Czerwony alarm dla świata – działalność Rady Bezpieczeństwa w 2018 r.

Author(s): Patrycja Grzebyk / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article presents the activities of the UN Security Council in 2018 in lightof the Secretary General’s statements concerning the state of the world. The firstpart is devoted to drafts of resolutions on the Middle East, which were vetoed bypermanent members of the Security Council. The second one is focused on decisionsconcerning African states such as the Republic of Central Africa, Sudan, SouthSudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Somalia; as well as on thematicresolutions concerning peacebuilding, protection of civilians and children in armedconflicts, the role of youths for peace and security. In the third part, basic data on peacekeeping are presented and some violations of peacekeeping rules described.A separate part is devoted to Poland’s activities within the SC and in particular itsengagement in promoting international law.

Wojny w Syrii, Iraku, Afganistanie

Author(s): Bolesław Balcerowicz / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The aim of the article is to present the major armed conflicts – the wars in threeMiddle East countries: Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The selection criteria includenot only geographic factors, but also the nature of the conflicts, i.e. they are allcivil wars and have become internationalized as a result of involvement of externalpowers, i.e. the military forces of several countries. In Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan the enemy has been the so called Islamic State; in Syria it was the main enemy. Thethree countries were the most impacted by terrorism.

Bliski Wschód – krajobraz po bitwie

Author(s): Wiesław Lizak / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

After several years in which the reports from the Middle East were dominated bynews on the fight against the Islamic State, in 2018 there was a significant change.A series of failures of IS in 2016-2017 led to the situation in which the basic questionconcerning the Middle East focussed not so much on the way to overcome theorganization, but rather on the essence of the new international order, shaped asa result of clashing interests of different states and political forces. In Syria, plungedinto civil war since 2011, the scale of victory clearly shifted to the side of the forcesfaithful to President Bashar al-Assad. In Iraq, after a period of cooperation of differentpolitical forces faced with IS expansion, ethnic and confessional divisions revivedagain. At the same time, mechanisms for seeking effective ways to eliminate threatsto the stability of the country have been introduced. Conflicts in Libya and Yemenare still far from settled. Both countries have no governments that can effectivelycontrol the situation in their territories and external actors get involved to furthertheir particular interests. Local conflicts thus become a playing field for competingregional and global powers, hindering stabilization processes.

The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon and Radicalization in the Western Balkans: Understanding the Context, 2012-2016

Author(s): Vlado Azinović / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Over the last five years, a rise in radicalizing forces in the Western Balkans has manifested in the emergence of the foreign fighter phenomenon – the single most obvious indication of radicalization into violent extremism in the region. This has brought new security challenges and risks, including the departures of citizens to rebel-held territories in the Middle East. While some of these individuals are women, children, and elderly people who have not become foreign fighters, it is believed that from the end of 2012 through the beginning of 2016, up to 950 persons from Western Balkans countries travelled to Syria and Iraq. [...]

ALBANIA: Radicalization and the Governance of Islam in Albania

Author(s): Arjan Dyrmishi / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

With some hundred or more Albanian citizens having now joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), radicalization has become a salient issue in both policy and scholarly domains in Albania. Given the Albanian tradition of religious tolerance and moderation, the quest to understand and explain the foreign fighter phenomenon has sparked extensive debate – in media, among the public, and within academia. Explanations for this trend have focused mainly on the socioeconomic factors affecting certain local communities and individuals, and on the failure of state institutions in some sectors, including in security, intelligence, and education. In general, academic researchers and pundits alike argue in favor of a more robust response by the government. [...]

ALBANIA: Albanian Migrants and Risks of Radicalization

Author(s): Ebi Spahiu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The case of Albania – a new NATO member and an aspiring EU state – reflects that of many Western Balkans countries which have seen their citizens, largely from Muslim-majority areas, join extremist organizations in the Middle East since the 2011 outset of the Syrian conflict. The number of foreign fighters hailing from Albania and the rest of the region peaked when Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the alleged leader of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL), declared the formation of a new “caliphate” in 2014, in territories in Syria and Iraq, and called on Muslims from around the world to migrate there. Security and intelligence services in the region quickly took action against homegrown extremist cells that recruited and facilitated the travel of citizens in response to Al-Baghdadi’s call. However, questions remain over what motivated citizens from Albania to join extremist organizations and the pattern of their radicalization. [...]

