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Reterritorialization of Post-Soviet Eurasia a Thesis

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Reterritorialization of Post-Soviet Eurasia a Thesis RETERRITORIALIZATION OF POST-SOVIET EURASIA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY GÖKHAN TEKİR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AREA STUDIES AUGUST 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sadettin Kirazcı Director (Acting) I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assist. Prof. Dr. Derya Göçer Akder Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren Ergenç (XJTLU, China Studies) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gürhan Kirilen (Ankara Uni., SİN) Assist. Prof. Dr. Derya Göçer Akder (METU, ARS) Assist. Prof. Dr. Şerif Onur Bahçecik (METU, IR) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Gökhan Tekir Signature: iii ABSTRACT RETERRITORIALIZATION OF POST-SOVIET EURASIA Tekir, Gökhan Phd. Department of Area Studies Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu August 2019, 341 Pages This study attempts to analyze the new spatial configurations in Eurasia. It scrutinizes territory and territoriality, challenging the view that territory as a frozen and static concept. While observing changes in territoriality in Eurasia, the thesis considers the Belt and Road Initiative as the main factor in deterritorilizing and reterritorializing Eurasian space by laying out economic corridors, which will transcend the boundaries of nation-states on Belt and Road route. Out of six economic corridors this thesis chooses the New Eurasian Land Bridge and the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridors as case studies in which deterritorialization and the new spatial configurations take place in Eurasian space. KeyWords: deterritorialization, reterritorialization, the Belt and Road Initiative iv ÖZ AVRASYA‘NIN POST-SOVIET DÖNEMİ YENİDEN YAPILANMASI Tekir, Gökhan Doktora, Bölge Çalışmaları Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Ağustos 2019, 341 Sayfa Bu çalışma Avrasya‘da yeni mekansal düzenlemeyi ele almaktadır. Bu tez, alan ve alanlılığın gelişimini sorgulamaktadır. Avrasya‘daki alansallığın değişimini incelerken, bu tez, Kuşak ve Yol Girişimini Avrasya‘daki yertsiz yurtsuzlaşma ve yeniden yapılanma açısından ana faktör olarak değerlendirmektedir. Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi, ulus devlet sınırları yerine, ulus devlet sınırlarını aşan ekonomik koridorlar projeksiyonu yapmaktadır. Bu tez altı koridor içerinde Yeni Avrasya Kıta Köprüsü ve Çin-Orta Asya-Batı Asya koridorlarını vaka çalışması olarak almaktadır. Bu iki koridorun Avrasya‘daki yersiz yurtsulaşma ve yeniden yapılanmanın gözlenebileceği koridorlar olması bu seçimin nedenidir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Yersiz yurtsuzlaşma, yeniden yapılanma, Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author acknowledges and thanks for the financial support provided by TÜBİTAK under 2211- Domestic Graduate Scholarship Program during his PHD studies. The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to his supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu for her guidance, advice, criticism, encouragements and insight throughout the research. He also wants to express his thankfulness to Assit. Prof. Dr. Derya Göçer Akder for her continued support throughout his doctoral studies. The author would also like to thank Assit. Prof. Dr. Şerif Onur Bahçecik for his criticisms and suggestions in thesis‘ review process. He expresses his deepest gratitude Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren Ergenç and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gürhan Kirilen taking part in thesis jury committee. Their valuable contributions helped me to revise my thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 2. EURASIA ............................................................................................................... 7 2. 1. Halford Mackinder .......................................................................................... 8 2. 2. Classical Eurasianists ...................................................................................... 9 2. 3. Zbigniew Brzezinski ..................................................................................... 11 2. 4. Russian Views on Eurasia ............................................................................. 12 2. 5. Nicholas Spykman ........................................................................................ 14 2. 6. New Paradigms on Eurasia ........................................................................... 15 3. TERRITORY AND TERRITORIALITY ............................................................ 23 3. 1. Deterritorialization ........................................................................................ 28 3. 2. Reterritorialization ........................................................................................ 31 4. THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE ............................................................... 40 vii 4. 1. The priorities of the initiative ........................................................................ 42 4. 2. Six Economic Corridors ................................................................................ 43 4. 2. 1. The New Eurasian Land Bridge ............................................................ 44 4. 2. 2. The China-Mongolia-Russia Corridor ................................................... 45 4. 2. 3. The China-Central Asia- West Asia Corridor ....................................... 46 4. 2. 4. The China-Indochina Peninsular Corridor ............................................ 47 4. 2. 5. The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor ................................. 47 4. 2. 6. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ............................................... 48 4. 3. Economic Significance of the Belt and Road Initiative ................................ 49 4. 4. Financial institutions of the Initiative ........................................................... 56 4. 5. Internationalization of Renminbi .................................................................. 62 4. 6. Implications for China‘s Regions ................................................................. 64 4. 7. Geostrategic Dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative .............................. 66 4. 8. Environmental Consequences ....................................................................... 83 4. 9. Implementation Challenges ........................................................................... 84 5. DETERRITORIALIZATION OF EURASIAN SPACE ...................................... 89 5. 1. Infrastructure and Transportation Connectivity ............................................ 92 5. 2. The New Eurasian Land Bridge .................................................................... 94 5. 2. 1. Yu-Xin Europe line ............................................................................... 95 5. 2. 2. Xan-Xin-Europe Railway ...................................................................... 99 5. 2. 3. Rong-Europe line ................................................................................ 101 5. 2. 4. Zheng-Europe line ............................................................................... 104 5. 2. 5. Suzhou-Warsaw line ............................................................................ 106 5. 2. 6. Hefei-Hamburg line ............................................................................. 107 5. 2. 7. Yi-Xin Europe Line ............................................................................. 109 viii 5. 3. Impact of the New Eurasian Land Bridge ................................................... 114 5. 4. Hurdles of the New Eurasian Land Bridge ................................................. 124 5. 5. China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor ..................................................... 139 5. 5. 1. China ................................................................................................... 140 5. 5. 2. Central Asia ......................................................................................... 141 5. 5. 3. West Asia ...........................................................................................
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