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

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

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

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

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,

ecuneytakalin@gmail.com

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Doğu Perinçek, Kemalizmin Felsefesi ve Kaynakları, Kaynak Yayınları,

İstanbul 2011

Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 1885-1947, MacMillan, Delhi 1983

Silvio Pons-Robert Service (ed), A Dictionary of 20th Century Communism,

Princeton University Press, 2010, New Jersey, USA

Articles:

Prof. Gulshan Dietl , West Asia: Naming and Claiming a Region, JNU, Delhi,

Paper presented to the seminar, Artuklu Üniversitesi, Mardin, November, 2012

Doğu Perinçek, Batı Asya Birliği ( Union of Western Asia), Teori dergisi,

Haziran 2010

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( ÇHC Sosyal Bilimler Akademisi, Marksizm Enstitüsü)