This article examines the Turkish intelligence service from its establishment to the early Cold War period, especially in activities surveiling the Soviet Union. Turkey pursued a cautious path in its intelligence gathering regarding the Soviet Union in the period between both World Wars, by cooperating with many countries, especially Nazi Germany after the Second World War broke out in 1939. This legacy formed the foundations of the relationships, which Turkish intelligence officials established with secret services in the West during the early phases of the Cold War.
Based on new archival evidence, this article examines how Germany’s political leadership envisioned the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in the early 1990s. It clarifies how the founding of the CBSS followed Bonn’s policy goals in relation to European integration, identifying that the establishment of the CBSS was motivated by the failed Soviet Coup in August 1991, the Russian troop withdrawal from East Central Europe and Germany’s European policy. In addition, the article brings back into view the argument that Helmut Kohl’s government took over the institutionalisation of the Baltic Sea cooperation from the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein because of political rivalry.
This article analyses equestrian performances in South Africa in Frank Fillis’s Circus between 1882 and 1910. We show how he was influenced by an array of popular acts, such as war re-enactments and hunting spectacles, where horses provided both elements of authenticity and idealized empire through the romantic spectacle of the military. However, we argue that the ‘imperial’ battled the ideographic, as uniquely South African tropes were added to appeal to the local audiences. We further contend that a specific style of equestrian act was developed around the gender of the rider, which served to buttress – rather than trouble – the gendered status quo. Finally, we analyze Fillis’s use of ‘wild horses’, especially zebras, whom he deployed to showcase his ability to tame their ‘wildness’ – mirroring the vaunted imperial civilizing mission. Overall, we explore the distinct and shifting role horses played in Fillis’ circus ring – a transcultural arena of animal capital.
Terror and horror form the fabric of the Iraqi theatre post-2003. Many factors accelerated the growth and spread of this phenomenon. Among them are the atrocities of war, the US invasion of Iraq, and sectarian conflict. Iraq has witnessed extreme violence, which has deeply affected many aspects of cultural production, and in particular, the rise of terror and horror in dramatic works of art. This article examines two plays, namely, Jawad Al Assadi’s Baghdadi Bath (2005) and Rasha Fadhil’s Ishtar in Baghdad (2003), which bear witness to and expose the devastating effects of war on Iraq. These two playwrights take on the task of presenting violence in their texts, which is then transformed into terror and horror in performance.
World War I is one of the most significant events in global and Turkish history and politics. Conventional accounts articulate a narrative defined through specific declarations of war and treaties of surrender. Insights into war termination incorporate these narratives into their theories. Removed from these narratives is substantive engagement with Turkish experiences. Through a ‘heterotemporal’ framework that focuses on the multiplicity of Turkish experiences, this article problematizes the Euro-American periodization of the conflict, the war termination theories thatemanate from it, and highlights how existing narratives preserve specificidentity claims and positions in international and domestic orders.
Situated at the intersection of identity and security studies, this article analyzes Turkey’s Syria policy through Ontological Security Theory (OST). It contends that identity construction, psychological anxieties, and self-narratives—beyond material or strategic interests – fundamentally shaped Ankara’s foreign policy during the Syrian Civil War. Employing a tripartite framework – reflexive (identity formation), relational (diplomatic interaction), and systemic (multipolar positioning) – the study demonstrates that Turkey’s behavior constituted an ontological security-seeking endeavor. It reveals how foreign policy became a vehicle for managing existential uncertainty, safeguarding regime legitimacy, and performing national identity amid regional upheaval and the erosion of traditional security architectures.
This article explores the relationship between the evolution of Russia’s foreign policy narrative (RN) and the breakdown of its relations with the West. Even though the West is a rather fluid and nebulous concept, it is central to Russian foreign policy and primarily encompasses the EU and the United States (US), but also other countries like Canada, Japan or Australia that are framed by the RN as key supporters of US leadership in the world order. Relations between the West and Russia veered towards conflict and lack of engagement following the start of the Ukraine crisis, with various voices indicating that the world had stepped into a new Cold War. In this article, a curated collection of key interviews and op-eds from the Russian President was coded and examined for frame analysis for the period between the start of 2000 (when Vladimir Putin first became President) to the end of 2021. This study finds that the RN discursively constructs the context within which the Kremlin made the fateful decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
Drawing on unique diachronic interviews, this article explores the self-reported willingness of Western Europe-based Chechen diaspora members to travel to Syria and Ukraine as foreign fighters. It posits that diaspora-centred ethno-cultural motives mirroring the Chechen master narratives – struggle for independence, victimization, and quest for revenge – drove Chechen radicalization in both Syria and Ukraine. Self-identifying with Syrians’ and Ukrainians’ plight, the respondents’ sense of victimization triggered their desire for revenge against Russia and its allies, whereas helping foreign anti-Russian war efforts was seen as the first step towards restoring Chechnya’s independence.