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: The Complex Ecology of Islamic Narratives and Movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Muhamed Jusić / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The current religious life of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina is about returning to domestic traditions and reducing the post-communist euphoria in public demonstration of religion. The fall of the socialist order led to this euphoria, which was intensified by the aggression and war in Bosnia and Herzegovina – seen, in the minds of Bosnian Muslims, as aimed at destroying Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state and Bosniaks as a people. Meanwhile, the pluralization of the Islamic religious scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina has resulted in the emergence of non-traditional forms of Islamic religious practice. On one hand, this pluralization occurred within the Islamic Community as a consequence of its openness toward other madhhabs and Islamic experiences, and as a result of its exposure to globalization and other broader social and cultural shifts. On the other hand, it occurred outside the Islamic Community and, sporadically, against it, through advocates of different alternative, and in principle, sloppy and rigid interpretations of Islam. The vast majority of Bosnian Muslims perceive these alternative views as attacks on the traditional Bosnian practice of Islam, and they reject them as unacceptable attempts to replace a religion of joy, serenity, and tolerance with a religion of gloominess, discontent, and exclusiveness; attempts to abandon a religion that palliates in order to accept a religion that aggravates.

CROATIA: ISIL’s Western Balkan Caliphettes

Author(s): Anita Perešin / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

With the June 2014 establishment of a “caliphate” in the territories of Iraq and Syria, announced by the self-proclaimed “caliph” and leader of ISIL Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, his appeal to all Muslims to migrate to these territories has been viewed by some “true believers” in the Western Balkans as a mandatory religious duty. A new wave of Muslim men and women from the Balkans, motivated by a combination of religious and other factors, have left home for the “caliphate,” where the Balkan contingent has supported groups fighting the Assad regime since the beginning of the civil war in Syria. The number of Western Balkans citizens in ISIL territories is not precisely known, but up to 1,000 are thought to make up the Balkan contingent – including male fighters, a much smaller percentage of female fighters, women and children who accompanied their husbands and fathers, some women who traveled alone (often in order to marry), and a small number of teenagers, most of whom have left home without the consent of their parents. The motives and expectations of women in this contingent are difficult to grasp; for, despite ISIL propaganda that compares living in its territory to being at a “Disneyland for Muslims,” the group is among the most notorious terrorist organizations in the world, infamous for its brutal abuse, derogation, and mistreatment of women. [...]

MONTENEGRO: Montenegro and the Foreign Fighter Phenomenon

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Like other countries in the region, Montenegro has had its fair share of citizens participating as foreign fighters on battlefields abroad; and for the purpose of this study, we will focus on Montenegrin foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. Due to its geographical location and shared borders with countries that have dealt to a greater degree with this phenomenon – such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Albania – the number of Montenegrin foreign fighters joining the fronts of the so-called Islamic State has varied over time, reaching its peak in 2014. Numbers in 2016 were the lowest they have been since the start of the phenomenon; and one can argue that this is the result of legal and operational mechanisms implemented by the Montenegrin government in 2015. [...]

KOSOVO: The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon in Kosovo: Covering a Blind Spot

Author(s): Shpend Kursani,Arbër Fetiu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The recent emergence of the foreign fighter phenomenon, which has entangled citizens of Kosovo, has attracted significant attention among policymakers, security analysts, and academics at the local and international levels. In Kosovo, the jihadist ideology linked to the phenomenon is unprecedented, at least insofar as its scale. Even the Afghan Wars (1978-1992 and 2001-present) and other Middle Eastern conflicts, which have attracted some 5,000 to 20,000 foreign fighters – many from Europe and the United States – have not inspired certain elements of Kosovo’s Muslim population like the recent conflict in Syria has. Many authors have pointed to the ease of travel and the proximity of the Syrian conflict as important factors in explaining the extraordinary numbers of European foreign fighters taking part in the war there. Yet, the Bosnian war (1992-1995), which attracted a few thousand fighters from around the world, including from other parts of Europe, did not attract fighters from Kosovo in any significant numbers, despite their even closer proximity and potential geostrategic interest in fighting Serbia. [...]

