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Revolutionary Movements in
West Asia in the 20th Century
Dr. Cüneyt Akalın
I. Introduction
The old world, formed essentially of Eurasia, is the cradle of
the mankind’s civilisation. Eurasia which is the name given to Europe
and Asia together, are connected by West Asia. This makes the historical
importance of the West Asia on the global scale.
West Asia:
Asia is the general name given to the territories situated to the east
of the Mediterranean Sea1.
As to the West Asia, there are various propositions to name the region.
The terms “Middle East” and“ Far East” date from colonialism; these terms
were criticised by leading Asiatic political leaders like Mao Tse-tung and
Javaharlal Nehru. “West Asia” which Prof. Gulshan Dietl proposes for us in
categorising our concepts cover all the Arab countries of Asia (machrik in
Arabic), Turkey, Iran and Egypt in Africa.2 Prof. Dietl reminds us that the
term was first proposed by Nehru.
1. Iranians, Turks and Arabs are the main peoples(inhabitants) of the
1 Nişanyan, Etimolojik Sözlük, www.nisanyansözlük.com: in Akkadian: “sun rises”
2 Gulshan Dieth, “West Asia: Naming and Claiming a Region”, paper presented to Artuklu Üniv.
Mardin, March 2013
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region. They have lived on these territories and have given birth to their
respective civilisations. Azeris (who are, ethnically and culturally, of the same
origin as Turks but share in majority the same beliefs as Iranians) should also
be included in this group. The adventures of these peoples are alike.
2. They have all gone through the feudal stage of society. Feudal
societies have their own values and systems; however, different revolutionary
and humanistic ideas and the search for an egalitarian system have also been
observed in these societies. Mazdakism known as the representative of early
communistic ideas, is the main example. Sufism, Babakism are examples for
the past humanistic ideas and movements.
3. Iran and Turkey have also similar geographies and have both played a
bridge role in between Asia and Europe.
West Asia faces Western Capitalism: 19th Century
Turks, Iranians and Arabs lived in closed feudal societies for centuries.
Arabs lived under the Ottoman rule after 1517 when the Ottoman sultan,
Selim I took over the Caliphate in Cairo from the Mamluks putting the title of
Caliph beside that of Sultan for the Ottoman throne, which lasted until the end
of World War I.
1.Turks, after having lived in different geographies, and finally having
settled in Asia Minor and having formed a huge feudal empire at the heart of
West Asia, faced modernisation problems produced by the rising capitalism
coming from of Europe next door.
A Trade Agreement signed in 1838 between the Ottoman Empire and
the United Kingdom regulating international trade, opened the Ottoman
market to the British. As the English Foreign Minister Parmerston said, this
trade was “Capo d’Opera”3 for the British political objectives because it forced
Turks to reform their own old type of state apparatus by adopting the
Western system. Modernising the state meant changing the public law and the
state structure. The reforms came with the Sultan’s decree 4 announced by the
Ottoman Grand Vizier, Reşit Pasha. With this decree, the Ottoman Sultan
3 Capo d’Opera: marvellous.
4 Tanzimat Fermanı, Gülhane Hatt-ı Hümayunu
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guaranteed the rights of the Christians living on the Ottoman territory or
coming from abroad and equalising them with the Muslims, judicially. Thus,
the huge Ottoman territory, from Balkans to Machrik was opened to Western
capitalism.
After the Tanzimat Decree, the Ottoman State ceased to be independent
and became semi-independent and semi-colonial. Penetrating into the depths of
the Ottoman empire, Western powers began interfering in the internal affairs of
the Empire by claiming they had the right to protect the Christian minorities.
Reaction to European intervention took shape in Istanbul and Europe. The
movement was called the “Young Ottomans”, intending to form a more
democratic and pluralistic society on the Ottoman dominated territories of
Balkans, Anatolia and West Asia and thus preventing Western intervention.
