SECESSİON AS UNDESİRABLE SCENARİO: REASONS FOR UNİTY

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 147 - 163, 31.12.2020

Hakan Kolçak

Abstract

Disiplinlerarası bir çalışma olan bu makaleye göre; ayrılma, ayrılıkçı toplulukların savunduğunun aksine arzu edilen bir anayasal ve siyasi olay olmayabilir. Ayrılıkçı topluluklar, tekrarlamalı ayrılıkların varlığı halinde karşılıklı etnik düşmanlıklar, soykırımlar, emniyetsiz kamusal alanlar ve sürgünler gibi pek çok zorlukla karşılaşabilir. Ek olarak; çoklu bir şekilde tekrarlanan ayrılıklar, bazı eski Yugoslav ve Sovyet cumhuriyetlerinde söz konusu olan ekonomik yıkımların benzerlerini de beraberinde getirebilir. Ardışık ayrılmaların varlığı durumunda ayrılıkçı akımların diplomatik tecrit ile karşılaşabileceğini iddia eden çalışmamız; sadece ayrılmanın değil, aynı zamanda uzlaştırmacı anayasal yaklaşımların da tarihi adaletsizliklerin ortadan kaldırılması sürecine yardımcı olabileceğini ifade etmektedir. Kendi kaderini tayin hakkını, dahil edici bir hak olarak tasavvur eden çalışmamız, mevzu bahis hakkın ayrılıkçı akımları meşrulaştıramayacağını ileri sürmektedir. Son olarak; çalışmamız, toplulukların ayrılıkçılık aracılığıyla istifade edemeyeceği bazı güvenlik menfaatlerinden birliktelikçilik anlayışı sayesinde faydalanabileceğini savunmaktadır.

Keywords

Ayrılıkçı Akımlar, Ayrılma, Devlet Birliği, Egemen Devlet Olma, Toprak Bütünlüğü

SECESSİON AS UNDESİRABLE SCENARİO: REASONS FOR UNİTY

Abstract

This article is an interdisciplinary study arguing that secession would not be a desirable constitutional and political phenomenon as separatist communities maintain. The article contends that secessionist communities would face many difficulties in the existence of recursive secessions, such as reciprocal ethnic atrocities, genocides, insecure public areas and forced deportations. Furthermore, multiple recursive secessions would lead to numerous economic catastrophes like those recorded in some former Yugoslav and Soviet republics. Secessionist communities are also likely to encounter diplomatic isolation in the presence of sequential secessions. According to the article, not only secession but also accommodationist constitutional approaches are likely to remove historical injustices. The article recognises the right to self-determination as a right of inclusion that does not justify secessionist movements. Finally, it is supported that unionism would enable communities to enjoy some security benefits unlikely to be provided by secessionism.

Keywords

Separatist Movements, Secession, State Unity, Sovereign Statehood, Territorial Integrity

