blood, and that Türkiye's moral and political support of Azerbaijan in the Patriotic War to the end, and the creation of even more enthusiasm in the fight against the enemy and confidence in victory among the Azerbaijani people proved it once again.Türkiye has a role in the political and economic life of Azerbaijan. In order to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict diplomatically, the Republic of Türkiye provided political support to the Republic of Azerbaijan in a principled form, regularly maintained relations with the Azerbaijani government to study the situation, made a statement about the aggression of the Armenian armed forces against Nakhchivan, and made a proposal to send the Turkish army to the region. He made appeals and statements to the UN Security Council about settling the conflict, Suleyman Demirel raised the Karabakh issue during his visit to the United States and called on the United States to stop supporting Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. He brought the Khojaly genocide to the agenda of the political commission of NATO.From March 27 to April 3, 1993, immediately after the beginning of the Armenian aggression in the Kalbajar region and in the process of the subsequent occupations of Armenia, when the government of Azerbaijan appealed to the UN regarding the situation in the region, Türkiye called the UN Security Council for urgently preventing the aggression against Azerbaijan and liberate all Azerbaijani lands. Türkiye played a great role in the adoption of the 1996 Lisbon Declaration and the adoption of 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council confirming the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.The Akyaka border crossing point on the railway from Gyumri to Kars and the Alijan border crossing point on the land road passing through Igdir were closed by Türkiye due to Armenia's territorial claims against Türkiye, its claims of promoting the "Armenian genocide", and its occupation of Azerbaijani territories.The non-opening of the border crossing gates with Armenia is one of the factors that proves the brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Türkiye. President Heydar Aliyev performed strong activities in establishing Azerbaijan-Türkiye relations on great spiritual and national roots and succeeded in this.Azerbaijan also has a role in the political and economic life of Türkiye. Azerbaijan has always defended Türkiye in the international world. President Heydar Aliyev strongly objected to the discussion of the "Armenian Genocide" project in the US Congress, the French Parliament, Italy and Russia. Heydar Aliyev expressed the importance of uniting Azerbaijan and Türkiye against injustice. He believed that historians are responsible for refuting the "Armenian genocide" and considered it is necessary to involve historians from Azerbaijan, Türkiye, as well as Georgia, Russia, Iran and other places to investigate this issue by revealing the documents. Heydar Aliyev emphasized that Russia's military base in Armenia is a threat not only to Azerbaijan, but also to the region and Türkiye, Türkiye is responsible for protecting the region, and without Türkiye's participation, there will be no security in the Caucasus. On November 18, 1999, at the Istanbul summit, the signing of the agreement on the transportation of crude oil from the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye through the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan oil pipeline, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline on June 26, 2002 in Ankara. The introduction of the project stimulated the development of Azerbaijan-Türkiye strategic cooperation and security in the region.

The Role of the Friendship of Heydar Aliyev and Suleyman Demırel in Establishing Relations Between Azerbaijan and Türkiye on a Solid Foundation

Hakan

Res. Assist.