However, this initiative did not succeed and Western powers (led by British)
decided to divide Ottoman empire to pieces after the Berlin Congress (1878)
Turkish nationalism “Young Ottomans” were followed by Young
Turks, the real nationalists in the modern sense. The “failure of
Ottomantism” fastened the nationalism. Students of İstanbul Military
Medical Academy formed a nationalistic organisation on the centenary of the
French Revolution( 1889)5 giving the message that they were the followers of
the similar revolutionary ideas. The association of İttihad ve Terakki6
developed a new programme on the basis of constitutionalism, unity and
territorial integrity. The continuation of the Western efforts to divide Turkey
radicalised more Turkish nationalism.
“İttihad ve Terakki”6 was the main force in opposition to the Ottoman
sultanate in the region at the beginning of the 20th Century. These nationalists
had branches in various countries of Europe and West Asia. So the nationalistic
ideas arrived in Turkey via students studying in enlightened Europe. Some
other revolutionary socialistic and Narodnic ideas had also arrived in Turkey
from Russia via the Balkans. A reformist type of socialism appeared also
5 It is interesting to note that the Indian nationalist party, the Congress Part was also formed in about same
years: 1885
6 Committee of Union and Progress, in Turkish
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cooperating with II. International but stayed weak. Communist groups were to
be formed mainly after World War I.
Turks participated in World War I on the German side. Turkey lost the
war and at the end of the war, the huge empire of the Caliph of Islam was
divided into pieces and the whole country was put on the hegemony of the big
Western powers. Happily, Bolchevic Revolution spoiled West’s imperialistic
plans.
2. Iranians have an old state tradition and so do the Turks. Iran and
Turkey are the two examples of the Muslim/Asiatic societies who have never
subjugated to colonial rule. These politically independent states had trade
relations and contacts with Europe but modern western capitalism got into
contact with West Asian peoples in the 19th century in a much different way.
Iran became the object of contestation in the second half of the 19 th
century between England who intended to safeguard “the pearl of the crown”
meaning India and Russia who had infiltrated into the north of Iran, around
the Caspian Sea. Iran was quite isolated from the rest of the world in 1800 but
in 1900’s, she was on the way to integration after the discovery of rich
petroleum resources.
Iran changed step by step. Especially modern education, taken from the
west, produced a new middle class, in Iran. The members of this new class who
described themselves as “enlightened thinkers”. The ideas of the French
Revolution “Liberty fraternity, solidarity” arrived in Iran.7
Nationalism was born among these middle classes in Iran.
3.Central Asian peoples:
Central Asia was inhabited by Turkish speaking peoples except Taciks
who speak persian. These peoples had lived in closed societies in
autonomous Khanats for centuries to the west of China and north of India.
Russians interfered in the Caucasus and the Central Asia in the first part
of the 19th Century. The Russian invasion put the local peoples of Central
Asia8 into contact with modern European ways of life and systems. 7 E.Abrahamian, ‘The History of Modern Iran’, s. 49
8 Peoples living in Khanats in Central Asia
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“Djedid”s and “Kadim”s
Up to the second half of the 19th century, the peoples of these Central
Asian Khanats consisted of Muslims who lived in their traditional societies.
The primary schools in the cities and villages were next to the madrasahs and
mosques where the children were taught the Arabic alphabet and Arabic words.
This was called “usul–i kadim”.9 The enlightened intellectuals of the region
who were led by İsmail Gasprinsky of Crimea defended the new type of
education in the western style. According to them modern education should
start at the primary school and the contents of this type of education should not
be that of the religious institutions. The new ideas were called “djedidizm”
meaning reformism in Arabic. The cedid-i kadim struggle was the basis of the
Turkish enlightenment and created suitable conditions in the 1905 wave of
Democratic revolutions. Turkish, Iranian and Azeri leaders of the djedidism
movement played an important role during the 1905 Revolution.
4. The Arab World
Arabs who live on the eastern side of Mediterannee are called
“Machrikis” (Palestinians, Egyptians, Syrians, Irakis etc) whereas Arab who
live on the south cost of the Mediterannee are called “Magrebians.”
( Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccons etc.)
