Durham University “Russia and Turkey in the Geopolitics of Eurasia & the Theory of Median Space: Thesis-Synthesis-Antithesis” Georgios Κ. Filis Ustinov College, December 2008 Στην γυναίκα µου Κρυσταλλία, στους γονείς µου Κωνσταντίνο και Θεοδώρα και στον αδερφό µου Ηλία-Ιάσονα για την υποµονή που έδειξαν και για την συµπαράσταση, αρωγή και αγάπη που µου προσφέρουν… Ευχαριστώ… Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? Because the barbarians are coming today. What’s the point of senators making laws now? Once the barbarians are here, they’ ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate, in state, wearing the crown? Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader. He’s even got a scroll to give him, loaded with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautiful worked in silver and gold? Because the barbarians are coming today and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say? Because the barbarians are coming today and they’ re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought? Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven’t come. And some of our men who have just returned from the border say there are no barbarians any longer Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution. Constantine P. Cavafy CONTENTS List of Abbreviations vi Abstract viii Acknowledgements ix Exordium 1 PART I: Thesis-Geopolitical / Geocultural Theory Revisited Chapter One: The Forerunners of the Geopolitical/Geocultural Debate; a Critical Assessment 14 1.1 Geopolitics: “à La Mode” or “passées de mode”? 14 1.2 The Eternal – Whether We Like it or Not, Geopolitical Division of the World 22 i. A Binary World 22 ii. The Anglo-Saxon Status Quo and the Eurasian Revisionist Approach 26 iii. The Anglo-Saxon/Insular Fear … 27 iv. … The Eurasian/Continental Hope 48 Chapter Two: The Integrated Geopoltical/Geocultural Theory of the Median Space 58 2.1 The Historical/Socioligical Theory of the Median Space – Initial Articulation 59 2.2 The Geopolitical/Geocultural Theory of the Median Space - Subsequent Elabοration 64 i. The Median Space 65 ii. The Heartland of the Median Space 80 iii. The Two Conditions of the Heartland of the Median Space 90 PART II: Synthesis-Russian and Turkish Psyche/Space & the Eternal Quest for Identity Chapter Three: Russian Psyche & the Eternal Quest for ‘Identity’ 104 3.1 Crisis 104 3.2 Debate 107 i. The Eternal Debate: West or Eurasia? 108 ii. The Siberia Debate: Blessing or Menace? 116 iii. Geopolitical Debate: The Eurasian/Continental Hope 123 3.3 Lysis 133 Chapter Four: Turkish Psyche & the Eternal Quest for ‘Identity’ 137 iv 4.1 Crisis 137 4.2 Debate 142 i. On the ‘Nature/Identity’ of the Byzantine State 142 ii. On the ‘Nature/Identity’ of the Early Ottoman State 146 iii. On the ‘Nature/Identity’ of the Late Ottoman State 165 4.3 Lysis 180 PART III: Antithesis-The ‘Eastern Question’ and the ‘Great Game’ of the Median Space: ‘Disunited’ Heartland, Northern Wing and the West Chapter Five: The Heartland-Northern Wing Relations and the ‘Eastern Question’: A Macroscopic Analysis 195 5.1 The Byzantine and Russian Medieval Period (9th-15th c.) 195 5.2 The Ottoman and the Russian Imperial Period (15th-20th c.) 204 5.3 The Kemalist and Communist Period (1919-1990) 213 5.4 The Modern Period (1990-Present) 222 i. Yeltzin Period (1990-2000) 222 ii. Putin Period (2000-2008) 231 Chapter Six: The Heartland-Northern Wing relations and the ‘Great Game’: A Microscopic Analysis 241 6.1 ‘The War of the Worlds’ of the ‘Great Game’: The ‘ENERGY-Security’ Component 241 i. ‘Energy Security’ of the ‘Great game’ 241 ii. Through the ‘Silk Road’ or Through the ‘Varangians to the Greeks’? The Oil Pipeline Competition 250 iii. Through the ‘Silk Road’ or Through the ‘Varangians to the Greeks’? The Gas Pipeline Competition 259 6.2 ‘The War of the Worlds’ of the ‘Great Game’: The ‘Energy-SECURITY’ Component 276 i. The Collision and Amity in the Caucasus Region 278 ii. The Competition and Alignments in the Black Sea-Straits-Aegean Axis 303 iii. The Confrontation and Alliances in the Median Space 330 Epilogue 347 Appendices 358 Indicative Bibliography 386 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AIOC Azerbaijan International Operating Company AKP Justice and Development Party, Turkey ΑΜ Asia Minor AMBO Albania-FYROM-Bulgaria Oil pipeline AMSCC Athens Multinational Sealift Coordination Center ANAP Motherland Party, Turkey ASALA Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia BE Byzantine Empire BMENA Broader Middle East & North Africa bpd barrel per day BS Blue Stream BSEC Black Sea Economic Cooperation BSSA Black Sea-Straits-Aegean axis BTC MEP Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline BTE NGP Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline BTK Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad CFE Conventional Forces Europe CIS Commonwealth of Independent States cmy cubic meters per year COSCO China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company CPC BAP Caspian Pipeline Consortium Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline CSTO Collective Security Treaty Organization CUP Committee of Union and Progress DHMS Disunited Heartland of the Median Space DTP Democratic Society Party, Turkey EAEC Eurasian Economic Community EK Eastern Kentron EPC Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople EQ Eastern Question EU European Union FYROM Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia GDP Gross Domestic Product GG Great Game ODED-GU(U)AM Organization of Democracy & Economic Development Georgia- Ukraine (Uzbekistan)-Azerbaijan-Moldova GI Great Idea GP Green Paper GV Grand Vizier HELBROC BG Hellas-Bulgaria-Romania-Cyprus Battle Group HMS Heartland of the Median Space HT Heartland Theory IEM International Eurasianist Movement ILSA Iran & Libya Sanctions Act IR International Relations ITGI Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy KCTS Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation System KDP Kurdistan Democratic Party KRG Kurdish Regional Government MAP Membership Action Plan MG Minsk Group vi MRD Motor Rifle Division MS Median Space MS-GI Median Space-type Great Idea MS-O Median Space-type Ottomanism NA Near Abroad NATO North Atlantic Treat Organization NEPD National Energy Policy Development NW Northern Wing OAE Operation Active Endevour OE Ottoman Empire OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe PJAK Party of Free Life in Kurdistan PKK Kurdistan Worker’s Party PM Prime Minister PP Pivot Point PUK Patriotic Union Kurdistan RMA Revolution in Military Affairs ROC(A) Russian Orthodox Church (Abroad) RSA Revolution in Strategic Affairs SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organization SOCAR Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company SS South Stream SW Southern Wing TCP Trans-Caspian Pipeline TMS Theory of Median Space tpy tonnes per year TR Turkish Republic TRACECA Europe-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor TSKA Trebizond-Sevasteia-Kaesaria-Adana UHMS United Heartland of the Median Space UK United Kingdom UN United Nations US United States W-GI Western-type Great Idea WI World Island WK Western Kentron W-O Western-type Ottomanism WW I/II World War I/II YO Young Ottomans YT Young Turks vii ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to address the issue of the broader geopolitical architecture of Eurasia using as a case study the Russian-Turkish diachronic relations which are being examined through an original and fresh geopolitical/geocultural theoretical framework introduced also in the pages of this research. The introduction presents a brief overview of the aims, issues and questions that this study expects to achieve, approach and bring up for discussion. This research is divided into three parts and each part contains two chapters. Part I deals with the general theoretical framework within which this study is going to be delivered. Chapter 1 critically assesses the existing theoretical geopolitical debate and aims to designate the reasons for the urgent need for the articulation of a new theoretical perspective. Chapter 2 introduces an original approach in the geopolitical theory under the label of the ‘Integrated Geopolitical/Geocultural Theory of the Median Space’. The suggested model makes two major propositions. First that there is a diachronic ‘Median Space’ identity in a specific geographical space which was never disappeared in the midst of the eternal ‘East’-‘West’ competition and is surviving even today. Second, within the Median Space region there is a specific ‘pattern’ on the implementation of International Relations which also remained unchanged throughout the centuries since all the regional and extra-regional actors are operating, consciously or unconsciously, according to its precepts. Having presented this newly introduced framework Part II and Part III of the research are trying through textual and empirical analysis, respectively to provide the necessary evidence that strengthen the abovementioned new geopolitical model. Part II through a historical-sociological-anthropological perspective tries to prove the first proposition about the viability of a Median Space mentality. Thus, as a case- study, it examines the diachronic geocultural and geopolitical identity of Russia and Turkey in chapters 3 and 4, respectively. Part III by engaging International Relations macroscopic and microscopic analysis through chapters 5 and 6, respectively aims to address the second proposition about the specific pattern that is being followed by all actors interacting in the Median Space.