South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) in Prehistory

During 25 years of independence, because of different objective and subjective reasons, independent Georgian State could not fully get over the problems concerning ethnic minorities (despite the fact that in this direction after Rose Revolution of 2003 the situation was positively changed and several steps were made) We can single out still actual several main issues concerning ethnic minorities and their integration process.
1. Among non-ethnic Georgians, especially in the compactly populated regions the level of knowledge of Georgian language is still very low.
2. In the country the level of unemployment is quite high and ethnic minorities are no exception too. In non-urban space the level of unemployment is higher than in urban space. As a result, Georgian population has less possibility to interact with ethnic minorities in the public sphere. 
3. Cultural and informational alliance.
4. The level of civic alienation is quite high too.
5. Weak civic institutionalized space doesn’t help the collaboration of ethnic groups and appropriate articulation of private interest.
Until recently Georgian political establishment was very cautious with the ethnic politics and indecision in this regard was also quite often. Despite the individual projects and efforts carried out in recent years, it is still difficult to say that the Georgian government has consistent and effective policies in order to overcome problems caused by its ethno-religious multi-membership. Although in this sense recently there are some positive trends but the given efforts have still fragmented character and they can’t be called well-formed reflexive and coherent policy that in the near future will bring rapid and effective changes in terms of civic integration.
As we think among the strategies of ethnic approchmant the most optimal way for Georgia is the strategy of integration. The state can develop this strategy by several ways.
1. Creation of stable democratic environment and institutional development.
2. Strengthening of local self – government, what’ll promote the involvement of the citizens at the local administrative level.
3. Education system should ensure spreading of the knowledge of state language among ethnic minorities. 
4. To encourage development of urbanization in the regions compactly populated by ethnic minorities.
5. Obviously, cooperation between state institutions and civil society organizations, and between the state and minorities, are very important in this process

Published by the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program, this full-color, exquisitely illustrated, bilingual monograph (available in English-Georgian or English-Azerbaijani versions) presents research by Paul Michael Taylor, Christopher R. Polglase, Najaf Museybili, Jared M. Koller and Troy A. Johnson, summarizing and interpreting the archaeological finds uncovered by teams of Azerbaijani, Georgian, Turkish, British, and American archaeologists during the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and adjacent South Caucasus (SCP) pipelines, from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

[Note: this is the bilingual Georgian and English edition.]

Published by the Smithsonian’s Asian Cultural History Program, this full-color, exquisitely illustrated, bilingual monograph (available in English-Georgian or English-Azerbaijani versions) presents research by Paul Michael Taylor, Christopher R. Polglase, Najaf Museybili, Jared M. Koller and Troy A. Johnson, summarizing and interpreting the archaeological finds uncovered by teams of Azerbaijani, Georgian, Turkish, British, and American archaeologists during the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and adjacent South Caucasus (SCP) pipelines, from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

[Note: this is the bilingual Azerbaijani and English edition.]

War and Collapse
World War I and the Ottoman State
Edited by M. Hakan Yavuz with Feroz Ahmad

Middle East Studies

War and Collapse is the third volume in a series that covers the last years of the Ottoman Empire. It stems from a three-day international conference at which scholars examined the causes and consequences of World War I, with a focus on how these events pertained to the Ottoman state and society. Fifty-three scholars—both new and established—contributed to this collection, explaining what happened within the Ottoman Empire before and during WWI and how ethnic and national groups constructed these events to enhance their identities and promote their interests. The chapters provide insight into the mindsets of Ottoman peoples, showing how earlier events and circumstances set in motion Ottoman responses to the war and how continued conflict had devastating, irreversible effects on Ottoman society. What emerges is a comprehensive picture of the events, encompassing a wide variety of perspectives.

M. Hakan Yavuz is a professor of political science at the University of Utah. He is the coeditor of War and Diplomacy: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and the Treaty of Berlin and of War and Nationalism: The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913, and Their Sociopolitical Implications.