References

• Abbas, K. (2019). “Kurdistan’s Attempted Secession from Iraq: Major Powers’ Responses and Regional Implications”. Journal of Current Affairs, 3(2), 59-81.
• Abdullahzade, C. (2013). Hukuki Yönleriyle Dağlık Karabağ Sorunu. Ankara: Adalet Yayınevi.
• Abubakar, A. (2019). Peacebuilding and Sustainable Human Development: The Pursuit of the Bangsamoro Right to Self-Determination. Cham: Springer.
• Akbaba, S. (2020). “Re-Locating Identity Politics in the UK in a Post-Brexit Era: The Scottish, Northern Irish, And Welsh National Backlash”. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 15(24), 2957-2981.
• Akçay, D. (2020). “Dağlık Karabağ Uyuşmazlığında Self-Determinasyon Tezlerinin Göreceliği”. Ermeni Araştırmaları, 65: 101-130.
• Alesina, A. and E. Spolaore. (2003). The Size of Nations. Cambridge: MIT Press.
• Andreu, J. (2019). “Constitution and Referendum on Secession in Catalonia”. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. (Eds. A. López-Basaguren and L. E. San-Epifanio). New York: Springer, 405-422.
• Antunes, S. and J. Loughlin. (2020). “The European Union, Subnational Mobilization and State Rescaling in Small Unitary States: A Comparative Analysis”. Regional & Federal Studies, 30(2), 121-136.
• Arbatova, N. (2019). “Three Faces of Russia’s Neo-Eurasianism”. Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, 61(6), 7-24.
• Armstrong, H. and R. Read. (2004). “Small States and Island States: Implications of Size, Location and Isolation for Prosperity”. On the Edge of the Global Economy. (Ed. J. Poot). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 191-223.
• Askerov, A. (2020). “The Nagorno Karabakh Conflict: The Beginning of the Soviet End”. The Post-Soviet Conflicts: The Thirty Years’ Crisis Illustrated. (Eds. A. Askerov, S. Brooks and L. Tchantouridzé). London: Lexington Books, 55-82.
• Aydın, F. and F. K. Şahin. (2019). “The Politics of Recognition of Crimean Tatar Collective Rights in the Post-Soviet Period: With Special Attention to the Russian Annexation of Crimea”. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 52(1), 39-50.
• Bahry, D. and C. Nechemias. (1981). “Half Full or Half Empty: The Debate over Soviet Regional Equality”. Slavic Review, 40(3), 366-383.
• Baldacchino, G. (2020). “Island versus Region: The Politics of Small States in the Caribbean”. Handbook on the Politics of Small States. (Eds. G. Baldacchino and A. Wivel). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 278-292.
• Bartkus, V. O. (1999). The Dynamic of Secession. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Beran, H. (1984). “A Liberal Theory of Secession”. Political Studies, 32(1), 21-31.
• Berg, R. (2020). “Norway’s Foreign Politics during the Union with Sweden, 1814-1905: A Reconsideration”. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 31(1), 1-21.
• Blakkisrud, H. and P. Kolstø. (2011). “From Secessionist Conflict toward a Functioning State: Processes of State- and Nation-Building in Transnistria”, Post-Soviet Affairs, 27(2), 178-210.
• Blanchet, A. and M. Medeiros. (2019). “The Secessionist Spectre: The Influence of Authoritarianism, Nativism and Populism on Support for Quebec Independence”. Nations and Nationalism, 25(3), 803-821.
• Boylan, B. and E. Turkina. (2019). “Calling on Europe? Secessionist Political Parties and Their Communications to the European Union”. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(6), 1310-1332.
• Buchanan, A. (1991a). Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce from Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec. Boulder: Westview Press.
• Buchanan, A. (1991b). “Toward a Theory of Secession”. Ethics, 101(2), 322-342.
• Bulakh, T. (2020). “Entangled in Social Safety Nets: Administrative Responses to and Lived Experiences of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 455-480.
• Byrne, H. and P. Englebert. (2019). “Shifting Grounds for African Secessionism?”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 455-488.
• Cameron, G. (2019). “Zanzibar in the Tanzanian Union”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 179-205.
• Castillo, A. (2019). “State Integration and Disintegration within the European Union: Regarding the Purported Secession of Catalonia and its Hypothetical Membership of the EU”. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. (Eds. A. López-Basaguren and L. E. San-Epifanio). New York: Springer, 563-574.
