Weaponizing Cultural Heritage as a Military, Political and Strategic Tool

Year 2020, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 988 - 1011, 28.09.2020

Bilal Bilgili Gülsün Tanyeli

https://doi.org/10.21551/jhf.769785

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Cultural Heritage, Memory and Identity, Armed Conflicts, New Wars.

The targeting and the destruction of cultural heritage in conflicts have become a global problem over the last century. US President Donald Trump threats to attack against Iran’s cultural heritage sites show that a new phase has been started. Since the 19th century, place and space related ideas considered together with ethnic nationalism. Cultural diversity manifested itself in the form of social inclusion or exclusion. The acceptance or rejection of individuals, groups and societies based on their ethnic, religious or national identities led communities to conflicts and wars. On the contrary, the development of the cultural heritage concept in last decades has strengthened the notion that the cultural heritage is not belongs to a group or a nation but it belongs to humanity and shared by all humankind.
Wars can be classified as military and political wars in the most general sense. Military wars cause damage or total destruction of cultural heritage in short period of time. Political wars usually take place at the diplomatic, psychological, technological or cultural levels and sometimes in the form of displacement of communities through various policies such as governmental, commercial and financial policies. Political wars affect cultural heritage at various levels, either physically or spiritually, but indirectly and in longer period.
Starting from the last quarter of the 19th century, reasons and methodologies of targeting historic buildings and cities began to change related with meanings that attributed to the cultural heritage. Recent conflicts such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and former Yugoslavia showed that how cultural heritage could be weaponized to erase identity and memory. Conflicts erupt suddenly and repeat frequently in regions such as the Balkans, African and Middle Eastern countries. These countries ruled by great empires until the 20th century, but then authority-gaps occurred due to political, religious, ethnic turmoil. Armed conflicts or civil wars in those countries last longer than the international wars. Conflicts may continue as long as there are adequate resources or until one party achieve military victory. The legitimate use of force has no longer under the state monopoly. Those kind of internal conflicts, which creates an organized and widespread violence, goes beyond international laws and defined as new wars.
Attacks in new wars focused on to eradicate cultural images that represent identities and memories of societies and historic cities that bring diversities together. In this article, the issue of new wars is evaluated in the context of cultural heritage and investigated both with historic and recent examples. The answers to the questions, such as why and by which actions cultural heritage was targeted throughout history, why cultural heritage was targeted during recent conflicts, are ‘new wars’ really new in terms of cultural heritage, were sought.

Keywords

Cultural Heritage, Memory and Identity, Armed Conflicts, New Wars

Askeri, Politik ve Stratejik bir Araç Olarak Kültürel Mirası Silahlaştırmak

Abstract

Kültürel mirası hedef alan çatışmalar küresel bir sorun haline gelmiştir. ABD Başkanı Donald Trump’ın İran’ı kültürel miras alanlarını vurmakla tehditleri yeni bir aşamaya gelindiğini göstermiştir. On dokuzuncu yüzyıldan itibaren yerle ve mekânla ilişkili fikirler etnik ulusalcılıkla birlikte düşünülmüştür. Kültürel çeşitlilik toplumsal açıdan kabul etme ya da reddetme şeklinde tezahür etmiş ve çatışmalara neden olmuştur. Buna karşılık kültür mirasını koruma anlayışının son yıllardaki gelişimiyle kültür mirasının özel olmaktan çıkarak, bütün insanlığa ait olduğu ve herkesin ortak mirası olduğu fikirlerini güçlendirmiştir.
Savaşlar askeri ve politik savaşlar olarak tasnif edilebilir. Askeri savaşlar kültürel mirasın kısa sürede büyük hasarlar almasına neden olmaktadır. Politik savaşlar genellikle psikolojik, diplomatik, teknolojik ya da kültürel düzeyde gerçekleşmekte; bazen de ticari, finansal, hükümet politikaları gibi çeşitli politikalarla toplulukları yerinden etme şeklinde gerçekleşmektedir. Kültürel mirası çeşitli düzeylerde fiziksel ya da ruhsal olarak fakat dolaylı şekilde ve daha uzun bir zaman dilimi içeresinde etkileyebilmektedir.
On dokuzuncu yüzyılın son çeyreğinden başlayarak kültürel miras yapılarını ve tarihi kentleri hedef alma gerekçeleri ve yöntemleri kültürel mirasa yüklenen anlamlarla ilişkili olarak değişmeye başlamıştır. Yakın tarihli çatışmalar kültürel mirasın kimlik ve belleği silmek üzere nasıl silahlaştırılabileceğini göstermektedir.
Yirminci yüzyıla kadar büyük imparatorluklar tarafından yönetilen, egemen güçlerin sömürge mücadelelerinin ardından otorite boşluğunun ortaya çıktığı Balkanlar, Afrika, Ortadoğu ülkeleri gibi bölgelerde çatışmalar bir anda patlar ve sıklıkla tekrar eder. Devletlerarası savaşlara göre daha uzun sürer. Çatışmalar, yeterli kaynaklar olduğu sürece ve taraflardan biri ötekine üstünlük sağlayana kadar devam eder. Güç kullanımı devlet tekelinden çıkmıştır. Örgütlü ve yaygın şiddet ortamı yaratan bu türden iç karışıklıklar ya da çatışmalar uluslararası hukuk normlarının dışına çıkmaktadır.
Yeni savaşlarda saldırılar toplumların kimlik ve belleğini temsil eden kültürel imgelerini yok etmeye ya da çeşitlilikleri bir araya getiren tarihi kentlere odaklanmıştır. Bu makalede yeni savaşlar konusu kültürel miras bakımından değerlendirilmiştir. Silahlı çatışmalarda ya da savaşlarda kültürel mirasın neden hedef alındığı tarihsel ve yakın örneklerle incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda kültürel miras için yeni savaşlar gerçekten yeni midir; kültürel mirasın ve kentlerin geçmişteki ve günümüzdeki savaşlardaki/çatışmalardaki rolü ne olmuştur; kültürel miras hangi eylemlerle ve neden hedef alınmıştır gibi sorulara cevap aranmaktadır.

Keywords

Kültürel Miras, Kimlik ve Bellek, Silahlı Çatışmalar, Yeni Savaşlar

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