In the beginning of the 19th century, Mehmet Ali Pasha, the Ottoman
governor of Egypt, initiated the modernisation of Egypt by reorganising
agriculture, forming a well-formed army and modernising the educational
system. M.Ali Pasha’s modernisation of Egypt’s economy attracted more
Western powers and interest to the country. The Cairo –Alexandria railroad
was completed in 1856 and the line from Cairo to Suez, the next year. The
British textile industry which was pushed to crisis by the American civil war
began demanding more cotton from Egypt. The development of railways in
Egypt was rapid and in 1882, well over a thousand km of railroad was built.
Starting from eighteen sixties, European firms began to install water and gas
systems and start municipal transportation in some of the chief port cities.
9 The old way
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The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 accelerated the deepening of
inter-capitalist frictions in Egypt.
Western economic investments were followed by Western cultural
penetration/infiltration. Christian missions were first merely Christians and
they came by way of Christian minorities. First, French Catholic Jesuits and
later, American Protestants arrived in West Asia and opened their “mission”
schools and colleges in Syria. These missionaries established printing houses in
Arabic. They trained a new generation of Arabs who were more conscious of
their Arab heritage.10 The Christian missions formed Syrian Christians,
established newspapers, supported the publications and encouraged
autonomisme and decentralisation within the Ottoman Empire.
Arab Nationalism At first there was a cultural awakening and a
renaissance of the Arabic language and literature. This began in Syria as early as
the ‘sixties” of the nineteenth century and spread to Egypt and to other Arabic–
speaking countries. Nationalist political movements arose after the Young
Turk revolution and the fall of sultan Abdülhamit in 1908. Nationalistic ideas
spread among both the Arab Muslims and Christians and the idea of liberating
the Arab countries from Turkish rule took shape. Arabs also began feeling that
they should get back the religious leadership of Islam by bringing back the
Caliphate by transferring it from the royal Ottoman dynasty to an Arab dynasty
Even Syrian christian Arabs favored this islamist demand.11
In this period, ( end of 19th century),the advance of nationalistic
movements, different from those in Iran and Turkey, was accelerated by the
direct presence of imperialist control in 1830 in Algeria, in 1839 in the
British Aden, in 1870 in Tunisia and in 1882 in Egypt.
The activities of the Christian missions and the advance of colonialism in
the Arab World created another reaction than nationalism. Islamism
(interpreting Islam as an instrument of the rejection of Western modernism)
took its first step at the beginning of the 19th century as a reaction to the gains
and democratic ideas of the French Revolution in Arabic Peninsula. However,
reactionary Abdulvahab’s agitation was easily repressed by the Ottoman
Sultan’s Army who was open minded and tried to understand the consequences
10 Lewis, s. 172
11 Nehru, Glimpses of World History, p. 757-8
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of the French Revolution. However, colonialism and the activities of the
Christian missionaries provoked other reactions within muslims. Thus Islamist
ideas different from Islam as a belief, which can also be called Islamism or
political islam, was born. (The müfti of Cairo, Muhammed Abduh in 1885 is
considered the pioneer of Islamism.)
The Turkish democratic revolution had only a limited effect on the Arabs
who were still under the Ottoman rule.12 The political scenery of the Arab
world took shape after World War I. The fragmentation of the Ottoman
territory had started with the Sykes-Picot secret agreement and the Balfour
Declaration which gave birth to the state of Israel.
II. 1905-1910: The Wave of Democratic Revolutions
The history of the nationalist and communist movements and parties in
West Asia can only be understood in the context of post-World War I
national liberation and anti-colonial struggles. The link between nationalism
and communism is thus essential in understanding the strength and role of
Communist forces in the Middle-East. 13
Revolutionary waves born in Russia in 1905 had big impacts on Turkey
and Iran. It was felt less in the Arabic countries. The huge democratic wave
starting from Russia embraced Turkey and Iran which went through
democratic, constitutional changes and China tore down the oldest feudal
regime of the world by founding the Republic. The big wave also had
consequences even in Latin America,especially in Mexica.
1.Nationalism and the rising communist movement in the Caspian region.
