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The article shows a new dimension of Polish relations with the Middle Eastern countries as well as new ways of providing a cultural diplomacy. Subsequent parts are: Middle East in Polish foreign policy, the concept of cultural diplomacy, cultural diplomacy in Polish foreign policy, Polish cultural diplomacy in the Middle East. Article shows the different activities of cultural diplomacy starting from its traditional tools to the latest ideas. It shows the change in the perception of cultural diplomacy, as well as their main actors and channels to reach the audience. In addition, underlined is a breakthrough in relations between the Poland and region of the Middle East – a change in the perception and the ability to build a strategy of a foreign policy based on the transferring the experience of system transformation. Thesis about new dimension of polish cultural diplomacy in the Middle East shows following results: now Poland has something to offer to the Middle East that is the experience in transformation of political system; also with the accession to the European Union, it’s structures, programs, politics Poland gained more channels to promote it’s culture; cultural diplomacy reaches more wide groups of society, more actors are taking part in cultural diplomacy which causes that not only governmental institutions are responsible for intercultural dialog.
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The review of: Derviş Fikret ÜNAL, „Turkey’s Relations with Israil in the 2000s: A Constructivist Perspective“, Astana Yayınları, Ankara 2017, ISBN: 978-605-9623-29-2
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The article highlights the work of the International Scientific Forum “The Great Russian Revolution: Memory and Comprehension. 1917–2017”, which was held in October 19–21, 2017 in St. Petersburg and was dedicated to the centennial anniversary of one of the turning points in the history of Russia and the world. Historians, specialists in international relations, lawyers, political scientists, philologists, philosophers from Russia, China, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Great Britain and other countries took part in the forum. The work of thematic sections was organized on the basis of the St. Petersburg State University. The military, economic, political, cultural, international aspects of radical transformations were covered. In the opinion of the majority of participants who spoke with speeches and in debates, the events of the First World War, February and October 1917, as well as civil war should be studied as interrelated processes, as different manifestations of the Great Revolution. In the course of fruitful discussions, with a discussion of the historical prerequisites, scope, significance of the revolutionary process in Russia, researchers came to a common opinion about its key influence on the events not only on Russia, but on the world, including the long term influences.
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The management system in the «line side» of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) was subject to significant adjustments under the influence of external and internal factors after 1905. Russian officials, in cooperation with the members of the State Duma and the military officers, were regulating economic policy along the railway line, trying to counter the growing influence of Japan. The article is based on archival materials and regional periodicals. It is shown that after the end of the Russo-Japanese War and the suppression of the First Russian Revolution, the economic situation of the CER remained in the very focus of government attention. The historiographical review includes the works of modern Chinese researchers, little known to a wide range of readers, and highlights their view on the economic impact of the CER in the context of relations between China, Russia, and Japan in the early 20th century. The need to put the road into operation as quickly as possible on the eve of a clash with Japan led to the fact that after the war the budget funds had to be used to correct structural defects, modernize infrastructure, improve settlements along the road. The structure of government expenditures is analyzed. The construction of an alternative Amur railway, the needs of the domestic market of the empire required not only the redistribution of rolling stock but also the adjustment of the government’s course. Using the right to consider budget expenditures, the liberal opposition in the Duma tried to criticize the administrative and economic activities of the CER Society. However, the Ministry of Finance repulsed the deputies interests, just like the representatives of the military.
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Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the main problem in the international policies of Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s government was to guarantee the Polish western border before the reunification of Germany took place. In the face of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s opposition to the idea, the Polish government undertook a wide diplomatic action trying to convince the leaders of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France to make the governments of the FRG and GDR initiate a border treaty before the reunification of both German states. Finally, Mazowiecki’s government managed to safeguard the participation of its representative in the Two Plus Four Conference, at which the conditions for the reunification were established. One of them was about the confirmation of the border between Germany and Poland and abandonment of any territorial claims in the future.
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The article consists of two basic parts. The first part presents a characteristics of the diplomatic activities of Caffa, the main colony of the Republic of Genoa on the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula in the 1380s. Of special significance in that domain were contacts with the Tatar emirs of Crimea who represented the Khan of the White Horde – Tokhtamysh. Those contacts led to a series of treaties (in 1381, 1382 and 1387), which resulted in the Genoese strengthening their position on the southern coast of Crimea. Moreover, in place of existing trading factories an overseas territory was established in southern Crimea, which belonged directly to the Republic of Genoa. In the second part of the article the author presents the role and significance of confectionery in the above mentioned diplomatic activities, on the basis of an analysis of the contents of the three oldest fiscal books of the Caffa massaria (tax office) (ASG, MC, room 34, 590/1225, 1226 and 1226-1) from the years: 1374–1375, 1381–1382 and 1386–1387. Confectionery appeared during feasts that rulers of Caffa held for foreign envoys. Sweets were often served with wine during snacks known as collations. Finally the author proposes a hypothesis that such a form of refreshments in the world of Genoese diplomacy by the Black Sea was practiced since at least 1375, though under a different name.
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In 2005 Prof. I. Kochev turned 70 years of age. He was born in 1935 in the town of Pomorie, where he grew up and formed his character under the strong influence of his parents - fugitives from Macedonia, his father - teacher from Struga, close relative with I. Hadzhov and the Miladinovi family, left the place he was born in because the Serbian invaders in Macedonia constantly persecuted him.