SLOVENIA: From Conversion to Jihad: Contemporary Janissaries – A Slovenian Case Study

Author(s): Simona Hrastnik Čuček / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

As the Syrian crisis has escalated, Slovenia – like a number of European countries – has faced the departure of volunteers for Middle Eastern battlefields. There has been a growing interest among young members of local radical Salafi associations to engage in jihad, which compelled the first two such departures of young men, both converts, in the summer of 2013. They were followed by a third in October of that same year. The radicalization of these young men occurred very quickly, with less than a year passing between their conversion to Islam and their departures for foreign conflict zones. These cases serve as proof that the radicalization process can be expedited by aggressive religious propaganda, particularly that viewed on the Internet, which keeps adherents up-to-date on and personally invested in the situation in Syria and Iraq. The Internet is also the platform of choice for extremist activities of almost any type that address people in their local languages, as part of an effort to spread propaganda. [...]

Erdogan’s Reformed Turkey and the Future of Republic

Author(s): Plamen Ralchev / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The 2017 referendum that transformed Turkey's constitutional system and the June2018 elections represent the final stage of the transformation project for New Turkey and the beginning of a new era in the history of the modern Turkish Republic. Authoritarian trends in government and social life, the strong centralization of political decision-making, and the unconditional personification and praise of the ruling will continue to deepen the dividing lines between Turkey and its EU partners. Authoritarian trends in government and social life, the strong centralization of political decision-making, and the unconditional personification and praise of the ruling party leader will continue to deepen the dividing lines between Turkey and its EU partners. On theone hand, Turkey is moving away from the prospect of EU membership, and on the other, President Erdogan, as the sole center of power in Turkey, will maintain a firm and irreconcilable tone in relations with the EU, especially as regards the negotiations on financial compensation that Turkey expects to receive to restrict migration flow from the Middle East.

Conference Program

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

Conference Program

References

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Armenians of Iraq

Author(s): Seda D. Ohanian / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Armenians have been living in Mesopotamia – modern Iraq – from times immemorial. According to Herodotus, the Hellenic father of history, Armenians used to travel, long before the Christian era, from Armenia to Nineveh and Babylon over the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, importing, by means of round rafts, Armenian wines, dried fruits, fine horses, wheat, nuts and many other products. Historical accounts indicate that Tigranes the Great (king of Armenia during the Artaxiad dynasty from 190 BC to AD 12) defeated enemy armies of several countries, who endangered Armenia’s security. Amongst these countries, he subdued Adiabene (Mosul) in 83 BC, which allowed Armenians to travel from the Armenian highlands to Mesopotamia, reaching as far as Basra and further down the Persian Gulf to the Far East.

Kakai Internal Displacement in Kirkuk and the Fear of Violence from the So-called Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS)

Author(s): Seyedehbehnaz Hosseini / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The Kakai, also called Yārsan or Ahl-e Haqq, follow a religion that emerged thousands of years ago. Their monotheist religion has four principles: Pāki, Rīsti, Nīsti, and Radā. Kakai speak a distinct language called ‘Macho’, a Gūrani Kurdish dialect, and are famous for agriculture and shepherding. They show a strong passion for playing music, because music is an essential part of their religion and rituals. Originally, Kakai believe in Doon-a-Doon (life after death), where a soul passes 1,000 Doon within 50,000 years, and continuously moves from one body to another until it reaches perfection. They also believe that God manifested himself in different souls, such as Ali (the first Shia Imam) and Shah Khoshin, before embodying himself in the form of Sultan Sahak, the founder of the Kakai religion. Kakai also believe that after 1001 transmigrations, the soul comes back to an everlasting home, and everything becomes part of God . In every period, someone had a sense of God, and each period was called the ‘period of Yār’.

