Nationalism and Democratization Process in Armenia: Impacts of the Nagorno-Karabakh Issue

Abstract

After the collapse of the USSR, newly emerged states’ democratization process had gained greater attention. After for years governed under communist regime, these states tried to adapt their own national sentiments with their state building process. Nationalist tendencies both promoted and distorted the creation of the democratic institutions. If a state fails to crystallize the absolute prerequisites of democratic values, radicalization of the nationalist dispositions would stall the environment of dialogue and erode the differences in a society and as a result democracy would not mature in such kind of environment. This study aims to understand the role of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in democratization process of Armenia. It is argued that radicalization of national movements and acceleration of the nationalist values with conflicting manner hampers the democratization process and strengthens the authoritarian regimes

Keywords

• -

Ermenistan’da Miiliyetçilik Ve Demokratıkleşme Süreci: Dağlık Karabağ Meselesının Etkisi

Abstract

SSCB’nin yıkılmasından sonra yeni kurulan devletlerin demokratikleşme süreçleri büyük dikkat çekti. Yıllardır komünist rejim altında idare edilmenin sonrasında bu devletler kendi ulusal hassasiyetlerini devlet inşa süreçlerine adapte etmeyi denediler. Milliyetçi eğilimler demokratik kurumların ortaya çıkmasını hem desteklemiş hem de engellemiştir. Bir devletin demokratik değerlerin mutlak önşartlarını kristalize etmeyi başaramadığı durumda, radikalleşen milliyetçi eğilimler, toplumsal farklılıkların ve diyalog ortamının aşınması sonucunda demokrasi olgulaşmamıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı DağlıkKarabağ çatışmasının Ermenistanın demokratikleşme sürecindeki rolünü anlamaktır. Milliyetçi hareketlerin radikalleşmesi ve milliyetçi değerlerin çatışmacı tarzı demokratikleşme sürecini engelleyerek otoriter rejimleri güçlendirmiştir

Keywords

• Milliyetçilik, Demokratikleşme, Dağlık-Karabağ, Devlet İnşası, Ermenistan

References

1. ALTSTADT, Audrey L., The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity Under Russian Rule,California: Hoover Institution Press, 1992.
2. ASTOURIAN, Stephan H., From Ter-Petrosian to Kocharian: Leadership Change in Armenia, (Berkeley: University of California, 2000), Working Paper.
3. AVES, Jonathan, ‘Politics, Parties and Presidents in Transcaucasia’, Caucasian Regional Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1996.
4. BEISSINGER, Mark R., Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
5. BREMMER, Ian, and WELT, Cory., “Armenia’s New Autocrats”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1997, s. 77-91.
6. CORNELL, Svante E., “Turkey and the Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh: A Delicate Balance”, Middle Eastern, Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1.
7. CORNELL, Svante E., “Undeclared War: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Reconsidered”, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4, Summer 1997.
8. CORNELL, Svante E., Small Nations and Great Powers, Curzon Press, England, 2001.

