Before examining the energy transmission lines between Russia and Turkey, we need to understand the relationship between these two countries from a general point of view. As we know, Russia and Turkey have a deep-rooted relationship historically. For this reason, Turkish-Russian relations have gone through many difficulties and at the same time many crises have been experienced.
EUROPE’S DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA AND EUROPE’S PLANS AFTER THE UKRAINE RUSSIA WAR
The European continent is a poor region in terms of underground treasure. Therefore, it supplies its energy needs from neighboring countries. Europe, which is foreign-dependent especially in primary energy sources, imports energy mostly from Russia. The effects of the Ukraine – Russian War, which still continues today, also affect Europe’s dependence on energy. In this case, Europe once again faced its dependence on foreign energy, which it had been aware of for many years. However, the European Union has finally started to take concrete steps to end this dependency. These concrete steps taken will be examined under the name of alternative energy searches in this article.
THE SYSTEM OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS INEFFICIENCY
After the devastating world wars, all states desired stability and peace in order to recover their casualties. States needed international organizations in order to promote and create peace via functional structures. Every international organization is created and given competence in order to fulfill its raison d’etre. United Nations was established by the member states to improve their relations and create collaborations on various subjects. This competence gives power to the organization but it also ensures it is not intervening in the sovereignty of the states and must not become too powerful or autonomous. This article is written with the aim of firstly explaining the purposes, qualifications, and actions of the United Nations and then examining its effectiveness with examples of the challenges of state sovereignty, great power hegemony, and structural errors.
THE VISEGRÁD GROUP
The Visegrad Group was formed as the ‘Visegrad Three’ among three countries: Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia, on February 15, 1991. Later, due to the fact that Czechoslovakia was divided into two, as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the number of members increased to four, and the group was called the ‘Visegrad Four’ or ‘V4’ from this period, since 1993 (Alpar, 2020). The group is named after the Hungarian city of ‘Visegrad’. The group’s founding purpose was based on friendly essentials such as creating a bridge between east and west, decontaminating from the effects of communism, and integrating into the European Union and NATO. However, in 2004, the Visegrad countries experienced adaptation problems and intransigence within Europe after full membership in the European Union (Erdem, 2011).
TENSION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The war between Bosnians and Serbs, which started in 1992 and lasted for three years, went as far as the Bosnian Genocide, and the UN negotiated with the parties to stop the war. The air superiority of the Serbs was lost when NATO planes started to implement the UN-decided down-flight. In 1994, Bosnians and Serbs reached an agreement and stopped fighting. The borders separating Bosnia and Herzegovina ethnically were drawn. However, tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina have increased recently. The memories of the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which thousands of people lost their lives, continue to be a source of tension between the two autonomous states that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A CONSTANTLY SENDING COUNTRY: VENEZUELA
Venezuela is a country located in the north of South America and has a population of 28 million people. Unfortunately, the economic and political crisis in the country, especially since 2015, makes Venezuela one of the most sending countries after Syria, which has been destroyed by the civil war. For the last few years, one of every 5 people has been leaving the country, and the rest of the population is struggling with the country’s problems. Immigration from the country is mostly concentrated in other South American countries, but Venezuelans are actually located all over the world. Colombia, which has a common border with Venezuela, hosts almost 2 million Venezuelan immigrants.
FROM IMPORTED RESIDENT WELFARE STATE TO NEOLIBERATION: POVERTY IN TURKEY (1980-2000)
Neoliberalism seeks economic liberalization and globalization. For these purposes, countries integrate into global markets. But moving directly from imported substitution and welfare policies to neoliberal policies, such as Turkey, can have consequences such as poverty and income inequality. The wrong social policies created to prevent these negative consequences could put the country in a stalemate. In this article, between 1980 and 2000, the impoverishment of neoliberalized Turkey and a number of social policies developed as a result of this impoverishment will be mentioned.
MAKHNO AND THE MAKHNOVSCHINA
In 1918, when Ukraine was going through a chaotic period, Ukrainian workers and peasants as a whole rebelled, and this action spawned a movement called ‘Makhnovshchina’, which means belonging to the Makhno. The Makhnovists, who had been fighting the Bolsheviks throughout the year 1920, eventually succumbed. This research article, called ‘Makhno and Makhnovshchina’, aimed to transfer it to the reader by using a number of written sources and considering the historical and social process of the Makhnovshchina movement, which united under the leadership of anarcho-communist leader Nestor Makhno. Questions of ‘Who is Nestor Makhno?’ and ‘Who are the Makhnovists?’ were trying to be answered and evaluations were made accordingly. In this context, the findings to be obtained in the research paper are limited to the historical and social process and biography.
IMMIGRANTS AND ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY IN THE TRUMP PERIOD
Donald Trump, who won the elections in 2016 and became the 45th President of the United States, has become a memorable leader with his sensational statements and his domestic and foreign policy practices. Trump, who ran an election campaign in a line that we can describe as a right-wing populist, attracted a lot of attention with his harsh anti-immigration rhetoric during this period and promised to build a big wall on the Mexican border in order to control immigration to the USA. Since the Trump administration took office in January 2017, there has been a tough stance on immigration and travel restrictions, as well as a number of other acts. In the following process, the policy called ‘Zero Tolerance’ was put into practice and the way for illegal immigrants to be imprisoned quickly was paved. In this study, the perspective on immigrants in the Donald Trump era will be examined and especially the ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy will be dwelled on.
AN ATTEMPT TO DEMOCRATIZATION: THE PRAGUE SPRING
The year 1968 is one of the important years that have left their mark on history. Student movements that took place almost all over the world at that time were only one of the reasons that made this period important. For example, ‘The 68 Generation’ in Turkey and ‘May 68 Events’ in France are some of them. The important event which will be discussed in this research article is the “Prague Spring”, which took place in 1968, in Czechoslovakia, where the understanding of “friendly socialism” was tried to be adopted.