Güngör

The illegitimate separatist authority, which maintained its de facto existence for 30 years under the shadow of the Armenian occupation in Karabakh, has been at the very center of the Russia-Armenia-Iran encirclement that is trapping Azerbaijan. In this respect, the energy and transportation lines opening towards the West passing through the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan can be considered as the breaking point of the encirclement. The attacks against this region, which occurred on the eve of the Second Karabakh War, have posed a vital danger to the national security of Azerbaijan. For this reason, Baku, with the unlimited support of Ankara, has launched military operations to save Karabakh from occupation. In this process, the two allies have realized the importance and sensitivity of the Tovuz region. As a matter of fact, in the ceasefire agreement signed after the Karabakh Victory, Azerbaijan’s diplomatic success has enabled the creation of an alternative route to this region.In this study, the reflections of Türkiye’s effort to become a regional great power in the South Caucasus have been analyzed with the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) and the importance of the Zangezur Corridor in this context has been shown. First of all, the question that “How can Türkiye become a regional great power?” has been answered on a theoretical basis. Türkiye, which is described as an insulator state according to RSCT, has increased its influence in the South Caucasus during and after the Second Karabakh War and has embarked on a path to eventually become a regional great power. In response, Iran, Türkiye’s historical rival in the region, and Armenia, which owes its existence to its hostile policies against Türkiye, have began to act together in the South Caucasus. For these reasons, the boundaries between security complexes have begun to be eroded. Türkiye, which has increased its influence in the South Caucasus thanks to the strategic partnership it has established with Azerbaijan, has&nbsp;ceased to be an insulator state. In the coming period, it will be the most important actor in the region through the Zangezur Corridor.The Zangezur Corridor is of vital importance for Türkiye to become a regional great power. In this context, the question that “Why do Türkiye and Azerbaijan insist on opening the Zangezur Corridor?” has been given an answer with a historical perspective. In its effort to become a regional great power, Türkiye has managed to penetrate the South Caucasus thanks to the military and diplomatic support it provided to Azerbaijan during and after the Second Karabakh War. As a matter of fact, the Shusha Declaration signed with Azerbaijan has reinforced Türkiye’s power in the region. Moreover, even though Türkiye was not among the parties to the ceasefire agreement, it has legitimized its demand for the opening of the Zangezur Corridor by this means. In this respect, the Zangezur Corridor, designed as an alternative to the route in Tovuz, is likely to be another breaking point of the encirclement that is trapping Azerbaijan. Because, thanks to this corridor, Azerbaijan will be directly connected to Türkiye via roads and railways. However, Armenia and Iran, on both sides of the corridor, have interpreted this plan in line with their own geopolitical interests and have produced alternative solutions.As an alternative to the Zangezur Corridor, Iran has proposed the Aras Corridor; Armenia, on the other hand, has come up with the Crossroads of Peace Project. These alternatives need a comprehensive comparison in line with Türkiye’s aim of becoming a regional great power. As a matter of fact, in this study, the question that “What are the political, military, economic, and cultural dimensions and effects of the Zangezur Corridor and its alternatives?” has been answered. As a result, it has been determined that the Zangezur Corridor will be more beneficial for Türkiye than its alternatives, despite some of the political and military risks it carries. Because through this corridor, Türkiye will strengthen its own political power in the South Caucasus. On the other hand, in this way, Türkiye will be able to ensure its economic influence in the region by eliminating its historical rival Iran. Meanwhile, Türkiye will pressure Armenia and force it to adopt a moderate attitude and cooperate. Finally, Türkiye will not only strengthen the existing cultural unity with Azerbaijan, but will also have the opportunity to diversify its existing historical ties with Turkistan by opening to the Caspian Sea. It has been anticipated that, given these conditions, Türkiye could emerge as a regional great power. Indeed, the guiding question of the study, “How do the Zangezur Corridor and its alternatives contribute to Türkiye’s efforts to become a great power?” has been comprehensively addressed. Thus, the hypothesis formulated as “The Zangezur Corridor, despite some risks it carries, will contribute more to Türkiye’s emergence as a regional great power” has been tested and validated based on the findings obtained.&nbsp;In this study, regional and global actors have been examined under the guidance of the following questions: What are the interests and priorities of these actors? What are their political, military, economic, and cultural power and influence? What strategies and policies do they implement in this context? Firstly, Iran, Türkiye’s historical rival in the region, opposes the Zangezur Corridor in the South Caucasus due to both internal and external reasons, aiming to prevent the emergence of Turkish influence. Among the internal reasons are the “Iran-Turan”&nbsp;rivalry, which persists in the political subconscious of Iranian leaders, and the Iranian Turks, who are perceived as a serious threat in this context. One of the external reasons is the potential establishment of good relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv through Baku, while another is Moscow’s dominance over Iran’s foreign policy. Indeed, Russia regards the South Caucasus as its sphere of influence. Furthermore, although Russia may tolerate Türkiye’s influence in the South Caucasus to some extent, it will not consent to any further steps towards Turkistan, as it also views this region as within its sphere of influence. On the other hand, Armenia, as the defeated state, is persistently resisting and refusing to fulfill its commitments. It hopes to alleviate its isolation in the region by gaining support from Western powers. However, as the West, unable to intervene in the Second Karabakh War and the ceasefire process, has lost its influence in the South Caucasus in favor of Türkiye and Russia.

