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The European Union (EU) has faced one of its biggest crises with the rise of population inflows through its Eastern and Southern neighbours as well as movements within the Union. In 2016, the main debate that dominated Europe was on restricting migration within and into the EU along with concerns and objections to the refugee quota systems and the sharing of the burden among member states. Turkey emerged as a ‘gate keeper’ in this crisis and has since been at the centre of debates because of the large Syrian refugee population in the country and billions of Euros it was promised to prevent refugees travelling to Europe. The Syrian crisis produced over 4.8 million refugees with over 2.8 million were based in Turkey by the end of 2016. Turkey with its generous support for Syrian refugees has been confirmed as a ‘country of security’. This shadows the darker side of affairs as the very same country has also produced millions of asylum seekers since the 1980 military coup. Current circumstances and fresh evidence indicate that there will be more EU bound refugees coming through and from Turkey.
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At the result of the decline of the Soviet Union the role and perspectives of Turkey in Central Asia have changed. This was resulted with the end of Soviet danger, continued for the century, as well as joining to military-political processes of the region. The role of Turkey in Central Asia didn’t cast doubt on anybody from the beginning of 1990s. It got into the agenda national interests of turkey, ethnic and religious approach in the Central Asian policy of Turkey. The history of the Turkish state, its cultural, ethnic and linguistic unity with above mentioned region created large perspectives for this state as well. The essential of Turkey in Central Asia confronted with jealousy by such states as the USA, Russia, Iran, China and India. Since the beginning of XXI century, speaking frankly after September 11, 2001 all these states did their best to accurate their policy, related to this region. Namely this formed some dangers for the regional policy of Turkey as well. Especially beginning from 2000, Russia, Iran and China attempted to approach to one another, and this was against America and Pakistan. According to this, it’s obvious to create the Triple Alliance of “Russia-China-Iran” against the priority of the US and her allies. The establishment of Shank hay organization can be considered the sample of this alliance. Doubtless, to keep the healthy positions in Central Asia in such difficult circumstances is very vague and Turkey was waited for by struggle according to this situation. It is important to shape special determined relations with Central Asian countries in the context of struggle of the US, Russia and Iran for the region. Among these, above mentioned states, only Turkey has ethnic, linguistic and religious unity with the countries of the region. That’s why Turkey has more chance to create tight relations as well.
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Josip Broz TİTO’nun 1980’de ölümünden sonra, Yugoslavya içinde 20 yıl sürecek olan dağılma sürecinin başladığı tarihtir. Tito tarafından oluşturulan Sosyalist Federatif Yugoslavya Cumhuriyetleri içinde tırmanan etnik milliyetçilik, başta dini,siyasi ekonomik görüş ayrılıkları dağılma sürecinin kanlı bir biçimde tamamlanmasına neden olmuştur. Dağılma sürecinde ilk olarak Slovenya ve Hırvatistan Milletvekillerinin Belgrad’ta Yugoslavya Parlamentosunu protesto ederek terk ettiklerinde Yugoslavya’da tansiyonun birdaha düşürülemediği kanlı savaşların başladığının en büyük işaretiydi. Sırplar ise bütün bu gelişmelere rağmen Yugoslavya’nın tek varisi oldukların ve SFYC temsil ettiklerini idda etmekteydiler ve Yugoslavyanın bölünmesine asla izin vermeyeceklerinin federasyonu oluşturan herhangi Yugoslav devleti tarafından federasyondan ayrılma talebinde bulunulursa buna karşı gerekirse JNA-Yugoslavya Halk Ordusu tarafından müdahele edeceklerinin belirtiyorlardı. JNA-Yugoslavya Halk Ordusunun % 75 Sırp subay ve askerleri oluşturuyordu.Bu bakıma JNA Sırpların kontrolü içindeydi.20 yıl sürecek olan dağılma süreci içinde 1980-1999 Yugoslavya içinde gerçekleşen Slovenya, Hırvatistan, Bosna ve Hersek, Kosova Savaşlarında bizzat JNA-Yugoslavya Halk Ordusunun silahlarıyla donatılmış olan Sırplar girdikleri köy kasabaları yerlebir etmişlerdir.
