Regional Studies Class

Istanbul Kent University

December 1st, 2023
Q: Professor asked a question
S: Professor made a statement
Q: Is there a chance or dialogue, how will you find peace between Hamas and Israel?
Q: Is the Donetsk model the free state of the interwar years between 1919 and 1939?
S: They will not rule Russian-speaking territories, these Russian-speaking communities will have
all the rights, like any minority, to have their own language, their own traditions, their own
norms, their own way of life, and this will be guaranteed by the United States, because somehow
in the history of Ukraine. For 30 years there has been such cold discrimination against
minorities, minorities are the Russian speaking community, whether this is true or not. I don't
think we can go into detail, but we can talk about how we see the world and then strive for
peace. What is this model means in the case of Ukraine? Well, it means that Ukraine returns its
territorial integrity, everything returns, and then the days in Crimea already existed before
2014.It existed at the time of independence in 1993 which does not change the territorial
integrity of Ukraine, but what the very important thing is that this whole Ukraine has a choice: I
can become a member of NATO, but will Russia stop, probably not, and yet, if Ukraine wants to
continue against this invasion and has every right, but then comes the question, what support
will continue from the United States if President or former President Trump is elected or what
will happen in Congress. Because we have House Republicans who are trying very hard to stop
aid to Ukraine, including aid to Israel. It's an isolationist policy in The United States and these
Europeans are going through a very cold winter and energy prices are four times higher than in
the United States, so if you're in an industry like petrochemicals, you make everything in the
United States and import it into Europe. What if, you lose your job, you lose your investment, so
Ukraine has a lot of reasons to think about.
S: This also means that I can become a member of the EU or a member of the Shanghai
Cooperation, still where it says there will be no NATO membership, there will be no foreign
troops in Ukraine.But what guarantee do you have in the United States? I guarantee that it says
I'm going to put this in Congress and it will be ratified, just like when Turkey passes a law that
Sweden becomes a member of NATO. It is going to ratify this treaty or object, so is it ratified,
this is very important because ratified a treaty is a domestic law. Although something outside my
country, becomes part of my internal loss. So ratification is important just like in the Duma, the
Duma ratifies a treaty if it is so big that the territorial integrity Ukraine is now guaranteed that
they say how to do it, how can we reduce this conflict? Well Ukraine should be happy, but what
does Russia get from this? She seems to be a good player, it looks like she wants to restore her
integrity in the world of order and guess what, she is making this proposal again right now, this
is not my illusion, this is reality. But the West says no, because it is an act of aggression, a
violation of international law. Just like the lower Hussein in Iraq invaded Kuwait, but you know
we are not dealing with Kuwait, dealing with a superpower that has nuclear capabilities is a
different type of conflict and just like the conflict. You're talking about 1974 Quote about the
invasion of Cyprus by Turkey, is the same as the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Q: Who is Henry Kissinger? Why is it important? What is his contribution and what is the
controversy surrounding Henry Kissinger?
S: I propose Turkey as a model for de-escalating. The conflict between Hamas and Israel and
what role can Turkey play deescalating the conflict? So in this conflict Turkey can lead an
internationally composed intermediary mission, probably introducing its Armed Forces to the
concept Zone not to take a part with any of the size but to serve as a buffer between them too. To
establish a sort of safety zone between the two fighting parties and thus facilitate that’s true in
part is that it could be part of leading an international not only a love but International
peacekeeping, for mandated by the United Nations. And the reason I say the terms because they
are part of NATO they are part of the community of the Arab world they are a bridge in many
ways and Israel and Turkey may have differences but in terms of security they know the Turks
can uphold their part of the bargain. Turks are very skilled when it comes to security issues so
leading that as an example would be one way to start the escalation. What would that mean? That
means that the border between Hamas and Gaza would be like the green zone in the case of
Cyprus comparison.Remember we are studying these conflicts in ways that we can make
comparisons about the crime of aggression in 1974 and 2022. We make the comparison, what
can Turkey do, to separate the two antagonists, Israel and Gaza or in this case Hamas and then
find it again militarize Zone a piece keeping group.The two antagonist from each other. Another
proposal was return,all the hostages that going to get two people to the table.
Q: Can you get the two republics or rather the two communities of turk cypriots and greek
cypriots to talk?
S: The UAE is very supportive of this dialogue. I don't know if Turkey is behind this, but our
point is that this is what we call Track 2 - it's an important concept. The diplomacy track is not
formal diplomacy. This is diplomacy that other countries' interlocutors use to try to de-escalate a
conflict. We see that Israel wants to occupy and radicalize the Gaza community. The Gaza
Constitution first proposals to destroy the State of Israel, that's where we are, that's radicalization
and that's the whole idea is how to de-escalate radicalization and I'm sure the settlers in the West
Bank are guilty of every crime. You can imagine, short of a war crime, they of course broke
what we call laws, they should be punished for that, but again, it's always proportionality of
force, proportionality of what you do, and that's an important part of it conflict, proportionality
falls on October. On the 7th I came and killed people and tragically 1200 people were killed and
now I have 10,000 people killed in Gaza. There are two points that are important to understand
what makes someone use Force, who is actually the aggressor, I understand NATO is moving to
the East, it is a threat, I understand it, but is it such a threat that you just move forward?
Q: What is ‘Glanost?’
Q: What is ‘Perestroyka’?
Q: Who is Joseph Stalin?