• Christakis, T. (2011). “The Advisory Opinion on Kosovo: Has International Law Something to Say about Secession?”. Leiden Journal of International Law, 24(1), 73-86.
• Corral, B. and F. Freijedo. (2019). “Constitutionalizing Secession in Order to Harmonize Constitutionality and Democracy in Territorial Decentralized States Like Spain”. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. (Eds. A. López-Basaguren and L. E. San-Epifanio). New York: Springer, 265-285.
• Crawford, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Deibert, M. (2020). “Puerto Rico’s Colonial Model Doesn’t Serve Its People”. Foreign Policy, 31 July, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/31/puerto-rico-united-states-colonial-model-ricardo-rossello-wanda-vazquez-statehood-referendum/ (03.10.2020).
• Delledonne, G. and M. Monti. (2019). “Secessionist Impulses and the Italian Legal System: The (Non)Influence of the Secession Reference”. The Canadian Contribution to a Comparative Law of Secession: Legacies of the Quebec Secession Reference. (Eds. G. Delledonne and G. Martinico). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 185-207.
• Dobler, G. (2019). “Secessionism in Anjouan, Comoros: Internal Dynamics, External Decisions”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 151-178.
• Duffy, J. (2020). “Yes California’s Fresh Push for Independence is under Way”. The National, 26 July, https://www.thenational.scot/news/18607601.yes-californias-fresh-push-independence-way/ (04.10.2020).
• Easterly, W. and A. Kraay. (2001). “Small States, Small Problems? Income, Growth and Volatility in Small States”. Small States in the Global Economy. (Eds. D. Peretz, R. Faruqi and E. Kisanga). London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 93-116.
• Ene, A-M. (2019). “The Integrative Process of the European Union from the Perspective of Intra-Community Secessionist Movements”. European Integration Realities and Perspectives, 14(1), 313-318.
• Fabry, M. (2012). “The Contemporary Practice of State Recognition: Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Their Aftermath”. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 40(5), 661-676.
• Foucher, V. (2019). “The Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance: The Illusion of Separatism in Senegal?”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 265-292.
• Gaudreault-DesBiens, J-F. (2019). “The Law and Politics of Secession: From the Political Contingency of Secession to a ‘Right to Decide’: Can Lessons Be Learned from the Quebec Case?”. The Canadian Contribution to a Comparative Law of Secession: Legacies of the Quebec Secession Reference. (Eds. G. Delledonne and G. Martinico). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 33-68.
• Gray, C. (2020). Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain: Continuity and Change since the Financial Crisis. London: Routledge.
• Hama, H. (2020). “Iraqi Kurdistan’s 2017 Independence Referendum: The KDP’s Public and Private Motives”. Asian Affairs, 51(1), 109-125.
• Hoch, T. (2020). “Independence or Unification with a Patron State? Not Such Dichotomous Ideas as One Would Think: Evidence from South Ossetia”. Studies of Transition States and Societies, 12(1), 68-89.
• Huszka, B. (2014). Secessionist Movements and Ethnic Conflict: Debate-Framing and Rhetoric in Independence Campaigns. New York: Routledge.
• Jackson, B. (2020). The Case for Scottish Independence: A History of Nationalist Political Thought in Modern Scotland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Keating, M. (2019). “Is a Theory of Self-Determination Possible?”. Ethnopolitics, 18(3), 315-323.
• Keil, S. (2013). Multinatinal Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Surrey: Ashgate.
• Koev, D. (2019). “Why Ethnic Parties? A New Theory of Ethnic Minority Political Strategy in Europe”. Nations and Nationalism, 25(1), 229-297.
• Kolçak, H. (2020). “Multiculturalism for True Equality: A Normative Argument for Multicultural Turkey”. International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 7(2), 107-125.
• Kolstø, P. (2020). “Biting the Hand that Feeds Them? Abkhazia-Russia Client-Patron Relations”. Post-Soviet Affairs, 36(2), 140-158.
• Konings, P. and N. Francis. (2019). “Anglophone Secessionist Movements in Cameroon”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 59-89.
• Krüger, H. (2010). The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
• Kudelia, S. (2019). “How They Joined? Militants and Informers in the Armed Conflict in Donbas”. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 30(2), 279-306.