Feroz Ahmad is chair of the Department of International Relations and Political Science at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. He is the author of several books, including The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918

Table of Contents:
Illustrations
A Note on Transliteration
Acknowledgments
Introduction – M. Hakan Yavuz and Feroz Ahmad

Part I. The Origins of World War I and the Ottoman Road to War
1. Inside the Doomsday Machine: The Great Powers on the Eve of 1914 – Sean McMeekin 

2. The Dilemmas of Young Turk Policy, 1914–1918 – Feroz Ahmad
3. The Policies of the Entente Powers toward the Ottoman Empire – Altay Cengizer 

4. The Black Sea Raid of October 29, 1914, as a Foreign Policy Decision: Collusion or Necessity? – Gün Kut 


Part II. Ideas, Ideologies, and Human Agency
5. Young Turks, Old State: The Ontological (In)Security of the State and the Continuity of Ottomanism – Serhun Al 

6. Nationalism in Function: “Rebellions” in the Ottoman Empire and Narratives in Their Absence – Ramazan Hakkı Öztan 

7. Revisiting Dominant Paradigms on a Young Turk Leader: Ahmed Rıza – Erdem Sönmez 

8. Ottomanism and the Ottoman Vatan (1908–1918) – Behlül Özkan
9. Ambiguities of Turkism: Cultural and Intellectual Manifestations of Turkish National Thought – Umut Uzer
10. Beyond Jihad: Alexander Helphand-Parvus, Musa Kazım, and Celal Nuri on the Ottoman-German Alliance – York Norman
11.“Landscapes of Modernity and Order”: War and Propaganda in Ottoman Writing during World War I – 
Eyal Ginio

Part III. The War and the Ottoman Home Front
12. Greeks, Jews, and Armenians: A Comparative Analysis of Non-Muslim Communities and Nascent Nationalisms in the Late Ottoman Empire through World War I – Pamela Dorn Sezgin
13. The Exodus of Thracian Greeks to Greece in the Post–Balkan War Era –Ahmet Efiloğlu
14. A Last Toehold in Europe: The Making of Turkish Thrace, 1912–1923 – Ryan Gingeras
15. Call to the Rescue: World War I through the Eyes of Women – Serpil Atamaz
16. Ottoman Muslim Women and Work during World War I – Nicole A. N. M. van Os
17. Trading in the Shadow of Wars in a Doomed Empire – Aliye F. Mataracı 

18. When a Military Problem Became a Social Issue: Ottoman Desertions and Deserters in World War I – Mehmet Beşikçi
19. The Military Origins of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa: The IMRO and the Ottoman Special Force on the Eve of World War I – Tetsuya Sahara
20. The Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa and World War I – Yücel Yiğit

Part IV. Armenian-Kurdish and Ottoman-Russian Relations
21. A Topography of Positions in the Turkish-Armenian Debate – M. Hakan Yavuz 

22. Russian Military Mobilization in the Caucasus before World War I – Mustafa Tanrıverdi
23. Reclaiming the Homeland: The Caucasus-Oriented Activities 
of Ottoman Circassians during and after World War I – Georgy Chochiev
24. The Armenian Question or the Eastern Question? -I Sevtap Demirci
25. A Last Attempt to Solve the Armenian Question: The Reform of 1914 – Ahmet Şeyhun
26. The Bitlis Uprising before World War I – Tibet Abak
27. The Eastern Vilayets, 1909–1914: ARF-CUP Collusion, Russian Stratagems, and the Kurdish Menace – Garabet K. Moumdjian 

28. The Eighth World Congress of the Dashnaktsutyun and Its Aftermath – Onur Önol
29. Cilicia: A Missed Opportunity in World War I – Justin McCarthy
30. Forced Migration of Ottoman Armenians during World War I: How Security Concerns Affected Decision Making – Kemal Çiçek
31. Modern Counterinsurgency Doctrine and the Ottoman- Armenian Population Reconcentrations of 1915–1916 – John Reed 

32. The Relations between the Ottoman State and the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul (1914–1918) – Ramazan Erhan Güllü
33. The Deportation of the Armenians and the Issue of Abandoned Properties in Kayseri – Oya Gözel Durmaz
34. Getting Away with Murder: Soghomon Tehlirian, ASALA, and the Justice Commandos, 1921–1984 – Christopher Gunn
35. Beyond Complicity: British Responsibility for the Massacres of Armenians in World War I – Tal Buenos
36. An Assessment of Armenian Claims from the Perspective of International Law – Şükrü M. Elekdağ
37. Political and Human Landscapes of Anatolia in American Diplomatic Correspondence after World War I – Hakan Özoğlu
Part V. The Balkans and World War I
38. From Ottoman to Mediterranean Empire: Italian Colonial Rule in the Dodecanese Islands and the Second Treaty of Lausanne – Valerie McGuire
39. A Reason to Break the Hague Convention?: The Habsburg Occupation Policy toward Balkan Muslims during
World War I – Tamara Scheer
40. Albania: The Struggle for Identity on the Eve of World War I – Olsi Jazexhi 

41. The Jihad Fatwa in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Fikret Karčić
42. The Creation of the Serbian or Yugoslav State: The Historiography of Bosnia and Herzegovina on World War I – Edin Radušić 