Zangezur Corridor and Alternative Solutions: Risks, Threats, and Opportunities for Türkiye

Elterişhan

Kaliningrad, located on the Baltic Sea coast, is a Russian exclave in the westernmost part of the Russian Federation with no direct connection to the mainland and an example of a border region of great importance. Although Kaliningrad is geographically separated from the Russian mainland, it remains an integral part of Russia’s sovereign territory. Kaliningrad’s strategic geographical location and the point at which it has evolved in the historical process also distinguish the region. Originally known as “Königsberg”, the region developed as the capital of East Prussia and remained under German control for 700 years until it was captured by Soviet forces in 1945. Following the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union took control of East Prussia, an action recognised by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. The transformation of East Prussia into Kaliningrad was a rapid, comprehensive and sustained effort. The first stage of this process involved the erasure of German cultural and historical elements from the region. In this context, the region underwent a rapid process of Sovietisation, which saw the removal of almost all remnants of German settlements and their replacement with Soviet-style buildings. As a result, Kaliningrad was reconstructed to symbolise the progressive social values of the Soviet Union and to present the Soviet perspective in historical narratives. Kaliningrad played an important role in the strategic military planning and infrastructure of the Soviet Union. In this context, Kaliningrad underwent a serious transformation in the post-World War II period and became a strategically located “military base” on the Baltic Sea. Over time, with a military force of more than 100,000 active military personnel stationed in the region, a vast military-industrial complex and a civilian infrastructure customised to meet military demands, Kaliningrad has emerged as one of the most heavily militarised regions of the Soviet Union. At this point, this military force not only acted as a protective shield, deterring a possible invasion and protecting the region, but also had the capacity to be used as a potential staging area for offensive operations against Western Europe. Kaliningrad’s borders were completely closed to Poland and the West, and access to the region was restricted even for Soviet citizens. Thus, foreigners were prohibited from entering this highly militarised and closed zone. Kaliningrad therefore emerged as a symbolic example of a garrison city, recognised for its strong military infrastructure. The 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a profound change in the geographical position of Kaliningrad and in Russia’s internal and external relations. With this development, Kaliningrad, which was previously part of&nbsp;the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, came under the sovereign authority of the Russian Federation. However, as a result of the independence of the three Baltic states, the region bordering Lithuania and Poland became geographically separated from the rest of mainland Russia. As a result, Kaliningrad underwent a significant transformation, emerging as an exclave, thus raising concerns about the problems associated with its geopolitical position. The emergence of a new geopolitical situation has led to many difficulties in providing the region with basic needs, energy and raw material supplies, transport and military transit. The strategic value of the Kaliningrad exclave has also increased significantly as it has become the westernmost region of Russia. Ultimately, the value of the region was determined by a combination of symbolic and strategic factors. The strategic factor behind Moscow’s actions became apparent as it sought to capitalise on the geopolitical importance of the region. This factor included both the protection of Kaliningrad as a military base against the West and its use as a tool to facilitate Russia’s integration into the Western world. Thus, the region has rapidly become an important component of Russia’s diplomatic agenda and strategic plans, especially in relation to hard security issues. Prior to the eastward expansion of NATO and the EU in the 2000s, Kaliningrad was a contested region, defined not only by its strategic challenge to NATO, but also by the lack of a mutual agreement between the EU and Russia on transit arrangements through the region. To address this problem, the EU resorted to an ad hoc co-operation mechanism to manage transit arrangements for Kaliningrad, while NATO underwent a significant shift in priorities, focusing on ensuring security following the deployment of Iskander missiles in the region. As a result, Moscow’s perception of a growing threat from the West has led to a greater emphasis on the region. Accordingly, the region has become a political tool in Russia’s foreign policy and the Kremlin has used NATO enlargement as a means to legitimise its military presence in the region.

