Establishment of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

On 23 April 1920 the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara. A government led by Mustafa Kemal was established.

Division of Turkey according to the 1920 Treaty of Sevres.

A full article will appear later.

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

The San Remo conference

The Deir Yassin massacre 1948

The last King of Iraq

On 4 April 1939 Faisal II became King of Iraq upon his father King Ghazi’s death in a car accident. As he was only 4 years old, his uncle Abd al-Ilah was appointed regent. They all came from the Hashemite family which traces its roots to Prophet Muhammad. This gave them certain credibility even though they had no roots in Iraq. But the royal family leaned heavily on the British who had put Faisal I on the Iraqi throne in 1921.  The British also put Hashemites on the throne in Jordan and Faisal II’s cousin Hussein ibn-Talal was King of Jordan.


King Faisal II about 5 years old.           



The Iraqi political elite agreed on one thing, to become independent of Britain, but on little else. Many disliked the pro-British policy of the royal family. A coup d’état was made in 1941, but put down by British forces. Faisal's mother Queen Aliya, the last Queen of Iraq, smuggled him out of the country. He was educated in England. The pro-British Nuri as-Said was Prime Minister 14 times. Iraq was split between different groups. The older generation of politicians didn’t give younger politicians influence. President The Shias were against Pan-Arab policies of the Sunnis as they feared becoming a minority. The Kurds up north were seeking autonomy or independence.

 

Prince Abd al-Ilah (holding hat) in the USA.

  

Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri al-Said.



In spite of all the political problems, Iraq prospered economically. Income from oil was increased after re-negotiations with foreign companies led to a 50-50 sharing of profit in 1952. The government made huge investments in public works like bridges, schools, hospitals, dams and irrigation projects. But the opposition criticized it for being long-term projects serving land-owners and tribal chiefs, not the population in general. In 1953 Faysal II came of age and was enthroned. His uncle al-Ilah was very politically active and a struggle ensued between them. In 1955 Iraq entered the Baghdad Pact a military alliance with Iran, Pakistan, the UK and Turkey. It was supported by the US in an attempt to contain the Soviet Union and block its access to influence the Middle East.

Crowning of King Faisal II on 2 May 1953.

In 1952 a group of officers led by Nasser staged a coup in Egypt and abolished the Kingdom there. Nasser promoted Pan-Arabism - that all Arabs should unite in one state and become strong. Syria made a union with Egypt in February 1958, and Nasser had many supporters in Iraq, Jordan and other Arab countries. The Hashemites feared revolution in Iraq and Jordan and to be overthrown. So in February 1958 Iraq and Jordan joined in the Arab Federation led by Faisal II. In 1958 a group of officers overthrew the regime in a bloody coup and Faisal II, al-Ilah, as-Said and others were killed.

Faisal II’s mother Queen Aliya bint Ali.

Sources and more information

A history of the modern Middle East, William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, Westview Press, Colorado US 2013. Pp. 304-307.
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/203014/Faysal-II
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293631/Iraq/22905/Postwar-reconstruction-and-social-upheavals-1945-58

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

 

Algeria massacre 1997

On 3 April 1997 52 of the 53 inhabitants of the Algerian village of Thalit were massacred. Islamic rebels were supposedly behind, but no one has been brought to justice. This happened during the civil war in Algeria. It started in 1992 after the Army removed president Bendjedid who permitted legislative elections. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the first round in December 1991, and was expected to win a majority in the second round scheduled for January 1992. The new military-backed state-council arrested many FIS-leaders and banned the party. Militant groups like the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Islamic Salvation Army were established and started to attack and kill both government officials and civilians. But the security forces were also heavily involved in the violence. A number of massacres occurred over the next years, especially in 1997-98.

 

Map with sites of Algerian massacres 1997-1998.

The government injected huge amounts of oil-revenues into the economy including employment. This was one factor which likely shortened the war.  But GIA became more and more isolated, and the army defeated or arrested many of their members. In 2002 the worst violence was over, but new groups like the al-Qaeda in Maghreb has continued attacks. President Bouteflika made a decree in 2006 giving amnesty to state security forces and militias. Victim’s families and human rights groups opposed this as they needed justice. An amnesty was offered militants, and some took it, but hundreds continued their violent operations. In January 2013 they occupied the gas-facility In Amenas and killed 39 foreign hostages and one Algerian security guard. There is still a huge need for facts about what happened during the war and justice for the families of victims.

Sources and more information

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9704/06/algeria.massacre/
http://www.algeria-watch.org/mrv/2002/bilan_massacres.htm
http://mondediplo.com/1997/10/alger1
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15001/Algeria/220556/Civil-war-the-Islamists-versus-the-army
http://www.hicn.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/wp43.pdf
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE28/047/1997/en/257abf9d-9fa8-4c4c-a82a-fcda404723e1/mde280471997en.pdf
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE28/023/1997/en/7a507c39-e9cf-11dd-a490-5f9258d9f20e/mde280231997en.html

I am open to your comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

New Ethiopian Dam on Nile worries Egypt

On 2 April 2011 the foundation stone was laid for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. When it is finished in 2017 it will have cost $5 billion and produce 5-6.000 MW. In 2001 only 3% of Ethiopia’s hydroelectric power was developed, while 83% of the population lacked electricity. Building the dam and other projects are planned to boost development in Ethiopia.