Part VI. Arab Provinces of the Ottoman Empire
43. The Arab Provinces of the Ottoman Empire before, during, and after World War I: From Muslim Empire to Colonial States – Peter Sluglett 

44. Narrating Experiences of World War I: The Formation
of Arab Perspectives through Narration in Memoirs – Orçun Can Okan 

45. Ottoman and German Imperial Objectives in Syria during World War I: Synergies and Strains behind the Front Lines – Hasan Kayalı 

46. From Ottoman Lebanon to the French Mandate: The End of the “Long Peace”? – Francesco Mazzucotelli
47. Iran and World War I – Eric Hooglund 


Part VII. Memories and Legacies of World War I
48. The “Young Turk Zeitgeist” in the Middle Eastern Uprisings in the Aftermath of World War I – Alp Yenen
49. “Eternal Sunshine of an Obscure Mind”: World War I, the Imperial Collapse, and Trauma Management in the New Turkish Republic – Mehmet Arısan 

50. Haunting Memories of the Great War: The Gallipoli Victory Commemorations in Turkey – Gencer Özcan and Özüm Arzık
51. Istanbul in the Early 1920s in White Russian Memoirs and Russian Sources – Kezban Acar
52. The Ottoman Question at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) – Francesco Caccamo 

53. Fragmentation and Unification of the Body in World War I – Senadin Musabegović

Chronology
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Praise and Reviews:
“In a field of growing interest, this volume will be useful for those wishing to learn more. It is by far the most compendious assemblage of relevant material.”
—Norman Stone, author of The Eastern Front 1914–1917

“This collection of new and old approaches reveals that there is still much to be said about World War I that requires an Ottoman angle. The field is richer because of this valuable addition to the scholarship.”
—Isa Blumi, author of Reinstating the Ottoman Empire

War and Collapse
World War I and the Ottoman State
Edited by M. Hakan Yavuz with Feroz Ahmad

Middle East Studies

War and Collapse is the third volume in a series that covers the last years of the Ottoman Empire. It stems from a three-day international conference at which scholars examined the causes and consequences of World War I, with a focus on how these events pertained to the Ottoman state and society. Fifty-three scholars—both new and established—contributed to this collection, explaining what happened within the Ottoman Empire before and during WWI and how ethnic and national groups constructed these events to enhance their identities and promote their interests. The chapters provide insight into the mindsets of Ottoman peoples, showing how earlier events and circumstances set in motion Ottoman responses to the war and how continued conflict had devastating, irreversible effects on Ottoman society. What emerges is a comprehensive picture of the events, encompassing a wide variety of perspectives.

M. Hakan Yavuz is a professor of political science at the University of Utah. He is the coeditor of War and Diplomacy: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and the Treaty of Berlin and of War and Nationalism: The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913, and Their Sociopolitical Implications.

Feroz Ahmad is chair of the Department of International Relations and Political Science at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. He is the author of several books, including The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918

Praise and Reviews:
“In a field of growing interest, this volume will be useful for those wishing to learn more. It is by far the most compendious assemblage of relevant material.”
—Norman Stone, author of The Eastern Front 1914–1917

“This collection of new and old approaches reveals that there is still much to be said about World War I that requires an Ottoman angle. The field is richer because of this valuable addition to the scholarship.”

This article draws on archaeological data from Late Bronze Age (LBA, ca. 1550-1150 fortress, shrine, cemetery, and residential sites in Armenia to challenge long-held assumptions about the potential for mobile-pastoral groups to develop and sustain complex polities. The past two decades of research by Project ArAGATS (the Armenian-American collaboration for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies) has demonstrated that LBA sovereignty emerged not through the sociopolitical coalescence of settled farming villages, but through the actions of hierarchically organized, mobile pastoralists. Post-processual archaeology helped focus discussions of ancient political life on the contingent nature of authority and the processes through which competing factions and stakeholders achieve political association. However, centuries of interpretive marginalization of nomadic peoples combined with deterministic notions regarding subsistence and settlement practices of mobile pastoralists have, until recently, hindered a broader anthropological consideration of the potential pathways to sovereignty available to more mobile societies. Drawing on a range of datasets from LBA fortresses, shrines, cemeteries, and ephemeral residential complexes, our study examines the essential factors contributing to the emergence and maintenance of complex polities among mobile pastoralists in the southern Caucasus, societies that were intimately associated-politically, economically, and ritually-with hill-top fortresses. This study of political association in LBA Armenia sheds light on the internal politics of nomadic communities and offers a unique opportunity to bring the South Caucasus into the comparitive study of ancient complex polities.