9. COVCAS Bulletin, Vol. 5, No 1, 4 January 1995 in Jonathan Aves, ‘Politics, Parties and Presidents in Transcaucasia’.
10. CROISSANT, Michael P. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1998.
11. CULLEN Robert, A Reporter at Large. The New York Magazine, 15 April, 1991.
12. DAHL, Robert, On Democracy, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998.
13. DANIYELYAN, Emil, ‘Armenia Adopts Landmark Budget for 2006’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 14 November 2005.
14. DE WAAL, Thomas, Call off the Great Game, Foreign Policy, September 13, 2010, http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/09/13/call-off-the-great-game/, (Accessed on 20.04.2015).
15. DRYZEK, John S. and HOLMES, Leslie, Post-Communist Democratization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
16. ERGUN, Ayça, “Post-Soviet Political Transformation in Azerbaijan: Political Elite, Civil Society and Trials of Democratization”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Vol. 7, No.26, Summer, 2010. S. 67-85.
17. EROL, Mehmet Seyfettin OĞUZ, Şafak, Nato ve Kriz Yönetimi, “Nato ve Kriz Yönetimi”, Mehmet Seyfettin Erol ve Ertan Efegil, der., Krizler ve Kriz Yönetimi, Barış Kitabevi, Ankara 2012.
18. EROL, Mehmet Seyfettin, ŞAHİN, Mehmet, Bağımsızlıklarının 20. Yılında Orta Asya ve Kafkasya’daki Türk Cumhuriyetlerinin Entegrasyon Süreci (1991-2011), Karadeniz Araştırmaları, Sayı 37, Bahar 2013, s. 111-136.
19. EROL, Mehmet Seyfettin, “Türk-Batı İlişkilerinin Geleceğinde Ermeni Sorunu: Yeni Yöntemler ve Olası Sonuçlar”, Ermeni Sorununa Son Nokta, Başkent Üniversitesi, 28 Şubat 2012.
20. EROL, Mehmet Seyfettin, “From Arab Spring to Eurasian Spring: The Changing Geopolitics of the Caucasus and the Future of Turkish-Azerbaijani Relations”, Debates on Democratic Development and Bilateral Relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Leila Alieva, Elkhan Mehtiyev, Center For National and International Studies (CNIS) Publications, Qanun Publishing House, Baku-Azerbaijan, ss. 98106, 2012.
21. FREEDOM HOUSE, Nations in Transit – Armenia, Retrieved from: http:// www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2005/armenia, accessed on 28.12.2012
22. GILL Graeme, “Nationalism and the Transition to Democracy: The Post Soviet Experience”, Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 14, No. 4, Fall 2006.
23. GLEASON, Gregory, Fedaralism, and Nationalism: The Struggle for Republican Rights in the USSR, Boulder: Westpress, 1990.
24. GOLDENBERG, Suzanne, Pride of Small Nations, Caucasia and Post-Soviet Disorder, New jersey, 1994.
25. HERZIG, Edmund, ‘Politics in Independent Armenia’ in Edmund Herzig and Marina Kurkchiyan, The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making National Identity, Oxon: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005.
26. HOVANNISIAN, Richard. “Nationalist Ferment in Armenia”. Freedom at Issue, no 105 Nov.-Dec. 1988.
27. HUNTER, T. Shireen, The Transcaucasus in Transition, Washington D.C 2006.
28. HUNTINGTON, Samuel, Thrid Wave Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman and London: University of Oklohama Press, 1991.
29. IGOR, Nolyain, “Moscow’s Initiation of the Azeri-Armenian Conflict”, Central Asia Survey, Vol. 4, No. 13, 1994.
30. KHAZANOV, Mikhailovic, After the USSR: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Politics in the Commonwealth of Independent States, London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.
31. LAÇİNER, Sedat, Ermeni Sorunu, Diaspora, ve Türk Dış Politikası, Ankara: USAK Yayınları, 2008.
32. LAPIDUS, Gail Warshofsky, “Ethnonationalism and Political Stability: The Soviet Case”, World Politics, Vol.36, No.4, July 1984.
33. LEEUW, Charles van der, “Azerbaijan: A quest for identity: a short story”, Khojaly Tragedy: an International View, 13th Anniversary of London – Azerbaijan Society and Angl-Azerbaijani Youth, Baku – Azerbaijan, 2007.
34. LIBARIDIAN, Gerard J., The Challenge of Statehood: Armenian Political Thinking since Independence, Cambridge: Blue Crane Books, 1999.
35. LIBER, George, “Korenizatsiia: Restructuring Soviet Nationality Policy in the 1920s,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 14, No.1, January 1991.
36. LIGHT, Margot, “Russia and Transcaucasia”, in John F.R. Wright, Suzanne Goldenberg and Richard Schofield (Ed.), Transcaucasian Boundaries, London: UCL Press, 1996).
37. LINZ, Juan J. and STEPAN, Alfred, ‘Toward Consolidated Democracies’, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1996.
38. LINZ, Juan J. and STEPAN, Alfred, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation - Southern Europe, South America, and Post Communist Europe, Baltimore, London: John Hopkins University Press, 1996.
39. OSCE, Post Election Interim Report: Republic of Armenia, 20 February – 3 March 2008.
40. ÖZKAN, Guner, “Nagorno-Karabakh Problem: Claims, Counterclaims and Impasse”, USAK, OAKA, Cilt 1, No: 1. 2006.
41. PANOSSIAN, Razmik, The Irony of Nagorno-Karabakh: Formal Institutions versus Informal Politics.
42. PATRICIA, Carley,. “Nagorno-Karabakh: Searching for a Solution”. A United States Institute of Peace Roundtable Report. December 1998. http://www.usip. org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks25/pwks25.html
43. RAMI Ginat and ARISE, Vaserman, “National, Territorial or Religious Conflict? The Case of Nagano-Karabakh” Central Asian Survey, Vol. 4, 1994.
44. RFERL, Armenia, Eight Killed After the Clashes Between Police and Protestors, 2 March 2008.
45. RFERL, Armenia: Censors Block Printing Of Opposition Newspapers, 14 March 2008.
46. RIEFF, David, “Nagorno Karabakh: Case Study in Ethnic Strife” Foreign Affairs, March/April, 1997.
47. RUSTOW, Dankwart A., “Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model”, Comparative Politics, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1970. S. 337-363.
48. RUTLAND, Peter, Democracy and Nationalism in Armenia, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 5, 1994, (839-861).
49. SAHAKYAN, Vahe and ATANESYAN, Arthur, “Democratization in Armenia: Some Trends of Political Culture and Behavior”, Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 14, No. 3, Summer 2006.
50. SAKYAN, Ara, “The Politics of Independence and Transition”, Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring, 2006, s. 171-183
51. ŞİRİYEV, Zaur, 2010 “Yılının Diplomasi Trafiğinde Dağlık Karabağ Sorununa Çözüm Arayışları”, OAKA, Cilt 5, Sayı 10, 2010, s. 119-145.
52. SMITH, Anthony, The Ethnic Origins of Nations, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 1991.
53. SMITH, Graham, “Nationalities Policy from Lenin to Gorbachev”, in Graham Smith (Ed.), The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union, London: Longman, 1993.
54. SUNY, Ronald G., The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism Revolution and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, California: Standford University Press, 1993.
55. SUNY, Ronald. Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
56. TÜYSÜZOĞLU, Göktürk, Farklı Dış Politika Seçenekleri Bağlamında Ermenistan Dış Politikası’nın Değerlendirilmesi, Yeni Türkiye Dergisi, Cilt 60, 2014, s. 1-18.
57. www. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki,Azerbijan,pressrelease
58. WYMAN, White and Kryshtanovskaya, in John Ishiyama and Ryan Kennedy, “Superpresidentialism and Political Development in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan”, Europe Asia Studies, Vol. 53, No. 8, 2001.