An image of what the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will look like.  

The Blue Nile contributes 70% or more of the Nile’s water, the White Nile the rest. The dam is being built just inside the border before the Blue Nile enters Sudan. And the dam will affect the Nile running through Sudan and Egypt. Egypt and Sudan are afraid they will receive less of the life-giving water when the dam is filling up and running. The Egyptian government has proposed to halt the construction and make another study, but Ethiopia has rejected this. Because of uncertainty about consequences of the dam, the World Bank and other donors have refused to finance it. The Ethiopian government is selling national bonds to raise money.

 

Map of the White and Blue Nile meeting in Sudan.

Background
The Nile runs 6.650 km through 11 countries. Egypt has gained most of the water which has been flooding the Nile Delta and produced huge amounts of food.  An agreement was made in 1929 between Egypt and the UK (representing Sudan) allocating them minimum flows. As the Aswan High Dam was being built a 1959 agreement was made giving Egypt 55.5 billion m³ of water, Sudan 18.5 billion m³. The other countries claim they get too little and find it fair they will have more for development.

Failed negotiations

Negotiations on sharing the water has been going since 1999, but not led to few results. So in 2011 six countries formed the Nile River Basin Co-operative Framework Agreement (CFA). This also reflect the change in power relations. Ethiopia has become relatively stronger compared to Egypt over the last few decades. Egypt and Sudan have been sticking to the 1959 agreement, but recently Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir gave his support to construction of the dam in December 2013. The conflict affects the parties very much and more talks are needed to find a solution everybody can live with. Egypt may try to get more international support, but the government’s standing since the military coup in 2013 is lower than before. The worst case-scenario is an Egyptian military attack on the dam. But that is not likely for the moment.

  This is an image of what the new reservoir created by the dam will look like.

Possible Egyptian alternatives 

Egypt has access to the water of the Mediterranean which needs de-saltification and pumping to be accessible for farming or as drinking water. These are known technologies, but have huge costs and needs much energy. Egypt though has vast desert-areas with lots of sun which may produce solar energy. Egypt needs enormous amounts of energy anyway to develop its economy. Little development has taken place so far, but the potential is huge. Developing solar power would also alleviate some of the problems of the new dam. I personally proposed this to the Egyptian military in 2011, when I was jailed on a study trip on the Arab Spring. They didn't seem very interested. I hope they will change their mind in the future.

The city of Alexandria at the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Sources and more information
http://grandmillenniumdam.net/ethiopia-says-no-to-egypt-on-new-study-on-its-dam/
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/95538/Egypt/Politics-/Ethiopias-Renaissance-Dam--pct-completed,-efforts-.aspx
http://www.globalwaterforum.org/2013/02/18/the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-and-the-blue-nile-implications-for-transboundary-water-governance/
http://nilebasin.org/index.php  
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2014/02/27/Egypt-plans-dam-busting-diplomatic-offensive-against-Ethiopia/UPI-13631393533111/
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/struggleoverthenile/2011/06/2011667594146703.html

 

I am open to your comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

Iraqi coup d’état 1941

On 1 April 1941 a group of pro-Axis officers made a coup against the Iraqi government of regent Abd al-Ilah. He was regent for the child King Faysal II and fled to Transjordan. Former Prime Minister Rashid al-Kaylani became Prime minister again. The officers wanted full independence for Iraq from Britain that had taken Iraq from the Ottoman Empire during World War I and made it a Kingdom under British control. Several attempts to gain independence were met with British resistance and Iraqi politics deteriorated in uprisings and coup attempts.

 PM Rashid al-Kaylani.

   

The officers thought Germany and Italy would win the war, and sought closer ties with the Axis-powers. The British, afraid of losing the oil-rich country to Germany, requested permission to land troops according to the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty they made in 1930. Receiving no answer, Britain sent troops and war started. The British won and restored the regent and a pro-British government. Iraqi nationalist were outraged arguing that Rashid had a lot of support.

 

Map of Iraq in 1941.

 In the chaos people hostile to the British and the Zionist project in Palestine massacred hundreds of Jews in Bagdad. In the end Britain would lose as a new military coup in 1958 killed the whole royal family. Ties with Britain were cut and Iraq removed from the Baghdad Pact.

 



British forces outside Baghdad while negotiations for an armistice take place.



Sources and more information

The Arabs, Eugene Rogan, Basic Books New York 2009, pp. 187-91 and 208-09.

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293631/Iraq/22904/World-War-II-and-British-intervention-1939-45

 

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Warmly

Bjarte Bjørsvik

Georgians vote for independence 1991

The Parliament of the Soviet republic of Georgia decided to hold an independence referendum on 31 March 1991. In the referendum 98.9% of people voted yes to independence. And on 9 April the Georgia’s Supreme Soviet declared independence and elected Zviad Gamsakhurdia president. It was the first time the country became independent since 1921 when Stalin installed a Soviet regime. Georgia has a strategic location between Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Georgia's first President Gamsakhurdia.