• Larmer, M. and E. Kennes. (2019). “Katanga’s Secessionism in the Democratic Republic of Congo”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 361-391.
• Lazarenko, V. (2019). “Conflict in Ukraine: Multiplicity of Narratives about the War and Displacement”. European Politics and Society, 20(5), 550-566.
• Lecours, A. and J-F. Dupré. (2020). “The Emergence and Transformation of Self-Determination Claims in Hong Kong and Catalonia: A Historical Institutionalist Perspective”. Ethnicities, 20(1), 3-23.
• Lin, F. (2019). “Is It Constitutional to Demand Hong Kong Independence? A Comparative Study”. Hong Kong Law Journal, 49(2), 507-546.
• Loughlin, J. and S. Antunes. (2020). “State Rescaling and a ‘Europe of the Regions’ in Small Unitary States: A Damp Squib?”. Regional & Federal Studies, 30(2), 303-321.
• Mahoney, W. (2011). The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. California: Greenwood.
• Mamatey, V. and R. Luža. (Eds.) (1973). A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Martin, J. F. (2019). “The Front(s) for the Liberation of Cabinda in Angola: A Phantom Insurgency”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 207-227.
• Mas, J. (2019). “Secession and Federalism: The Spanish Case”. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. (Eds. A. López-Basaguren and L. E. San-Epifanio). New York: Springer, 389-404.
• Mastromarino, A. (2019). “Secessionist Claims in a Federal System: The Belgian Case”. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. (Eds. A. López-Basaguren and L. E. San-Epifanio). New York: Springer, 221-232.
• McCarthy, D. (2014). “Secession is not a Principle of Liberty”. The American Conservative, 2 October, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/mccarthy/secession-is-not-a-principle-of-liberty/ (06.10.2020).
• McGarry, J. and B. O’Leary. (1994). “The Political Regulation of National and Ethnic Minorities”. Parliamentary Affairs, 47(1), 94-115.
• McGarry, J., B. O’Leary and R. Simeon. (2008). “Integration or Accommodation? The Enduring Debate in Conflict Regulation”. Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?. (Ed. S. Choudhry). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 42-88.
• Mullen, T. (2019). “Brexit and the Territorial Governance of the United Kingdom”. Contemporary Social Science, 14(2), 276-293.
• Müllerson, R. (2009). “Precedents in the Mountains: On the Parallels and Uniqueness of the Cases of Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia”. Chinese Journal of International Law, 8(1), 2-25.
• Mykhnenko, V. (2020). “Causes and Consequences of the War in Eastern Ukraine: An Economic Geography Perspective”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 528-560.
• Nagashima, T. (2019). “Russia’s Passportization Policy toward Unrecognized Republics: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria”. Problems of Post-Communism, 66(3), 186-199.
• Nazala, R. (2019). “Exposing Study on Secessionism in Indonesia”. International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, 6(1), 69-78.
• O’Leary, B. and J. McGarry. (2012). “The Politics of Accommodation: Surveying National and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in Democratic States”. The Study of Politics and Ethnicity: Recent Analytical Developments. (Eds. A. Guelke and J. Tournon). Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich, 79-116.
• Pavković, A. (2000). “Recursive Secessions in Former Yugoslavia: Too Hard a Case for Theories of Secession?”. Political Studies, 48(3), 485-502.
• Pavković, A. (2011). “Recursive Secession of Trapped Minorities: A Comparative Study of the Serb Krajina and Abkhazia”. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 17(3), 297-318.
• Pavković, A. and P. Radan. (2007). Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession. Hampshire: Ashgate.
• Portos, M. (2020). “Europe in the Procés: European (Dis-)integration and Catalan Secessionism”. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 7(3), 265-290.
• Puri, B. (2001). “Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Right of Self-Determination”. Economic and Political Weekly, 36(4), 263-264.
• Rimpiläinen, E. (2020). “Victims, Villains, or Geopolitical Tools? Representations of Donbas Displacement in Ukrainian and Russian Government Media”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 481-504.