Tsarist authorities suppressed the rising new wave but the repercussions
spread out. Strikes and demonstrations were everywhere. These actions pushed
searches. The translations of the statute of the Russian Social-Democrat
12 Lewis , p. 175
13 Silvio Pons-Robert Service, A dictionary of 20 th Century Communism, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 200
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Workers’ Party to the Turkish language by Dr. Nerimanov, the founder of the
Azerbaijan Communist Party and the President of the Azeri Socialist Republic
was one of the first steps. The first Muslim social-democrat organisation,
Himmet (labour) was so formed and began organising in Baku, Lencoran,
Tiblisi, the region around the river Don, Harkov etc. The sixth Congress of the
Bolshevik Party recognised Himmet as the first Muslim social-democrat
organisation of the region. (1912)
It is interesting to note that the Azeri nationalist and communist leaders
were first organised hand in hand under the umbrella of Himmet in 1910’s.
The founder of the Azeri Republic Mehmet Emin Resulzade and the founder of
Azeri Soviet Socialist Republic Dr. Neriman Nerimanov were both Himmet’s
members and also in contact with Caucasian Bolchevics, among them Joseph
Stalin.
İran Similar events happened in Iran especially in the north part, but the
change in Iran was accelerated with the intervention of the Russians to the
Caspian and central Region and with the discovery of Petroleum in the Gulf
Area in the 20.th century. As an Iranian historian notes, “Iran has entered the
20th century with asses and primitive plough.”14
III. The End of World War I and the Soviet Revolution
The end of the World War I and the Soviet revolution had huge impacts
on the region.
- The Turkish Empire lost the war and capitulated.
- Arabs who separated from the Turkish Empire were put under the
British-French colonial mandate.
- Turkey herself was fragmented and occupied by imperialist forces.
- Iran where petroleum sources were discovered got under the political
control of Britain.
- Bolsheviks supported the nationalist forces and encouraged local
communists to get organised.
14 Abrahamian, The History of Modern İran, . s. 1
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We all know that the Bolshevik revolution started in the big cities of
Russia such as Moscow and St. Petersburg and ended in a civil war that
covered Ukraine, Volga region and central Asia.
The famous Baku Congress is a turning point in the history of the
international communism. Marxism, by stepping out of Europe via Bakü really
became an international ideology. The Baku Congress organised by the
Comintern in September 1920 gathered people from all over Asia. The main
participants were Turkish people (205), Iranians ( 192), Turcomans (35),
Russians (104) Chinese (8), Indians (14) etc. This international meeting
encouraged Asian peoples in their national struggles against imperialism. The
Turkish communist groups, already organised in İstanbul, got in touch with
Turkish communists militants in Baku. A Communist meeting of Turks was
held in Baku just after the Congress in 10 September 1920.
Azerbaican’s Communist Party was founded even before Bakü Congress
( March 1920) with the integration of “nationalist-leftist” Azerbaicani
Himmet (Labor) Party with the Bakü Committee of the Soviet Union
Communist Party (B).
1 Iran The Communist Party of Iran (Hezb-e Komünist-e İran) was
also born just after the Soviet revolution. It was formed on June 20, 1920 in
Azerbaijan with the cooperation and the presence of locally active social
democratic groups, which were in touch with their counterparts in Russia.15
The Azeri leader Dr. Nerimanov played a unifying role in this process.
Repression against revolutionaries began when Rıza Pehlevi seized
power in 1924 and by the end of 1920’s this had led to the almost total
disappearance of the local party’s leading cadres.
2.Turkey: In Turkey, The Communist Party of Turkey was founded with
the union of different circles. Mainly the intellectuals coming from Germany
(Spartakists) formed in 1919 Türkiye İşçi Çiftçi Sosyalist Fırkası (Türkish
Workers and Peasantry Socialist Party) and by some local workers. The
other communist circle was formed by Mustafa Suphi, a Turkish intellectual,
leading the Turkish war prisoners during the civil war in Russia. This circle
15 S.Pons-R.Service, Dictionary of Communism, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 185
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declared the foundation of the Communist Party in Baku following the famous
Baku Congress.
