Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

This book examines the social and political mobilisation of religious communities towards forced displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. It analyses religious strategies in relation to tolerance and transitory environments as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the post-2011 Syrian crisis and the 2014 Russian takeover of Crimea. How do religious actors and state bodies engage with refugees and migrants? What are the mechanisms of religious support towards forcibly displaced communities? The book argues that when states do not act as providers of human security, religious communities, as representatives of civil society and often closer to the grass roots level, can be well placed to serve populations in need. The book brings together scholars from across the region and provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which religious communities tackle humanitarian crises in contemporary Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

ON THE FORMATION OF ETHNOMEDICINE OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS PEOPLES

Статья посвящена истории формирования этномедицины народов Северного Кавказа. Ставится задача уточнения динамики исторического процесса относительно формирования этномедицины народов Северного Кавказа. Материалы исследований многих авторов по истории медицины подтверждают высокую эффективность лекарского искусства в оказании хирургической помощи, которую отмечали многие наблюдатели в период Кавказской войны. Несомненно, опыт лекарского искусства на Кавказе имеет весьма древнюю историю. Он накапливался эмпирическим путем и, передаваясь от отца к сыну, формировал династии лекарей, имевшие свой опыт и свои секреты врачевания. Не исключается взаимовлияние культур народов, в частности арабской медицины, которая способствовала формированию врачей традиционной арабской школы медицины. Таким образом, народных целителей можно разделить на два типа: чье лечение содержало доисламские и исламские методы. Отмечается, что именно народные лекари с доисламским опытом сопровождали войска в походах и показали высокую эффективность своих методов, получив заслуженную оценку многих врачей в годы Кавказской войны. The paper is devoted to the history of formation of ethnomedicine of the peoples of the North Caucasus. The task is to clarify the dynamics of the historical process regarding the formation of ethnomedicine of the peoples of the North Caucasus. The research materials of many authors on the history of medicine confirm the high effectiveness of medicinal art in the provision of surgical care, which was noted by many observers during the Caucasian War. Undoubtedly, the experience of medicinal art in the Caucasus has a very ancient history. It accumulated empirically and, passing from father to son, formed dynasties of doctors who had their own experience and their secrets of healing. The mutual influence of the cultures of peoples, in particular Arab medicine, which contributed to the formation of doctors of the traditional Arab school of medicine, is not excluded. Thus, folk healers can be divided into two types: whose treatment contained pre-Islamic and Islamic methods. It is noted that it was people's doctors with pre-Islamic experience who accompanied the troops on campaigns and showed the high effectiveness of their methods, having received a well-deserved assessment of many doctors during the Caucasian war.

Turkish Paramilitaries during the Conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK

This paper focuses on how the paramilitary organisations of the Turkish state have transformed and been used over time as a ‘useful’ tool against dissidents, especially the Kurds. Paramilitary groups have been one of the main actors in the war between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has been ongoing for nearly forty years. These groups have sometimes been used as auxiliary forces and at other times made into death squads operating alongside the official armed forces, and they have mainly been used against Kurdish civilians who allegedly support the PKK, especially at the height of the war in unsolved murders, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since the 1980. In this article, I argue that the Turkish state elites use this apparatus not only in domestic politics but also in conflicts in the Middle East and the Caucasus and that this paramilitary tradition of the state even extends to western Europe.

India, Russia and Iran: a New Study on “North — South” International Transport Corridor

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has made impressive progress in making boat, street, and rail courses that transport cargo between India, Iran and Russia and countries of the European Union and Central Asia. It connects India Ocean, Iran, the Persian Gulf nations, through the nations of the Caucasus and Central Asia with Russia and mainland Europe. This task was a reaction to Eurasian coordination, “Extraordinary Eurasian Partnership” (Russia, 2011) including “One Belt, One Road” (China, 2013) and The Silk Road. By rethinking the Integration and Economic Potential of the INSTC and its importance for the partaking nations, it is feasible to utilize the rationale of the aggregate game plan of the Eurasian space in light of a legitimate concern for all member states. However, the first trail train via INSTC, departing from Helsinki on June 21, 2021, arrived at its destination at twice the speed of the existing Suez Canal route, proving the timeliness and competitiveness but missing rout in Iran Rasht-Astara railway line still remain the challenging problem for the Iranian government as well as for India and Russia.

Demographic and spatial structure at the stage of expansion in thepopulations of some alien land snails in Belgorod city (CentralRussian Upland)

Studying of the demographic characteristics of populations of alien species at the stage of expansion makes it possible to assess their invasive potential. Field studies of alien terrestrial gastropods Xeropicta derbentina (Gastropoda,Stylommatophora, Hygromiidae), Brephulopsis cylindrica (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Enidae) and Harmozica ravergiensis (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Hygromiidae) have been carried out in Belgorod city, the southern part of the Central Russian Upland (Russia). All studied species are native to the Black Sea region and the Caucasus; in the southern part of the Central Russian Upland, they have been registered over the past ten years. The population density, demographic structure, and spatial structure have been analyzed for three years of observations (2017, 2019, 2020). During this period, the changes in the population density have been noted for all studied species. The most pronounced changes have been observed in X. derbentina, whose population density has significantly decreased, and the spatial structure has changed from clustered type to random distribution. In addition, the age structure of X. derbentina population had a pronounced change at the beginning of the snail activity season of 2020. The expansion of the other two invaders, B. cylindrica and H. ravergiensis, is proved as more successful. At the same time, H. ravergiensis is distributed throughout the city. This species has stable population density and random type of spatial population structure on most sites. B. cylindrica has the highest population density: in 2020, it has reached 406 ind./m2 on average, with the maximum of 1215 ind./m2.Meantime, the species keeps the clustered spatial structure, which is explained by both high population density and adaptation to the arid conditions of its natural range.

Iron Silk Road Trans-Caspian East-West-Middle Corridor Initiative and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line

The East-West Middle Corridor (Middle Corridor) with the Caspian Transit, which starts from Turkey with the Baku Tbilisi Kars Railway line, reaches the Caucasus region. From here it travels over the Caspian Sea through Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to Central Asia and China and is one of the most important components of historical silk road resuscitation project. With this study, the contribution of Baku Tbilisi Kars railway line and Kars Logistics Center, which is the European and Turkish gateway of the middle corridor, to the silk railway in terms of international leasing is explored.