Egypt’s Moment of Reform: a Reality or an Illusion?

Author(s): Emad El-Din Shahin / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The movement for democratic reform in Egypt seems to be gathering strength. Some of the factors that would make a good case for democratic transformation are rapidly converging: the formation of a wide spectrum of discontented segments in society; the mushrooming of pro-reform grassroots movements that agree on a clear list of short-term demands; and a sympathetic pro-reform international context. With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in September and November respectively, will Egypt finally experience its democratic spring? The answer to this question still seems uncertain. The reform movement faces numerous challenges: the possibility of being sidelined by an agreement between the regime and external actors for the sake of stability and containing change; regime repression of the reform movement; and the radicalisation of the movement itself and the possible eruption of sporadic violence or chaos. For reform to become a reality and not another missed opportunity, certain structural changes and institutional safeguards must be introduced.

A kereszténydemokrácia történetéhez Magyarországon

Author(s): Jenő Gergely / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

DEVELOPMENTS AND CHANGE IN ASYLUM AND MIGRATION POLICIES IN EUROPE

Author(s): Magadalena Crisan / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Due to the flow of migrants in 2015, European governments and the European Union have had quickly to reassess their asylum and migration policies. At national level, states have fluctuated between open borders migration policies for humanitarian,economic and demographic reasons and restrictive measures because of growing fears about security, real risks or perceived as such. At the European community level, amid an European identity crisis and the traces left by the 2008 financial crisis, the flaw especially among the states of the Visegrad Group and the Franco-German core delayed the implementation of unitary measures on asylum and migration across the European Union.

Makedonsko crkveno pitanje 1945-1946. godine (između autonomije i autokefalnosti)

Author(s): Borče Ilievski / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

We may search the genesis of the issue concerning the status of the Orthodox Church in Macedonia in the fight of the Balkan countries and churches for their dominance in Macedonia that was under Ottoman power, in the second half of the XIX and beginning of XX century. In fact, Macedonian Ecclesiastical Issue presents an integral part of the Macedonian national issues. Three factors were of main importance for solving this issue, in the first years after the foundation of Socialistic Yugoslavia, but also during the following two decades. Republic and federal authorities, Serbian Orthodox Church and Macedonian church authorities, organized within the Initiative Board for organizing the Orthodox Church in Macedonia. Priesthood’s demands were reflected in the resolutions that were adopted during the Assembly that was held in May 1945 and during the Conference held in May 1946. In a short period of time, main premises of the resolutions, being influenced by the actual political circumstances evolve from demands for autocephaly to autonomous rights for the Macedonian eparchies. The demands, set in this manner shall have influence on determining the status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in years 1958 and 1967.

Односи између Српске и Бугарске православне цркве у периоду 1918−1941. године

Author(s): Radmila Radić / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Serbian and Bulgarian Orthodox Church entered into a process of gradual rapprochement during the interwar period. The process was aiming to overcome feelings of mutual distrust and bitterness caused by the ongoing implications of the ‘Macedonian Question’ and maltreatment of the Serbian priesthood under the Bulgarian occupation of Serbia during World War I. An important role of intermediary in this process of reconciliation was played by organization ‘The World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches’. After the church delegates faced many difficulties; a final breakthrough in negotiations took place on the meetings held in the monastery of Rila in Bulgaria in 1933 and the monastery of St. Naum in Ohrid in 1936. Since then, the relations between the two churches became more or less sett led until the April War in Yugoslavia in 1941. Namely, as a consequence of the partition of the Yugoslav territory the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had assumed jurisdiction over three Serbian Orthodox Church dioceses in Macedonia.

Migrants, Identity, And Body Modification In Biblical And Ancient Near Eastern Media

Author(s): Eric Trinka / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This chapter explores human mobility, migration, and body modification as presented in ancient Near Eastern literature and art. More specifically, it gives an account of a particular set of literary responses to processes of identity negotiation and acculturation in the wake of different instances of migration in the ancient Levant. The primary case study for this exploration is the biblical account of Joseph, a young Hebrew who is sold into slavery but rises to unimaginable success in the land of Egypt. The intent of this chapter, within the context of this larger project on migration and media, is to demonstrate how the story of Joseph, as a stylized literary depiction of a forced migrant, can be understood in relationship with other forms of stylized media regarding mobility, migration, and body-modification in the ancient Near East.

The Jews of North and East Syria and their Heritage

Author(s): Thomas Schmidinger / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The religious history of north and east Syria includes not only Muslims,Christians and Yazidis, but also Jews, mainly connected with the Jewish community of Nusaybin on the Turkish side of the present Syrian-Turkish border crossing at Qamishli (Kurdish: Qamişlo). Although indigenous Jews no longer live in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria,the region’s cultural and religious diversity include a Jewish heritage.