In other words, the Soviet Revolution had a big impact on the Turkish
leftist circles. The Europe-originated social-democratic ideas of the 2nd
International were put aside and people grabbed revolutionary ideas.
Bolchevism became a popular ideology among Turkissh intelligencia.
The communist movement and the leftists including The Communist
Party of Turkey supported the gains of the newly formed Republican regime
against imperialism and reaction, and solidarity with Soviet Union in the years
1920’s
3.The Arab World Communist Parties in the Arab world were
established and operated in Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq
between the two World Wars. These parties were mostly marginal, in the sense
that they recruited ethnic and religious minorities
The first Egyptian Communist Party, The Socialist Workers’ Party of
Alexandria was established in 1920, with the initiative of the Egyptian
intellectuals and European immigrants, Mahmud Husnü el Urabi who became
the party secretary. In 1922 the party joined the Comintern and changed its
name to Egyptian Communist Party. It was repressed and the members were
banished by the Anglo-Egyptian authorities in March 1924 because of its
participation in a series of strikes in Alexandria. 16
The Syrian Communist Party was a branch of its Lebanese counterpart,
at least until 1944. The Party was founded in Beirut in 1924 after the
Communist International and it was later dominated by Syrian Communists after
the election of a Syrian member, Halit Bektaş as the Party Secretary. 17
The birth of the Lebanese Communist Party in 1920’s was influenced by
the country’s ethnic and religious composition. Most party members were
Christians. Halit Bekdaş, who had Kurdish origin, began working on the
arabisation of the Party by recruiting members from the rural areas in 1930’s.
16 S.Pons-R.Service, Dictionary of Communism, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 200
17 S.Pons-R.Service, Dictionary of Communism, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 200
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He also undertook the first translation of Karl Marks’ and Lenin’s works into
Arabic.
With the establishment of the BAATH regime in Iraq and in Syria the
Communist parties in these countries were absorbed into the national fronts.
The Communist Party of Iraq, founded in 1934 was led by the
charismatic Chaldean Christian, Yusuf Salman, known as “comrade Fahd”
(Panther). The Party’s members were mostly non-Muslims and Shiites and the
country’s intellectual bourgeoisie. 18
IV. The Post War Era:
1.The 1930’s.
a. Turkey
After War War I, the fragmented and invaded Turkey fought for her
national independence, abolished the feudal Ottoman empire and formed a
Republic. The Turkish nation-state was born out of the ashes of the feudal
Otoman Empire.
The Kemalist Republic created a new spirit for other semi-feodal, semi-
colonial countries. The Republic of Turkey, the sole ally of the Soviet Union
up to 1930’s, followed a friendly foreign policy towards the neighbours and
became a model for the semi-feodal, semi-colonial countries. It is a well known
historical fact that Arab nationalist leaders (Cemal Abdülnasır of Egypt, Habib
Burgiba of Tunis, FLN leaders of Algeria and many black African leaders)
fighting against colonialism followed more or less the Kemalist path.
Turkey changed her path after Atatürk’s death, moved away from her
policy of neutrality and alliance with the Soviet Union and and finally became
a NATO member. Nationalism as an ideology declined whereas western liberal
ideas and culture became widespread and dominant after a while.
18 S.Pons-R.Service, Dictionary of Communism, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 200
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The Communist Party of Turkey, surviving World War II, faced an
operation of the ruling classes parallel to the membership of Turkey in NATO.
The leading cadres were put in prison and some of them fled to East Germany
where they continued the activity of the Party through radio broadcasts and
publishing propaganda material until the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The
remaining communists in Turkey, living in semi-legality backed the
Comintern policies to support the democratic fronts against fascism.
b.The Arab World
The end of World War I, the outbreak of the October Revolution and the
beginning of the Soviet experience, the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire
and the birth of new states in her territories, often subject to to the hegemony of
direct colonial control of the Western powers led to profound changes in the
social and political arena
The Arab world passed the years of 1930’s mainly by struggling
against colonialism and imperialism. National movements rose in the midst of
the Arab countries. The Independence Party (Istiklal) in Morocco, People’s
Party of Messali Hac in Algeria, Dustur Party in Tunisia, Ömer Muhtar
Movement in Libya and the BAATH Party in Syria led Arab nationalism.
c.Iran
Iran’s case is a little different. More or less divided Iran since the
discovery of petroleum was divided into two zones. The south was under the
control of England and the North was controlled by the Soviets. The
communists and nationalists obtained more liberty to act their own way.