The Kaliningrad Question in the National Security of the Russian Federation

Elshan

Clash of Civilizations in the Works of Azerbaijani Intellectual Reza Baraheni

Marko

Hasan

Contemporary Dynamics in Croatian-Turkish Relations (1992-2022)

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@JOURNAL_BOX_EARLYVIEW

Bengül

Assoc. Prof.

Ahmet

Kemalettin Sami Pasha And Berlın Embassy Actıvıtıes (1924-1934)

Seda

A Legal Struggle After Lausanne: Mixed Arbitral Tribunals

@JOURNAL_BOX_FEATURED

Elşad

The Process To The Khojaly Massacre And Khojaly Massacre In The Turkish Press

Assist. Prof.

Russıa’s Polıcy In Syrıa In The New Geopolıtıcal Envıronment In The Mıddle East

@JOURNAL_BOX_MOSTREAD

The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries (AVID) is a research journal published within the Research Institute of Turkology at Istanbul University. It was established in 1924 and holds the distinction of being Turkey's first research institute. AVID aims to share scientific studies, with the academic world. Prepared in the field of social sciences related to the Eurasian region, spanning from Turkistan to the Caucasus, and from the Balkans to the Middle East.

The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries was first published in 2012 and is released twice a year, in March and September. It is an internationally refereed journal that is currently indexed by TR Index, Index Islamicus, Research Bible (Academic Research Index), Social Science Research Network (SSRN), SOBIAD, Turkish Education Index (TEI), EBSCO, and DOAJ.

Muhammed

Index Islamicus

ResearchBib

Türk Eğitim İndeksi

EBSCO

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

DOAJ

SOBIAD

@METRIC_VOLUMES

@METRIC_ISSUES

@METRIC_ARTICLES

@METRIC_OPENACCESS

Journal of Eurasian Inquiries

@INFO_TAB_ABOUT

Editor in Chief

Co Editor in Chief

Section Editor

Editorial Assistant

Editorial Management Board Member

Language Editor

Editorial Board Member

@INFO_TAB_BOARDS

The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries (AVID) aims to provide a platform for scientific studies related to the Eurasian geography and serve as a discussion platform for these studies. AVID aims to increase the accumulation of knowledge in the Eurasian field by featuring high-quality, original, and scientific publications. Thus, it can contribute to the resolution of current issues related to Eurasia. AVID also aims to enrich the Turkish literature on the Eurasian region and adopts a double-blind peer-review and open access process.The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries primarily focuses on theoretical and conceptual studies in the social, political, and economic field related to Eurasia. As an open-access and international journal, AVID has become an important resource for researchers worldwide.AVID publishes research and compilation articles, evaluation studies, book reviews, conference, symposium, and congress papers, as well as field research reports mainly in Turkish, in Turkish dialects which are independent state languages, as well as in English and Russian.

Aim and Scope

Index IslamicusResearch Bible (Academic Research Index)Social Science Research Network (SSRN) SOBİADTurkish Education Index (TEİ) EBSCODOAJ

Indexing and Abstracting

The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and pays regard to Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing published by <a href="https://publicationethics.org/" target="_blank">the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)</a>, <a href="https://doaj.org/apply/transparency/#principles-of-transparency-and-best-practice-in-scholarly-publishing" target="_blank">the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)</a>, <a href="https://oaspa.org/" target="_blank">the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)</a>, and the <a href="https://www.wame.org/" target="_blank">World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)</a> on <a href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing" target="_blank">https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing</a> The subjects covered in the manuscripts submitted to the Journal for publication must be in accordance with the aim and scope of the Journal. Only those manuscripts approved by every individual author and that were not published before in or sent to another journal, are accepted for evaluation.Changing the name of an author (omission, addition or order) in papers submitted to the Journal requires written permission of all declared authors.Plagiarism, duplication, fraud authorship/denied authorship, research/data fabrication, salami slicing/salami publication, breaching of copyrights, prevailing conflict of interest are unethical behaviors. All manuscripts not in accordance with the accepted ethical standards will be removed from the publication. This also contains any possible malpractice discovered after the publication. Plagiarism Submitted manuscripts that pass preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. If plagiarism/self-plagiarism will be found authors will be informed. Editors may resubmit manuscript for similarity check at any peer-review or production stage if required. High similarity scores may lead to rejection of a manuscript before and even after acceptance. Depending on the type of article and the percentage of similarity score taken from each article, the overall similarity score is generally expected to be less than 15 or 20%. Double Blind Peer-Review After plagiarism check, the eligible ones are evaluated by the editors-in-chief for their originality, methodology, the importance of the subject covered and compliance with the journal scope. The editor provides a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles and hands over the papers matching the formal rules to at least two national/international referees for evaluation and gives green light for publication upon modification by the authors in accordance with the referees’ claims.