Srpsko-crnogorska manjina u Skadru: izazovi identiteta

Author(s): Inis Shkreli / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

This paper presents the historical and present situation of the Serbian and Montenegrin minority in the district of Shkodra in Albania. The paper focuses on components that form the collective identity: (1) language that is a strong reference to ethnic identity; (2) religion and self-stereotypes that play an important role in defining the boundaries of the group and also create the categories (sub-groups) inside the Slav speaking community in Shkodra. The second part of the paper focuses on the chaotic transition from communism in Albania, which influenced migratory movements of Serbians-Montenegrins towards the origin country, Yugoslavia. Ultimately, I discuss the 2011 Albanian Census, praised as the first Albanian census after 80 years to include the questions on religion and ethnicity, and argue that it was not fully representative when it comes to Serbs or Montenegrins and other minorities due to some discriminatory elements towards them which it involved.

KRLEŽA, HRVATI I SRBI

Author(s): Seka Brkljača / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Review of: Ivan Cvitković "Krleža, Hrvati i Srbi".

Turkish Policies Vis-À-Vis Christians: From Exclusion to Inclusion to Exclusion Again

Author(s): Nikos Christofis / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The Republic of Turkey, as a direct heir of the Ottoman Empire, inherited the empire’s multi-cultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic diversity. As a result, entering into modernity, Turkey itself is composed of several peoples with different ethnic backgrounds, among which a Christian community. Christians, once an essential composite of the Ottoman administration, is now a very small percentage of the total population, with its vast majority now living in Istanbul itself. With the fall of Istanbul in 1453, the proportion of the non-Muslim population in the Ottoman Empire reached 60 per cent overnight. This made it impossible for the Ottomans to rule over many different peoples through a legal system based on sharia. The millet system “set in motion the development of an order that involved autonomy and decentralisation for non-Muslim groups but within religious hierarchy”.

The Influence of Religion on the Dominant Party System in Turkey and Russia

Author(s): Abdulkadir Cesur / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper examines whether the phenomenon of religion can be a determining dynamic in the emergence of the dominant-party system. To explain this, I take hand Turkey and Russia, which have been governed by a dominant party for more than 20 years. Accordingly, I analyze the importance of religion from the standpoint of the electorate of these two countries since the dominant parties emerge based on voter preferences. The findings of this study reveal that religion can be very effective in creating a dominant party in non-secularised countries such as Turkey. However, when the case of Russia is considered, it demonstrates that religious phenomenon remains the emergence of the dominant-party system remains far from being a determinant and generalizable dynamic.

Haydar Aliyev ve Dini Siyaset (Türkiye-Azerbaycan İşbirliği Bağlamında)

Author(s): Elvin Talişinski / Language(s): Turkish Publication Year: 0

Azerbaycan tarihi boyunca açık toplum olmaya çalışmıştır. Farklı dinlerin, camilerin, sinagogların, mezarlıkların ve erken apostolik kiliselerin barışçıl ve paralel varoluşunun kaynakları buradan gelmektedir. Azerbaycan’ın her zaman Doğu ile Batı, İran ile Turan, İslam ile diğer dinler arasında bir köprü olarak tanınmasını sağlayan, toplumun bu açıklığı, jeopolitik konumunun alışılmadıklığı ve benzersizliğidir.

Konstantin Bağışı Sahtekârlığı ve Lorenzo Valla’nın İfşasına Dair

Author(s): Sayime Durmaz / Language(s): Turkish Publication Year: 0

Donation of Constantine is the most famous and the most important forgery of the Middle Ages. The controversial text of the Donation was used by the papacy for over thousand of years to strengthen its position and power. According to the Vatican, before he died, Constantine made his will that the Roman Church was above all Eastern churches and authorized it with a document. It claims that Donation of Constantine to have been written in the VIIIth century. In January 754 Pope Stephen II went to Paris to seek assistance from King Pepin III to stop the attacks of Lombards. As a result of the agreement reached, in 756 Pepin gave a document providing a legal basis for the establishment of the Papal States, which extended the Pope's temporal sovereignty beyond the Duchy of Rome. This is the first time that the famous forgery came into existence in Rome. Constantine stated in this will that he was supposed to have resigned his crown and the empire into the hands of Pope Sylvester as compensation for having been cured of leprosy by the Pope. In other words, Constantine donated all his political power in the West to the popes. Thanks to the forged will, the papal authority gained a position above all states to be established on Western Roman territory. The Donation became a powerful weapon in the hand of medieval papacy and the basis of papal ideology.The Donation of Constantine was first questioned in the XIth century. Finally, Lorenzo Valla carried out a textual criticism and linguistic analysis of the document and prepared a report that proved indisputably that it was a forgery. This report was to be presented to the ecclesiastical council that held in Florence in 1440. However, Valla's scientific report was hidden from the council and published long after his death.The main purpose of the study is to investigate the Donation of Constantin as a historical document and make some discussion on it.