The Iranian Communist Party, mainly underground in the 30’s, was
reconstructed in 1941 under a different name, Hezb e Tudeh, later simply
Tudeh, by a group of communists who were long ago imprisoned in Iran. The
Tudeh moved towards the Soviet Union. It did not aim at revolutionary uprising
in the short term but rather supported a progressive and democratic program
following the path of the traditional Persian constitutional opposition of the
years, 1906-1911.
2. Cold War and the Leftist Movements
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Cold War years accentuated polarisation in between Western capitalist-
imperialism and Soviet Union. The foundation of the People’s Republic of
China aggravated western fears and anti-communist aggressions augmented in
the western world starting from US ( Mac Cartism etc.)
a. İran
In 1950’s Iran pursued policies favouring the Iranian National Front19
which had been established in 1949 as a coalition of different forces all of
which were both secular and anti-colonialist. The undisputed leader of the front
was Muhammed Musaddık. Elected the Prime Minister in 1950, he promoted a
certain liberalisation and launched an operation that would lead to the
nationalisation of foreign oil companies active on Iranian soil. The operation
failed because in 1953 US organised coup which overthrowed prime minister
Musaddık and reinstalled Shah Rıza Pahlavi to the throne. 20
In 1963, Tudeh’s organisational network was once again destroyed due to
the clampdown of the Shah. In 1978 the first large demonstration that would
result in the Islamist Khomeinist Revolution was made. When the masses took
to the streets, the communist militants, following the mottos of anti-
imperialism, freedom and independence, took their side and supported the
establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1982 the party leaders were
imprisoned and brought to trial. A hunt for communist militants began.
Tudeh’s ideological position can be summed up in the demands for
democracy and social justice, for the separation of the religious and political
spheres and therefore the refusal of the “velayat-ı fıkıh”, in other words the
Sharia
b.Arabs
The end of World War II brought radical changes to the Arab World.
The Arab League was constituted after the war by Egypt, Irak, Syria, Lebanon
and S.Arabia. The big colonialist forces of the 19th century had lost the control
of the region and decolonisation came to the agenda. Lebanon and Syria in
1946, Libya in 1951, Tunisia and Morocco in 1956 and after a bloody 19 Cephe-i Milliye-i İran
20 US State Secretary M.Allbright acccepted CIA’s respnsability in the coup years after
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independence war Algeria in 1962 won their liberation. These newly born
national states created a new atmosphere in the region. Cemal Nasır’s coming
to power in Egypt, the biggest Arab country, the nationalisation of the Suez
Canal and the deepening of Palestinian question, the formation of the United
Arabic Republic in 1958 accentuated Arabs national feelings.
National ideas and forces were in the forefront of all these struggles. We
have to underline that all these national forces (except kingdoms such as Jordan
and S. Arabia) had sympathy towards socialism and the Soviet Union.
It should be noted that West Asian Arab people (Machrik) had their
real fights for their political and economic independence after 1950’s.21
The BAATH Party, formed in 1930 by leftist and nationalist thinkers,
was another model for the Arab world. Leftist groups in Iraq and Yemen
embraced the model.
The Syrian Communist Party competing with BAATH became a
component of the People’s National Front.22 The Party Secretary General,
Halit Bektaş was pro-Moscow during the Sino-Soviet ideological division.
The Party attached more emphasis to her organisational independence and in
the 80’s succeeded in playing an oppositional role by criticising BAATH but
not ignoring its contributions.
Nasser’s popularity within the non-aligned movement increased the
credibility of Arab nationalism. The main issue in the Arab world has become
the Palestinian Question.
c.Palestine and the leftist forces
Palestine’s occupation by Zionists has been the main issue in West Asia
especially after the II. World War. US’s main ally in the region, Israel’s
aggressive polity radicalised Arab nationalist forces and Arab states.