Policies

The journal is an open access journal and all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Except for commercial purposes, users are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the <a href="https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read" target="_blank">BOAI</a> definition of open access.The open access articles in the journal are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-NC 4.0</a>) license.

All expenses of the journal are covered by the Istanbul University. Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal. There is no article processing charges or submission fees for any submitted or accepted articles.

Authors publishing with the journal retain the copyright to their work licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-NC 4.0</a>) (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</a> ) and grant the Publisher non-exclusive commercial right to publish the work. CC BY-NC 4.0 license permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Editor should consider publishing correction if minor errors that do not effect the results, interpretations and conclusions of the published paper are detected. Editor should consider retraction if major errors and/or misconduction that invalidate results and conclusions are detected.Editor should consider issuing an expression of concern if there is evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors; there is evidence that the findings are not reliable and institutions of the authors do not investigate the case or the possible investigation seems to be unfair or nonconclusive. The guidelines of <a href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/complete-set-english" target="_blank">COPE</a> and <a href="https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/" target="_blank">ICJME</a> are taken into consideration regarding correction, retractions or expression of concern.

To guarantee that all papers published in the journal are maintained and permanently accessible, articles are stored in Dergipark which serves as a  national archival web site and at the same time permits LOCKSS to  collect, preserve, and serve the content.Additionally, authors are encouraged to self-archive the final PDF version of their articles in open electronic archives with  that conform to standards of Open Archives Initiative (<a href="https://www.openarchives.org/" target="_blank">https://www.openarchives.org/</a>). Authors should provide a link from the deposited version to the URL of IUPress journal website.

Journal of Eurasian Inquires is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and pays regard to Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing published by <a href="https://publicationethics.org/" target="_blank">the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)</a>, <a href="https://doaj.org/apply/transparency/#principles-of-transparency-and-best-practice-in-scholarly-publishing" target="_blank">the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)</a>, <a href="https://oaspa.org/" target="_blank">the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)</a>, and <a href="https://www.wame.org/" target="_blank">the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)</a> on <a href="https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing" target="_blank">https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing</a>All parties involved in the publishing process (Editors, Reviewers, Authors and Publishers) are expected to agree on the following ethical principles.All submissions must be original, unpublished (including as full text in conference proceedings), and not under the review of any other publication synchronously. Each manuscript is reviewed by one of the editors and at least two referees under double-blind peer review process. Plagiarism, duplication, fraud authorship/denied authorship, research/data fabrication, salami slicing/salami publication, breaching of copyrights, prevailing conflict of interest are unnethical behaviors.All manuscripts not in accordance with the accepted ethical standards will be removed from the publication. This also contains any possible malpractice discovered after the publication. In accordance with the code of conduct we will report any cases of suspected plagiarism or duplicate publishing.

Ethics

The journal adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.<ul><li>Principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design and conducting the research.</li><li>The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.</li><li>The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.</li><li>Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.</li><li>Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.</li><li>The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.</li><li>In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.</li><li>If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.</li><li>In studies with human subject, it must be noted in the method’s section of the manuscript that the informed consent of the participants and ethics committee approval from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained.</li></ul>

It is authors’ responsibility to ensure that the article is in accordance with scientific and ethical standards and rules. And authors must ensure that submitted work is original. They must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere or is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere, in any language. Applicable copyright laws and conventions must be followed. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) must be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Any work or words of other authors, contributors, or sources must be appropriately credited and referenced.All the authors of a submitted manuscript must have direct scientific and academic contribution to the manuscript. The author(s) of the original research articles is defined as a person who is significantly involved in “conceptualization and design of the study”, “collecting the data”, “analyzing the data”, “writing the manuscript”, “reviewing the manuscript with a critical perspective” and “planning/conducting the study of the manuscript and/or revising it”. Fund raising, data collection or supervision of the research group are not sufficient roles to be accepted as an author. The author(s) must meet all these criteria described above. The order of names in the author list of an article must be a co-decision and it must be indicated in the <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/D6721902505A4BFEAE344C7B9108B155" target="_blank">Copyright Agreement Form.</a> The individuals who do not meet the authorship criteria but contributed to the study must take place in the acknowledgement section. Individuals providing technical support, assisting writing, providing a general support, providing material or financial support are examples to be indicated in acknowledgement section.All authors must disclose all issues concerning financial relationship, conflict of interest, and competing interest that may potentially influence the results of the research or scientific judgment.When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published paper, it is the author’s obligation to promptly cooperate with the Editor to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.

Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors. He/She provides a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles for publication and ensures that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing.Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication. He/She must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers. Only he has the full authority to assign a reviewer and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders. Their judgments must be objective.Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees must be ensured. In particular situations, the editor may share the review of one reviewer with other reviewers to clarify a particular point.

Only those manuscripts approved by its every individual author and that were not published before in or sent to another journal, are accepted for evaluation.Submitted manuscripts that pass preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. After plagiarism check, the eligible ones are evaluated by editor-in-chief for their originality, methodology, the importance of the subject covered and compliance with the journal scope.The editor hands over the papers matching the formal rules to at least two national/international referees for double-blind peer review evaluation and gives green light for publication upon modification by the authors in accordance with the referees’ claims.

Peer Review

Only those manuscripts approved by its every individual author and that were not published before in or sent to another journal, are accepted for evaluation.Submitted manuscripts that pass preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. After plagiarism check, the eligible ones are evaluated by Editor-in-Chief for their originality, methodology, the importance of the subject covered and compliance with the journal scope. Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors and ensures a fair double-blind peer review of the selected manuscripts.The selected manuscripts are sent to at least two national/international external referees for evaluation and publication decision is given by Editor-in-Chief upon modification by the authors in accordance with the referees’ claims.Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.Reviewers’ judgments must be objective. Reviewers’ comments on the following aspects are expected while conducting the review.- Does the manuscript contain new and significant information?- Does the abstract clearly and accurately describe the content of the manuscript?- Is the problem significant and concisely stated?- Are the methods described comprehensively?- Are the interpretations and consclusions justified by the results?- Is adequate references made to other Works in the field?- Is the language acceptable?Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees is important.

All correspondence will be sent to the first-named author unless otherwise specified. Manuscpript is to be submitted online via <a href="http://dergipark.gov.tr/login" target="_blank">http://dergipark.gov.tr/login</a> that can be accessed at <a href="https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/iuavid" target="_blank">https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/iuavid</a> It must be accompanied by a <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/A2037312153941BCAACB13C5FA6294D1" target="_blank">title page</a> specifying the article category (i.e. research article, review etc.) and including information about the manuscript (see the Submission Checklist). Manuscripts should be prepared in Microsoft Word 2003 and upper versions. In addition, <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/D6721902505A4BFEAE344C7B9108B155" target="_blank">Copyright Agreement Form</a> that has to be signed by all authors must be submitted. 1. The journal publishes manuscripts in Turkish, English, Russian. 2. Manuscript should be written in MS Word format, double-spaced and in 11 point Times New Roman font. We kindly ask you not to send a pdf file. The title should be written with capital letters (12 point, bold), sub-headings in lower case letters (11 point, bold). 3. Research and review articles, as well as articles in translation should each include on its title page two abstracts (in the language of article and in English) of 180-200 words each. Key words (max. 10 words each) will also be provided underneath both of the abstracts. No abstract and bibliography are needed for research notes, addendum, book &amp; scientific meeting reviews, and letters to the editor. While uploading addendum, book review and letter to the editor files on the DergiPark system, please enter the first paragraph of the article in the abstract section. 4. Appendixes, with related bibliographical references,are placed after the main text, and before the bibliography. Their references should be included in the bibliography. 5. Short quotations should be given between double quotes within the paragraph. Long quotations (10 points) should have double indentation on the left (only), without quotes. 6. Figures and images should include captions with related bibliographical references. Bibliographical references mentioned in the captions should be included in the bibliography Their captions should be incorporated within the text, and not be collected at the end of the manuscript. Also, they should be separately uploaded to DergiPark system. Captions of images and figures should be numbered separately. Captions should be in 9 points. 7. Notes and bibliography must be in line with journal’s reference style based on Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition). 8. Notes (8 point) should be given at the bottom of every page, signalled by superscript numbers in the main text. Reference numbers should follow the punctuation marks (.35 or ,23).9. Submitted manuscripts and abstracts should be conformed with the grammar and orthography of the language (Turkish, English, Russian) in which they were written. 10. A <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/A2037312153941BCAACB13C5FA6294D1" target="_blank">title page</a> including author information must be submitted together with the manuscript. The title page is to include fully descriptive title of the manuscript and, affiliation, title, e-mail address, postal address, phone, fax number of the author(s) and ORCIDs of all authors (see The Submission Checklist).

Author Guidelines

<a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/D6721902505A4BFEAE344C7B9108B155" target="_blank">Copyright Agreement Form</a> <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/7E6C614E3B774D91AF14B623030299F4" target="_blank">Title page</a><a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/BA6134942D0E4293B50B7A5B224AD16C" target="_blank">Information for Authors</a>

Ensure that the following items are present: <ul><li>Confirm that “the paper is not under consideration for publication in another journal”.</li><li>Confirm that final language control is done. </li><li>Confirm that journal policies detailed in Information for Authors have been reviewed. </li><li>Confirm that the references cited in the text and listed in the references section are in line with journals’s reference system based on Chicago Manual of Style.</li></ul>● <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/D6721902505A4BFEAE344C7B9108B155" target="_blank">Copyright Agreement Form</a> (will only be sent after the article has been accepted for publication) ● Permission for non-published material ● <a href="https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/1A3A4AF4403D4011A8AC3B849ACA3753" target="_blank">Title page</a> <ul><li>The category of the manuscript </li><li>The title of the manuscript both in the language of the manuscript and in English </li><li>All authors’ names and affiliations (institution, faculty/department, city, country), e-mail addresses </li><li>Corresponding author’s email address, full postal address, telephone and fax number </li><li>ORCIDs of all authors. </li></ul>● Main Manuscript Document <ul><li>Important: Please avoid mentioning the the author (s) names in the manuscript. </li><li>The title of the manuscript both in the language of the manuscript and in English </li><li>Abstracts (180-200 words) both in the language of manuscript and in English </li><li>Extended Abstract (600-800 words) in English for the Turkish and Russian articles which are not in English </li><li>Key words </li><li>Manuscript body text </li><li> Acknowledgements, grant supports, conflicts of interest should be indicated </li><li>References and bibliography </li></ul><ul><li>All tables, illustrations (figures) (including title)</li></ul>

E-ISSN	2147-7469
Period	Biannually
Editor	Muhammed Emin Yıldızlı
The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries (AVID) is a research journal published within the Research Institute of Turkology at Istanbul University. It was established in 1924 and holds the distinction of being Turkey's first research institute. AVID aims to share scientific studies, with the academic world. Prepared in the field of social sciences related to the Eurasian region, spanning from Turkistan to the Caucasus, and from the Balkans to the Middle East. The Journal of Eurasian Inquiries was first published in 2012 and is released twice a year, in March and September. It is an internationally refereed journal that is currently indexed by TR Index, Index Islamicus, Research Bible (Academic Research Index), Social Science Research Network (SSRN), SOBIAD, Turkish Education Index (TEI), EBSCO, and DOAJ.

Journal of Eurasian Inquiries

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