Alevism as a political-theological concept and its Representation in Austria

Author(s): Deniz Coşan Eke / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In recent years, the impact of migration on religion and religious communities has been frequently discussed in connection to the construction of migrants’ identities. According to Gallo (2014), these debates are perceived as a threat to national identity and so religious communities are increasingly politicized by national governments. These debates have affected not only those who migrate, but also those who live with immigrants in their countries of origin, and lead to further discussion of political, economic, legal, and cultural implications, as well as to inter-religious dialogue and intra-faith diversity (Henkel & Knippenberg, 2005; Gallo, 2014

Atheism, Theism, and Reactivation in Turkey Irreligiosity in a Secular State Under an Islamist Conservative Regime

Author(s): Samim Akgönül / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Meryem, a 19-year-old resident of a small and highly conservative town in Northern Turkey, comes from a family that strongly identifies with Turkish nationalism and Sunni Islam. For them, the combination of the two is the only legitimate way to define what it means to be Turkish. In 2019, she was declaring to Euronews that when she sees how religion is used by politics in Turkey, she gets confused as many of her friends, and she was on her way to becoming an atheist “but don’t tell it to (her) mom”. 1 After two decades of an increasing Islamist atmosphere, the main fear of the conservatives in Turkey is to witness more believers but a less practicing generation. Indeed, to the fear of Atheism has been added since 2010 the fear of Deism, i.e., people who believe in Allah, but who think that all the ceremony of Sunni Islam is a political show at worst, a folklore at best. In this chapter, I will try to describe and analyse different attitudes in the Turkish society, especially among youngsters, that can be seen as a reaction to the formal normative Sunni Islam as defended by the political elite

Align the “Ancient One” with Our Lives: Analysing the Resurgence of An Ancient Cult to Shed Light on Contemporary Religiosity in Turkey

Author(s): Kerem Görkem Arslan / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The reawakening of old national or local beliefs involving environmental, nationalist, or traditional concerns is increasingly observed in today’s societies. Of particular interest is the fact that the taking over of ancient religions and beliefs called ‘Neopaganism’ paves the way for new religious movements, and consequently new religious minorities, by affirming national or environmental identity.

Performance Art as a Ritual of Reviving Pagan Religions

Author(s): Elif Dastarlı,İlkay Canan Okkalı / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

After the Second World War, the departure from modernity led to the emergence of various interpretations of paganism, a religion that regards and idolises the beings of nature as gods and demigods in art. This period reflects the rise of conceptual thought in art. Although its foundations are rooted in performing arts and in many examples of performance art as a medium of production in the field of visual arts by highlighting its spirit made of plants, trees, rocks, wind, and such, we can particularly see the resurrected traces of animistic shamanism.

Konteksti kishtaro-politik i qëndresës dhe luftërave të Gjergj Kastriotit, Skënderbeut

Author(s): Aurel Plasari / Language(s): Albanian Publication Year: 0

Qëndresa dhe luftërat antiturke të prijësit të epirotëve (simbas Barletit) ose arbërve (simbas jetëshkruesish të tjerë), Gjergj Kastriotit, u përftuan e u organizuan në një mjedis me historinë e vet dhe specifikat e veta faktike edhe për ç’i përket anës kishtare dhe, njëherësh për atë kohë, politike. Për kohën kur ai jetoi, veproi e luftoi krishterimi përfaqësonte një besim i cili kishte dinamikën e vet: përpiqej të përhapej, të projektohej, të fitonte terren, si dhe njëkohësisht të mbrohej duke ruajtur “domenet”.

Ernesto Cozzi (1870-1926): A Neglected Figure in Albanian Studies and in the History of Albania

Author(s): Noel Malcolm / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Although Ernesto Cozzi is a little-known figure today, he was, at the time of his death in 1926, a person of national significance in Albania, the most important and most authoritative figure in the Catholic Church. He was the man who had planned and supervised the reform and recovery of the Church during the previous six years, after the severe disruptions of the First World War.

‘Türkiye’de Dini Liderlik’ Bildirisine Eleştirel Bir Katkı

Author(s): Ahmet Yaman / Language(s): Turkish Publication Year: 0

Mezhepler tarihi ve çağdaş dinî hareketler alanında yetkin bir isim olan kıymetli araştırmacı Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali Büyükkara’nın kitap hacmindeki bu tebliği gerçekten ilgi çekici bilgi ve değerlendirmeleri ihtiva ediyor. Dinî Otoritenin Resmî Yüzü (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı ve İlahiyat Fakülteleri), Geleneksel Dinî Liderlikler (Medreseler ve Tarikatlar),Yeni Tip Sivil Dinî Liderlik Talepleri (Modern Cemaatler ve Entelektüeller), Siyasal Islahatçı Liderlik Talepleri (Millî Görüş, Hizbü’t-Tahrir ve Selefî Gruplar), Türkiye’nin Gayri Sünni Dinî Liderlikleri (Caferîler, Alevî-Bektaşîler ve Nusayrîler) başlıklarıyla tam bir panoramik sunumla ülkemizdeki dinî söylemlerin karakterini ve taleplerini izleme fırsatı veriyor. Bu nitelikli çalışma için kendisine teşekkür ediyorum. Bununla birlikte gerek bazı genellemeleri gerekse kimi tespitleri, konu üzerinde yeniden düşünmemizi gerektiriyor.