Palestinian national forces led mainly by El Fateh had the support of the Arab
national states, but in the years 2000, the Saudis preferred to support the local
21 O. Koloğlu, Türk Çağdaşlaşması, 1919-1938: Boyut yayınları s. 83
22 upinfo.com
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branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. HAMAS, a local Islamist organisation
had the control of the Gazza Strip whereas West Bank stayed under the control
of Palestine’s Liberation organisation.
VI. The Neo- liberal Era, Pax Americana and the Leftist Forces
The Communist and leftist forces of West Asia living under pro-
American regimes (Iran, Turkey, Arabic kingdoms etc) had to face big
obstacles, torture and all kinds of oppression during the cold war years.
Communists, leftists living in pro-Soviet regimes ( Syria, Algeria etc) had less
problems and sometimes had few seats in the governmental coalitions.
The Soviet Union’s disintegration changed the whole scenery. American
hegemony and US political, military, economic and cultural existence was felt
deeply by the local peoples. The Pax Americana ruled the area.
This hegemony aimed primarily at controlling the petroleum and natural
gas of the region. First and Second Gulf Operations, as we know, divided
Iraq, deepened instability and conflicts in Syria, Palestine and lately in Egypt,
Libya, and Tunisia. Conflicts turned out to civil wars in Libya and Syria.
M.Kaddafi of Libya was murdered after Saddam Hüseyin but happily Beşar
Esad of Syria resisted with the support of the international community.
American operations have gone parallel to political American hegemony.
All kinds of Western cultural institutions arrived and operated in the region,
to discredit communist and nationalist ideologies and organisations and to
promote liberalism and western type of “democracy packed Western
hegemony” The so called democratisation of the region encouraged secessionist
ethnic and religious forces. Irak was divided into three sections on the ethnic
and religious base: At the south sia section around Basra, at the middle a sunni
section around Bagdat and a Kurdish autonomous region at the north.
This US-European Union ideological operation, carried out with the
most reactionary forces of the region, namely, The Saudi Selefids, El Kaide,
The Muslim Brotherhood multiplied and deepened the problems of the region
September 11 was the peak point of the US aggression. The reaction was
soon to come. Especially the US intervention to Iraq created deep hatred all
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over the region. New resistances created a new awakenings, a new
consciousness among the people.
The communist parties of the region were very much discredited during
the dismantlement of the Soviet Union. They try to recover.
Nationalist forces have become the main target of the US and reactionary
forces because they controlled most of the regional nation-states and had big
masses supports. The regional nationalist forces had to resisted to such attaks
comparable to Mac Carty years in 1950’s. No matter what US and
reactionaries plan, the region’s destiny will be drawn by leftist and nationalist
movements.
VII. Conclusion
Viewing the liberalisation /democratisation of West Asia, we observe
that Nationalists and Communists forces created and pushed modernisation.
In many occasions hand in hand, they had to fight against Western capitalism,
against the neo-liberal collaborators of the West and the fanatic religious forces
together.
Imperialism collaborated, backed the reactionaries forces of the region,
Whereas nationalists and communists initiated progress in all areas by
supporting progressive political programs.
It is interesting to note that Turkish experience prove, as do Chinese,
Indian, Iranian experiences, many of the leading cadres of the communists
movements sorted out of the national struggles. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Nehru,
M. Kemal Atatürk, Cemal Abdülnasır, Musaddık were the creators of the new
Asia and they constacted the basis of the actual Eurasion cooperation.
Dr. E.Cüneyt Akalın, İstanbul Turkey
Political Science, International Relations,
[email protected]
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Prof. Gulshan Dietl , West Asia: Naming and Claiming a Region, JNU, Delhi,
Page 18
Paper presented to the seminar, Artuklu Üniversitesi, Mardin, November, 2012
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Haziran 2010
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( ÇHC Sosyal Bilimler Akademisi, Marksizm Enstitüsü)