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The article is focused on a border region between Bulgaria and Serbia which is geographically dominated by Ruy Mountain (whose ridge is the boundary between Bulgaria and Serbia) and the valley of Erma river forming two huge defiles along its way in this mountainous region – the Lomnishko defile (in Bulgaria) and the Poganovsko defile (in Serbia). The micro region (from natural and geographical point of view) shared until 1919 several cultural, social and economic characteristics (from an anthropological point of view), thus forming a common historical and geographical entity. The demarcation of the boundary between Bulgaria and Serbia as a result of the Treaty of Neuilly split the region between the two countries. The border regime, which was rigid and impermeable through the whole second half of the 20th century, made the zones on the both sides of the border well guarded, but industrially underdeveloped periphery. With the opening of the border in the period after 1989 and especially with the intensification of the European integration processes the character of the Bulgarian-Serbian border is undergoing changes and is gradually turning into a bridge for diverse trans-border initiatives. A great deal of these initiatives are connected with the well preserved ecology of the region, which is evaluated at present as a treasure by the local authorities and communities who believe it to be an important resource and instrument for the overcoming of the peripheral position of the region.
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The aim of the article is to provide a possible interpretation of identity in one of the contested border regions on the Balkans well known for the competing politics and interests by the two bordering countries – Bulgaria and Serbia, for the past century. This region is known as „Western Outlands” in the social and political life. The communal memory of the Bulgarian minority in Bosilegrad, Serbia, leads the narration through different historical periods and their respective politics to uncover an identity which has become a survival strategy at the intricate periods. This will reveal a complex picture of the multiple identity levels where the individual and social identity are tightly related and are further shaped by the existing number of internal and external „others.“
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The article examines the policy of cross-border cooperation in the field of culture and cultural and historical heritage of the bordering region of Petrich, Bulgaria, and Strumica, Macedonia. For centuries, until their final political division after 1944, the two regions were not familiar with the existence of dividing state border and established close economic, social and cultural relations. However, in the period after 1944, those relations were rendered difficult and for a certain time even completely impeded which led to their strong violation. The political contradictions between Bulgaria and Macedonia (until 1991 part of Yugoslavia) almost completely broke off the contacts and cooperation between the municipalities of Petrich and Strumica. The attempts at their resumption began only after the year of 2000 when the European mechanisms for cross-border cooperation started working. Focusing the attention on joint projects of the two municipalities, the article tries to answer the question to what extent the example of cross-border cooperation presented here achieve the purposes related to cultural and historical heritage and identity and set in the idea of a "Europe of the regions" and which are the main problems and failures.
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The article is scrutinizing the causes and dynamic, but mainly the consequences form the economic migration on the Bulgarian Muslims. This influence is presented through its diverse impact among the different subgroups of the Bulgarian Muslims – ethnic Turks, Bulgarian- speaking Muslims (divided according their own self-determination on Bulgarians, Pomaks and Muslims) and Muslims form the ghettos (according their own self-determination predominantly Turks, but also Romas). Here are analyzed the Muslims preferences for some particular countries as a season-work or long-term employment destination. The study places particular emphasis on the influence of the immigrant communities over the religious and ethnic identity of the Bulgarian Muslims. This context makes possible the outlining of the substantial differences among the diverse subgroups of Bulgarian Muslims as well as the different perspective for “import” of ideas and specific practices.
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The publication is the result of the study of the Greeks who arrived in Bulgaria in 1948–1949 and the process of settling in the country in the 1950s. Their community is formed by political emigrants from Northern Greece who left the homelands after the Civil War in the country (1946–1949). The article traces the main moments in the history of the emigration and the settling in the new country, as well as the initial integration into the Bulgarian society. It outlines the actions of the Bulgarian state in support of the Greek immigrants – the establishment of dormitories, the providing of medical care, the work placement. An important point in the article is the special care for children refugees as well as their education. Another accent is the self-organization of the Greek community in Bulgaria during the first years of the settlement – the committees in the hostels, the General Committee of the Greek Immigrants, the additional organizations, the newspaper, the information bureau, the creation of an educational structure. The author also provides information on the structure of the emigrant community in terms of its ethnicity, geographical and social origin. The main purpose of the publication is to present these processes from the point of view of the internal life of the immigrants on the basis of the interviews of the author with some prominent community representatives who have finally settled in Sofia.