But the years of independence have been tumultuous. Gamsakhurdia’s policies triggered a civil war, and a coup ousted him the next year. Former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze became President. The republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia then tried to break their ties with Georgia and declared independence in 1992-93.  Russia supported the break-away, but most countries have refused it. A new Constitution in 1995 gave the president strong powers, but later Shevardnadze was accused of corruption and election fraud.

Map of Georgia with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are de facto independent at the moment.

Shevardnadze lost his position in the 2003 Rose Revolution led by Mikhail Saakashvili.  He won the presidency on a campaign of anti-corruption, and was actively pursuing corruption, but of his political opponents and not his own supporters. Saakashvili sent Georgian forces into South Ossetia in August 2008 to take control of the whole territory. Fighting erupted and Russia quickly responded by invading and occupying the republic and Abkhazia. Russian forces have stayed there since.

March during the Georgian Rose Revolution in the capital Tbilisi 2003.

Georgia is seeking closer relations with Europe and in 2013 signed an Associaction agreement with the European Union. The same agreement brought much controversy in Ukraine the last few months. Georgia is also actively co-operating with NATO, and aspiring to become a member. This is worrying the Russians who see the Caucasus region as an anchor they want neutral or controlled to be safe on their southern flank.  

Military parade on Independence Day 2008. 

 Traditional dress on Independence Day in 2008.

 

Sources and more information

http://www.parliament.ge/files/68_1944_951190_CONSTIT_27_12.06.pdf
http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/inside/publications/0419dissertation.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/01/world/soviet-georgians-vote-in-independence-plebiscite.html

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

British and French at war in Crimea? Yes in 1854

On 28 March 1854 Britain and France declared war on Russia. The war came as a reaction to Russian occupation of Ottoman territory in the Danubian principalities.
 

The Siege of Sevastopol by Franz Roubaud (1904).

Map of the Black Sea and surrounding territory, Crimea in the center. The Ottoman Empire in green.
The Moldavia and Wallachia principalities on the left, north of the Danube River. Russia in orange. 

An article will appear here during the weekend.

Sources and more information
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_crimean.html
http://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/alma.htm
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/143040/Crimean-War
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/on-this-day/march-28/

I am open to your comments and proposals.

Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik

Obama’s Afghan surge in 2009

On 27 March 2009 President Barack Obama announced the new US strategy for Afghanistan-Pakistan. That included a surge of 4.000 troops to train the Afghan army, and hundreds of civilian US specialists to support development in Afghanistan. He also pledged $1.5 billion annually in aid to the Pakistani government for five years, equalling 1% of Pakistan Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Obama asked other nations “to do their part”, and several NATO countries increased their troop contributions.

During his election campaign, candidate Obama stated in August 2008 “This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. After becoming president he ordered 17.000 combat troops to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda in February 2009. Later in 2009 another 30.000 troops were committed to go, totalling 51.000 new troops in a “the surge”. And then by in July 2011 they would start to transfer out again. The idea was that the Afghan army would stand on its own and fight the Taliban and deny al-Qaeda the possibility to re-establish bases in Afghanistan. Both the Afghan and Pakistani presidents responded positively to the new strategy. But most analysts knowing Afghanistan called for a political solution and reforming the Afghan state to serve the people better. I still don’t understand why sending more troops made the Norwegian Nobel Committee give Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Even Obama seemed puzzled by the decision.

 

President Obama during a joint session of Congress on 24 February 2009.

 

The needs of the Afghan people were not taken much into consideration this time either. They need health, education, safety and justice and a government that is present around the country and well functioning. The corrupt government they had was cheating in elections and providing very little of this. Knowing the Americans would leave and that Taliban was strong and providing some order and justice many choose to accept or support Taliban. The war is going on, and the international forces supposed to leave by 2014.

  Afghan children wait to receive basic medical care and clothing in Khost Province.

Background
After 11 September 2001 the US primarily needed safety for their inhabitants. The invasion of Afghanistan was meant to hinder further attacks by going after al-Qaida. But doing so, they also took on Taliban, which was not involved in 11. Sept. but gave refuge to al-Qaeda. The remnants of al-Qaeda and Taliban escaped over the border to Pakistan, where they continued to get support from parts of the Pakistani military and intelligence agency (ISI).

 

In Afghanistan US forces supported warlords to keep order, but they violently exploited people who experienced the new rule as gross injustice. Taliban regrouped and came back and found willing supporters. In a creeping mission the US and international community increased the goals of the initial invasion to build a new society. But the efforts were not well co-ordinated and took little notice of the needs of the Afghans. A corrupt government with little presence in the countryside lost support. And NATO forces were increasingly seen as invaders and supporters of a corrupt government.

Sources and more information

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-a-New-Strategy-for-Afghanistan-and-Pakistan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/27/obamas-afghanistan-plan-4_n_179892.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/us/obamas-journey-to-reshape-afghanistan-war.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I am open to your comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik