Separatism and Regionalism in Modern Europe

Separatism and Regionalism in Modern Europe Separatism and Regionalism in Modern Europe Edited by Chris Kostov Logos Verlag Berlin λογος Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de . Book cover art: c Adobe Stock: Silvio c Copyright Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH 2020 All rights reserved. ISBN 978-3-8325-5192-6 The electronic version of this book is freely available under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence, thanks to the support of Schiller University, Madrid. Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH Georg-Knorr-Str. 4, Gebäude 10 D-12681 Berlin - Germany Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 42 85 10 90 Fax: +49 (0)30 / 42 85 10 92 https://www.logos-verlag.com Contents Editor's introduction7 Authors' Bios 11 1 The EU's MLG system as a catalyst for separatism: A case study on the Albanian and Hungarian minority groups 15 YILMAZ KAPLAN 2 A rolling stone gathers no moss: Evolution and current trends of Basque nationalism 39 ONINTZA ODRIOZOLA,IKER IRAOLA AND JULEN ZABALO 3 Separatism in Catalonia: Legal, political, and linguistic aspects 73 CHRIS KOSTOV,FERNANDO DE VICENTE DE LA CASA AND MARÍA DOLORES ROMERO LESMES 4 Faroese nationalism: To be and not to be a sovereign state, that is the question 105 HANS ANDRIAS SØLVARÁ 5 Divided Belgium: Flemish nationalism and the rise of pro-separatist politics 133 CATHERINE XHARDEZ 6 Nunatta Qitornai: A party analysis of the rhetoric and future of Greenlandic separatism 157 ELLEN A. AHLNESS 7 Italy's separatist and autonomous spots: Historical and economic overview 177 ANDREA CARRERA AND HAZEL DONEGAN 8 The Turkish Cypriot quest for statehood: From a religious minority to a de facto state 197 TUFAN EKICI AND SERTAÇ SONAN 5 Contents 9 The Scottish independence movement in the 21st century 225 NATHALIE DUCLOS 10 Moldova's Transnistria question: Is the term frozen conict still applicable? 249 WILDER ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ AND LUCIA SCRIPCARI 6 Editor's introduction Separatism and regionalism have always been serious issues in Europe. Yet, most of the separatist movements were kept frozen during the Cold War, with some notable exceptions, such as the Basque Country and Northern Ireland, where the powerful terrorist organizations, ETA and IRA, kept the idea of independence of their respective regions alive; or Cyprus, where two states were de facto formed to divide the Greek Cypriots from their Turkish counterparts. The end of the Cold War opened Pandora’s box of regionalism and separatism across Europe, and var- ious regionalist movements and parties started to discuss autonomy and, in some cases, independence of their regions. Regionalism and separatism pose once again a significant threat to the territorial and political integrity of the traditional nation- states. The established democracies of Western Europe are trying to tackle the regionalist challenge via a political dialogue, using their democratic institutions and procedures in order to avoid armed conflicts. Yet, in Eastern Europe, where, on the one hand, democratic institutions are very young and fragile and, on the other hand, strong regional players such as Russia and Turkey get involved, separatist movements have led to armed conflicts and permanent military presence. We also need to define clearly what we understand by cultural and regional identities that are used as a justification for the establishment and existence of a large number of separatist and regionalist movements in Europe. Cultural and regional identities are sub-national identities that make people conscious of their distinc- tiveness from the dominant mainstream culture of the particular nation-state, due to a different language or dialect, religion, historical development, economy, political factors, administrative division, or varying combinations of some or all of the above. Thus, if we follow the definition of Athena Leoussi, we may refer to regionalism as a “set of movements demanding the economic, political and cultural autonomy of certain areas or ‘regions’, which form part of one or more states” (Leoussi, 2001, p. 263). Regional identities might be genuinely based on cultural attributes, such as religion, language/dialect, but they can also be based on non-cultural geographic and economic territories. There are numerous culturally based regional identities: Flanders, Catalonia, Ticino, Scotland, Corsica, the Basque Country, Kosovo, Brit- tany, and Transylvania are a few examples. In all these cases, a different language, religion, customs, culture, and history, as well as in some cases a level of political and economic autonomy (Flanders and Kosovo), are strong factors that reinforce the local cultural identity. In the case of Transnistria, which is covered in this volume, or the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and Crimea, which are not 7 Editor's introduction covered in this volume, besides the Russian language and culture, non-cultural political and geographic factors as well as the military intervention and aggression of a third party, Russia, have also played a significant role in the triggering of violent separatist conflicts. Thus, it is quite clear that regardless of the strong desire of virtually all nation- states to present their countries as unified by a single strong mainstream culture and language, regional sub-national identities are alive and kicking across Europe. These sub-national groups might cause conflicts and crises but their existence is inevitable in democratic states. The scope of separatism and regionalism in Eu- rope is quite wide, and it includes de facto states, such as Kosovo, Transnistria, and North Cyprus; strong separatist movements aimed at achieving independence, for example, Catalonia, Basque Country, Scotland, Flanders, and Faroe Islands; strong movements aimed at more regional autonomy, for example, Lombardy and Veneto; and weaker regional movements, which could potentially escalate in the future, for example, Transylvania in Romania or Vojvodina in Serbia. This edited volume is designed to shed light on the revival of regionalism and separatism via a thor- ough evaluation and analysis of some of the most important current separatist and regionalist/autonomist movements in modern Europe. Yılmaz Kaplan’s study “The EU’s MLG system as a catalyst for separatism: A case study on the Albanian and Hungarian minority groups” compares the Al- banian minorities in Kosovo and North Macedonia and the Hungarian minorities in Romania’s Transylvania, Serbia’s Vojvodina, Slovakia, and Transcarpathian Ukraine to examine how these groups take advantage of the EU structure and the multi-level governance (MLG) system of the EU to boost their claims for further autonomy. Onintza Odriozola, Iker Iraola, and Julen Zabalo wrote “A rolling stone gathers no moss: Evolution and current trends of Basque nationalism” to analyze the evolution of Basque nationalism in both Spain and France from its origins to its current transformation. In the third chapter “Separatism in Catalonia: Legal, political, and linguistic aspects,” Fernando de Vicente, Chris Kostov, and María Dolores Romero Lesmes employ a multidisciplinary approach in order to analyze how the local separatists use law, politics, diplomacy, and language to achieve full independence as well as the potential legal and political consequences for Catalonia. Hans Andrias Sølvará provides a detailed overview and analysis of Faroese nationalism in “Faroese nationalism: To be and not to be a sovereign state, that is the question.” He concludes that the Faroese case is an example of a semi-independent entity with a long complex history of foreign domination. Catherine Xhardez focuses on the case of Flemish nationalism in her paper “Di- vided Belgium: Flemish nationalism and the rise of pro-separatist politics” and offers a detailed political analysis of the Belgian political system, arguing that the 8 Chris Kostov future of Flemish nationalism strongly depends on the relationship between the two dominant pro-separatist political parties in Flanders: the right-wing Nieuwe Vlaamse Alliantie (New Flemish Alliance, N-VA) and the far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest, the VB). Ellen A. Ahlness goes beyond the geographic borders of Europe to a territory that is politically closely connected to our continent—Greenland. In her paper “Nunatta Qitornai: A party analysis of the rhetoric and future of Greenlandic separatism,” Dr. Ahlness reveals how indigenous self-determination is used by local activists to achieve Greenlandic independence after 300-year-old Danish colonial rule. Andrea Carrera and Hazel Donegan make a tremendous effort to track the historical and economic evolution as well as the legal aspects of all regional au- tonomies and separatist movements in Italy. Their study “Italy’s separatist and autonomous spots: Historical and economic overview” includes an analysis of the Italian regions Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Veneto, Lombardy, Trentino- Alto Adige/Südtirol, and Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste to cover the most active regionalist groups in contemporary Italy. In “The Turkish Cypriot quest for statehood: From a religious minority to a de facto state,” Tufan Ekici and Sertaç Sonan follow the roots of Turkish Cypriot nationalism from Ottoman and British colonial times to the current dilemma that Turkish Cypriots have to face, to reunify with the Greek Cypriots or join Turkey. In “The Scottish independence movement

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