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The paper presents the topics and contributions in the contemporary study of the culture of Muslims in Bulgaria. It discusses scientific publications with an anthropological focus from the post-1989 period, when the theme about ethnic and religious minorities in Bulgaria became particularly relevant. One of the main topics of research is the state policy towards Bulgarian Muslims in the 20th century, which receives a new interpretation and evaluation. The study of inter-confessional relationships remains one of the leading lines of research in the early 21st century, too. Numerous studies have been published on the various ethno-confessional groups – Bulgarian Turks (Sunni, Alevi), Roma, Tatars, Muslim Bulgarians. The publications analyze elements of their culture, issues of religion and identity. Ordinary people, their culture, their strategies for adaptation in the changing social environment became increasingly an object of study instead of political history. Changes occur also in the approach to research; attention is redirected from highlighting the common elements in the culture of Christians and Muslims to analyzing the specificities, the alternative memories, local culture and identity of Muslims in Bulgaria.
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After the restoration of the rights of the Turks in Bulgaria in the beginning of the 1990s, they again received the opportunity to develop culture in their mother tongue. Over the time the Turkish chitalishta (culture centers), which had existed in the past, were re-established and new organizations pursuing various educational, creative and informational activities appeared. Already for several years on end, the Turkish cultural associations in Bulgaria have been organizing events and staging traditional and modern musical and dancing performances. The article studies the functioning of the Turkish cultural organizations in Bulgaria as well as the Turkish community’s self-representation by means of folklore performances in front of the other communities.
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The media have played and continue to play a significant role in many ethnic conflicts and wars that ever took place in history and through its reportage humankind has become informed and aware about ethnic-conflict on the globe through various forms. Irrespective of the increase in knowledge, media has negatively impacted the ethnic conflict by several escalations that took place because of the manner information that was provided. This study investigates what these negative impacts are by examining literature and sorting them to consider media location, outlets and presentation impact of media. An overlapping discovered has gingered the reclassification of the impact of media in the face of dilemmas. They are Psychoanalysis propaganda and profiteering, freedom and ethics, distortion of reality and public safety. The media tries to balance in order to choose the lesser consequential path to survive. However, they have all steered to an escalation of ethnic conflicts.
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The recognition of Kosovo is an issue in some part of the international community even though its independence has been recognized by 116 states and that the ICJ has given a legal opinion which confirmed that the independence was not a violation of international law. This paper analysis the pros and cons and the difficulties created by the non-recognition of Kosovo both for the region and broader, dealing not only with the political reasons and difficulties. The paper is written by using combined methodology and methods: systemic analysis, of legal analysis, and method of comparison analysis. Conclusions and recommendations are expected to be a contribution towards a further debate about the importance of the recognition of the state of Kosovo.
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In order to expand their economy and exports and attract foreign investments, tourists and talents, governments are increasingly adopting nation branding strategies as part of their public diplomacy to promote their image and build their reputation on the international scene. Some Arab countries, mainly countries from the Gulf region, have massively invested in branding strategies to raise their profile and build their image abroad. However, Arab countries face negative images related to, among others, gender equality and women’s rights. This paper tries to highlight the impact of gender gap on nation branding, image and reputation building of three Arabic countries: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the importance of including this dimension when nations are addressing their image and reputation.
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Highlights from our coverage region: asylum seeker abuse in Croatia; opening up in Uzbekistan; Telegram abandons blockchain; stunning fossils in Bulgaria; and a friendly reminder for Georgia.
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The article is aimed at seeking an answer to the question about the place of Polish immigrant organizations centered around cultural activities, Polish artists residing abroad and the general immigrant community within the organizational field focused on the promotion of Polish culture abroad. To answer the question, the author analyses key documents underpinning cultural policy and policy towards diaspora, describes the structure of organizational field including various kind of organizations engaged in promotion of Polish culture abroad. The policy analysis covered the presentation of assumptions on the role the diaspora should play both – as an addressee and the “tool” of public policies. Findings on positioning of organizations representing Polish diaspora in organizational field stemming from the analysis of documents were confronted with the results of state programs analysis. The author focused on 15 state programs ran between 2017 and 2022 – their goals and beneficiaries. The study reveals that immigrant organizations and Polish artist residing abroad had limited access to structural support for their projects, despite policy makers’ positive evaluation of diaspora resources. Members of diaspora are positioned at the periphery of national branding organizational field. Therefore, the resources of numerous members of Polish diaspora – dispersed around the whole world – are still underestimated and unused.
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