• Rioux, H. (2020). “Rival Economic Nationalisms: Brexit and the Scottish Independence Movement Compared”. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 26(1), 8-24.
• Rodríguez-Pose, A. and M. Stermšek. (2015). “The Economics of Secession: Analysing the Economic Impact of the Collapse of the Former Yugoslavia”. Territory, Politics, Governance, 3(1), 73-96.
• Roeder, P. (1991). “Soviet Federalism and Ethnic Mobilization”. World Politics, 43(2), 196-232.
• Rotaru, V. (2019). “‘Mimicking’ the West? Russia’s Legitimization Discourse from Georgia War to the Annexation of Crimea”. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 52(4), 311-321.
• Ruta, M. (2005). “Economic Theories of Political (Dis)integration”. Journal of Economic Surveys, 19(1), 1-21.
• Sahadžić, M. (2020). “The Constitutionalism of Emergency: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Beyond: Multinationalism Behind Asymmetrical Constitutional Arrangements”. Constitutionalism under Extreme Conditions: Law, Emergency, Exception. (Eds. R. Albert and Y. Roznai). Cham: Springer, 247-266.
• Sasse, G. (2020). “War and Displacement: The Case of Ukraine”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 347-353.
• Sasse, G. and A. Lackner. (2020). “The Displaced as ‘Ordinary Citizens’: Exploring Variation in the Political Attitudes of the Displaced from Donbas”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 354-382.
• Schomerus, M., P. Englebert and L. de Vries. (2019). “Africa’s Secessionism: A Breakdance of Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, and Disenchantment”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1-20.
• Sereda, V. (2020). “‘Social Distancing’ and Hierarchies of Belonging: The Case of Displaced Population from Donbas and Crimea”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 404-431.
• SFCWG (2013). Fiscal Commission Working Group First Report: Macroeconomic Framework. Edinburgh: Scottish Government Publication Office.
• Silver, B. (1974). “Levels of Sociocultural Development among Soviet Nationalities: A Partial Test of the Equalization Hypothesis”. The American Political Science Review, 68(4), 1618-1637.
• Spolaore, E. and R. Wacziarg. (2005). “Borders and Growth”. Journal of Economic Growth, 10(4), 331-386.
• Talbott, S. (2000). “Self-Determination in an Interdependent World”. Foreign Policy, 118: 152-163.
• Toal, G. and G. Merabishvili. (2019). “Borderization Theatre: Geopolitical Entrepreneurship on the South Ossetia Boundary Line, 2008-2018”. Caucasus Survey, 7(2), 110-133.
• Vakhitova, H. and P. Iavorskyi. (2020). “Employment of Displaced and Non-Displaced Households in Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast”. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(3), 383-403.
• Vaughan, S. (2019). “Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Ogaden: Still a Running Sore at the Heart of the Horn of Africa”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 91-123.
• Vidmar, J. (2012). “Conceptualizing Declarations of Independence in International Law”. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 32(1), 153-177.
• Voronovici, A. (2020). “Internationalist Separatism and the Political Use of ‘Historical Statehood’ in the Unrecognized Republics of Transnistria and Donbass”. Problems of Post-Communism, 67(3), 288-302.
• Wheatley, J. (2020). “The Case for Asymmetric Federalism in Georgia: A Missed Opportunity”. Asymmetric Autonomy and the Settlement of Ethnic Conflicts. (Eds. M. Weller and K. Nobbs). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 213-230.
• Wilde, R. (2011a). “Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo”. American Journal of International Law, 105(2), 301-307.
• Wilde, R. (2011b). “Self-Determination, Secession, and Dispute Settlement after the Kosovo Advisory Opinion”. Leiden Journal of International Law, 24(1), 149-154.
• Wittman, D. (1991). “Nations and States: Mergers and Acquisitions; Dissolutions and Divorce”. Economics and Conflict, 81(2), 126-129.
• Wolfschwenger, J. and K. Saxinger. (2020). “Federalism, National Identity and Overcoming Frozen Conflicts: Moldova’s Experience”. Ethnopolitics, 19(4), 356-368.
• Zeb, R. (2019). Ethno-Political Conflict in Pakistan: The Baloch Movement. London: Routledge.
• Zeller, W. and H. Melber. (2019). “United in Separation? Lozi Secessionism in Zambia and Namibia”. Secessionism in African Politics: Aspiration, Grievance, Performance, Disenchantment. (Eds. L. de Vries, P. Englebert and M. Schomerus). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 293-328.