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In the field of linguistic it was not only once when the genetic relationshipbetween the Middle Rhuppi (the Rhodops) and the West Rhuppi as varieties ofspeech at the South-East end of the Bulgarian language territory was pointed out.Even after a vague review the connection between the main characteristics could beseen between the central Rhodops speeches, on the one side, and the variety, spokenon Thessalonica.
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This article introduces some similarities and some differences with the triplearticle use in nouns in the Rhodps and the Macedonian varieties of speech. Thesedemonstrate the variety and richness of this rare archaic grammatical peculiarity andits occurrence in remote, non-contact „insular areas".
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Barbara Jelavich, who died recently, taught history for nearly four decades at the University of California, Berkeley, and Indiana University. With her husband Charles, she was one of the pioneers of Balkan historical scholarship in North America. When the American universities became the prime center of Balkan studies after the Second World War, the role of the Jelaviches acquired a broader significance both in research and the training of graduate students. The two-volume history of the modem Balkans, recently published in Hungarian translation, represents the apex of Barbara Jelavich’s lifelong accomplishment.
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This paper argues that the process of turning an uprising into a legitimate freedom fight for the elimination of the excesses of the Habsburg administration in the Kingdom of Hungary, including the recognition of the Hungarians as a negotiating party by the English and Dutch diplomacy at the beginning of the 18th century, was largely dependent on the military progresses made by the insurgent troops of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II. However, it would be quite misleading to assume that the weakening of the Emperor, the most important ally of the Maritime Powers during the War of Spanish Succession, concerned the English and Dutch diplomats from a military point of view exclusively. The overwhelmingly Protestant public of England certainly had strong sympathies towards the Protestant subjects of the Kingdom of Hungary fighting against their Catholic Habsburg ruler, as a result of which the Whig government launched a media campaign to convince the public that the conflict in Hungary should by no means be deemed as a religious war. By doing so, Rákóczi’s movement was no longer regarded as an isolated regional conflict which is corroborated by the fact that English and Dutch diplomats were acting as mediators from late 1704 onwards to have the Court of Vienna and the Hungarians come to terms concerning a possible peaceful settlement in Hungary. Although the motivation of English diplomacy was largely influenced by the need of having to achieve the massive withdrawal of Imperial troops from Hungary and deploy them on the Rhine under the command of Marlborough, there were some English government figures who were keen on convincing the Habsburg ally to alter its attitude to the Hungarians. George Stepney, as an envoy extraordinary, who acted as a mediator with other Dutch diplomats was instrumental in presenting the Hungarian political, economic as well as religious grievances to his superiors in a balanced manner. According to English diplomatic reports and Stepney’s correspondence, the debacle of the negotiations between the Court of Vienna and the Hungarians did raise the prospect of threatening „the cause of Europe” as was put by an English government official.
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The paper addresses the question how the ceremonies surrounding the diplomatic contacts between the prince of Transylvania and the beylerbeyi of Buda mirror their place in the Ottoman international society. As rulers with (admittedly limited) sovereignty over their territories, according to a Christian European hierarchy, the former should have had a higher position than the latter, who functioned as local governors, deriving their power from the sultan’s authority. According to the rules of the Ottoman international society, however, this hierarchical difference did not exist: the princes of Transylvania also counted as the sultan’s servants and through the procedure of their investiture their rule was also based upon the padishah’s consent. An analysis of the Ottoman titulature of both dignitaries shows similar results to the earlier research on the Transylvanian princely insignia, that is that the princes were regarded to be on the same level as the beylerbeyi of Buda, who nevertheless had a prominent position among the Ottoman office-holders at the northwestern part of the empire. The ceremonies of the envoys’ reception at Buda show many similarities to the diplomatic rituals at the Sublime Porte. The exchange of gifts between the two sides (including the donation of kaftans by the beylerbeyi) also mirrors mutuality and no hierarchical difference between the princes and the pashas. Exactly this is why it is noteworthy that according to some reports the envoys kissed the hand of the beylerbeyi, which is a clear sign of subordination. A thorough analysis however, with comparative materials from Habsburg embassies and the Ottoman diplomacy of other tributary states at the province level shows that the envoys did not kiss the beylerbeyi’s hand in their quality as their ruler’s representative, rather in their own name – a peculiarity of the Ottoman international society in comparison to the Christian European one. The few personal meetings between the princes of Transylvania and the beylerbeyis of Buda included no such element of subordination.
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The Eastern Pact on Mutual Assistance (called at the beginning ‘Eastern Locarno’) was a Franco-Soviet initiative which drew much attention of politicians and public opinion in Europe in 1934. It was a proposal to be implemented into the collective security system. The article addresses the following questions: What was the main aim of British diplomacy in European affairs in 1934? Was London interested in the idea of an Eastern Pact on Mutual Assistance? Did the British diplomats see any profit for their country’s security in a Franco-Soviet proposal? Were they active in European diplomatic relations in the case of the Eastern Pact and if so to what extent? How did they understand collective security in East Central Europe? And how did they assess attitudes and motivations of the proposed signatories of this new coalition of states?
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The article examines some of the earliest influences of the Paleological art in the Medieval Bulgarian fortress town of Ochrida and partly in the surrounding areas. The pre-Revival tendencies in secular and icon painting are followed mainly in the Church of Holy Mother of God Peribleptos (St. Clement), built at the end of the 13th century, icons of the Ochrida school (13th-14th century), and some other town, village and cave churches in the region from the 13th to the 15th century.
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