BARIŞ ÇALIŞMALARI BAĞLAMINDA KOLOMBİYA İÇ SAVAŞI

Author(s): Sevil Şahin,Mustafa Ozan Şahin / Language(s): Turkish Publication Year: 0

Çatışan taraflar için, hiç şüphe yok ki barışa karar vermek ya da çatışmayı sonlandırıp gerçek bir barış sağlamak son derece zorlu bir süreci de beraberinde getirecektir. Özellikle de yaşanan çatışma sürecinde şiddet dolu uzun yıllar varsa, yüz binlerce kayıp verilmişse ve bunlar toplumun hafızasına kazınmışsa. Böylesi bir çatışmada barışa varmak adına çok güçlü bir motivasyon şarttır çünkü barış ancak ve ancak tarafların bu yönde samimi bir niyet taşımaları sonucu mümkün olabilir. Diplomasi seçeneğine yönelmek, özel olarak müzakere seçeneğini kullanmak tarafların süreç üzerinde kontrol sahibi olduğu bir yöntemdir ve sonuç tarafların niyeti, sahip oldukları güç, mücadele verdikleri amaçlar ve uluslararası toplumun çatışmaya yönelik bakış açısı ile yakından ilgilidir. Barışı sağlamak adına çatışan tarafların basitçe al ver mantığına odaklandığı bir çözüm sürecinin işlemesi yeterli olmayacaktır.

Göç ve Erken Çocukluk Gelişimi: Global Bir Bakış

Author(s): Nurper Ülküer / Language(s): Turkish Publication Year: 0

Göç olgusu, yüzyıllar boyu insanların kendilerine daha uygun yaşam kurabilme isteği ve çabasıyla var olagelmiştir. Hemen hemen her ailenin uzun veya kısa bir göç hikayesi vardır. Ancak son yıllarda, bilhassa iç ve dış toplumsal çatışmaların sonucu olarak, insanların göçe zorlanması yığınlar halinde göç dalgalarının oluşmasına neden olmaktadır. Sayısı bir milyarı bulan, göçmenlerin ve yeni bir “vatan” arayan mültecilerin insan hakları ve insanca yaşama ihtiyaçlarının birçok uluslararası platformda tartışılmakta, Sivil Toplum Örgütleri ve Birleşmiş Milletler nezdine, bilhassa 2030 Dünya Kalkınma Gündemi çerçevesinde çözümler aranmaktadır. Konu acil ve komplekstir.

Karakteristični primjeri suđenja za ratne zločine

Author(s): Mladen Stojanović / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Devedesetih godina 20. stoljeća za ratne su zločine procesuirani gotovo isključivo pripadnici srpskih postrojbi. Uvažavajući činjenicu da su se suđenja održavala u teškim uvjetima rata i poraća, u situaciji u kojoj je primjena ratnog prava u praksi predstavljala momentum novum za pravosudne aktere, vrlo su često provedena neprofesionalno i etnički pristrano te uglavnom u odsutnosti optuženih. Na temelju nepreciznih optužnica, koje su često uključivale na desetke optuženika, bez dostatnih dokaza i adekvatne obrane, donošene su osuđujuće presude koje su vrlo često bile šturo obrazložene, s vrlo visoko odmjerenim kaznama. Kako je prevladavajući stav političkih i pravosudnih elita u to vrijeme bio da se u obrambenom ratu ne mogu počiniti ratni zločini, izostalo je procesuiranje zločina koje su počinili pripadnici hrvatskih postrojbi. Ako su i procesuirani, pripadnici hrvatskih postrojbi procesuirani su za kaznena djela ubojstava, iznuda, protupravnih uhićenja i krađa. U nastavku ćemo iznijeti nekoliko primjera sudskih postupaka vođenih devedesetih godina. Kako procesuiranja navedenih zločina nisu okončana do 2000. godine, navest ćemo što se u predmetima događalo do današnjih dana.

Optužnice podignute devedesetih za kaznena djela protiv vrijednosti zaštićenih međunarodnim humanitarnim pravom

Author(s): Veselinka Kastratović / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Organizacije za ljudska prava Centar za mir, nenasilje i ljudska prava, Osijek, Documenta - Centar za suočavanje s prošlošću, Zagreb i Građanski odbor za ljudska prava, Zagreb od 2005. godine pred sudovima u Republici Hrvatskoj prate kaznene postupke ratnih zločina. Od početka sustavnog praćenja suđenja za kaznena djela ratnog zločina, u optužnicama podignutim devedesetih godina uočeni su specifični problemi.