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Cemalettin Taşpınar

136110038

Nationalism and Nation States Term Paper

A Story of a Crisis

'' Nationalism in Ukranie ''

How it evolved from Soviets to Independent Ukraine

? What are the roots and features of Ukrainian

Nationalism? What is the role of nationalism in

Ukraine Crisis ?

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Contents :

1) Historical Background of Ukraine and Roots and

Features of Ukraine Nationalism, p- 5-12.

2) The Legacy of Soviet Regime, p- 12-15.

3) Nation Building Process in Ukraine and Encountered

Problems, p- 15-17.

4) What is the dynamics of ongoing Ukraine Crisis?

Where does nationalist struggle locate ?, p- 17-19.

5) Conclusion, p-19-20.

6) Bibliography, p-20.

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Note1: Map of the Ukraine. She has a strategic position on the

Eastern Europe as a post-Soviet country. She also has 7 (seven)

neighboors which are also important on the subject of Ukraine

history. We will see struggles over the Ukranian territory when

we analyzed it.

Abstract: After the collapse of the Soviet Union which was also last

empire, fifteen new states have emerged as independent states. Dissolution

of the Soviets also has led problems like territorial disputes, minorty

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problems, and so on. One of the most important newly established state is

Ukraine which was also second biggest population in the Soviets its nearly

52 millions people. After the Ukrainian indepedence many problems have

arisen between two country and recently it turned hot conflicts between two

countries’ adherents and it seems like to continue in near future. At this

point, Ukrainian nationalism deserves to be scrutinized and it is also

necessary to where nationalism and historical differences locate in this

conflict. In this study, I aim to provide basic features, roots and revival

of Ukrainian nationalism and its differences from Russian ethnicity,

however I will not assert that they are wholly different from each other or

same.

INTRODUCTION

When the time comes the 1989, Soviets surprisingly

collapsed and ''cold war'' ended without any ''hot

confrontation.'' This was a big surprise for everyone because

one of the superpowers dissolved peacefully while majority of

the people were expecting a nuclear confrontation with other

superpower, US. This development also led to change European

map and new actors have arisen.1

Soviets organized around the federation where the center

was the Soviets and others politically depended on the center.

In fact in the USSR, according to constitution each state was

sovereign and had right to decide their future, to perform its

1 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dünyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004), 311.

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external affairs but these did not mean that they are

independent because all these rights just on the paper. 2

However, in 1989 Soviets Union came to end, collapse, then each

unit has won their independence. With the independence some of

them tried to create national states which is based on

''nationalist sentiments'' and conducted policies in this

direction. Nationalist and independence inclined discourses

were the main instrument for taking political support and

winning elections.

In this context, I will try to explain how nationalism

existed in Ukraine and how it evolved. As far as we know today

still nationalist struggles continue some of the these

countries such as Ukranie. Also, I will try to show, so

briefly, correlation between nationalism and collapse of

Soviets. Is there any relation or totaly independent somethings

from each other ? If there is, how it evolved ?

As we know, Soviet regimes' accomodation of nationalism

was not only unexampled but only its accomodation has led some

problems that today we are still witnessing problems which were

created by Soviet Union such as latent assimilation through

language pressures. 3 Also, when the Soviets collapsed, huge

amount of, 25 million, ethnically Russian population has

remained outside of the new Russian territory in which mostly

settled in Ukraine (11.4 million) and Kazakhstan (6.2 million).

2 Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Unionand Its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account." Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),30.3 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011), 171.

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After the indepedence of these states, Russian population

started to create much more problem for these countries. 4

In this regard, the ongoing Ukraine crisis can not be

separated from this issue because as far as we see, in the

eastern part of the Ukraine and Crimea; Russian nationalist try

to get autonomy and struggle for it. After the outbreak of the

Ukraine crisis, many articles and books have published in order

to explain how we consider the crisis. Most of them, provide a

historical background that shows relations of Russia and

Ukraine history, mostly Kiev because many Russian historicians

believe that Russian ethnicity was born in Kiev and started to

expand its influence from there. I pay attention to discuss

this issue in great details to understand what is going on

Ukraine and what are the legacies of Soviet regime in the

region. As we can assume, this issue won't be a unique one,

likely we will see similar conflicts in the Post-Soviet

countries that this examination will provide an analytical

overview about the ongoing and possible conflicts which are

shaping around nationalist sentiments.

To make an analytical study, I will mainly focus on

historical evolution of the Ukrainian history, identity and

political movements that are constituted by the legacy of

Soviets, shortly tension between nationalism and territory and

problems of nation building process in Ukraine. Within the this

context, I believe that Soviet legacy and ongoing crisis in

4 Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Unionand Its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account." Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),45-47.

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Ukraine go hand in hand which I will try to show how they go

hand in hand in my term paper.

First of all, I want to start with the history of Ukraine

and nationalism in Ukraine that they make possible to

understand ongoing crisis, so by doing this I will try to

provide claims about distinct and common points of Ukraine and

Russia.

1)Nationalism, Historical Background of Ukraine

and Roots and Features of Ukraine Nationalism

It is not falsifiable claim to say that nationalism is a

major driving force for modern world which leads either

unification and fragmentation between people. French Revolution

was the turning point for the world history which led to

existence of new ideas like nationalism, liberty, etc and also

basic human rights were adopted in the following years of

French Revolution. Education started to become much more

prevalent among the people, so with the increasing educational

tools many people got the chance of receiving good education.

Some of the educated peoples helped to spread of new ideas and

worked hard to adoptation of these ideas. These educated and

self-aware people were called with different names on Eastern

and Western part of the world. In the eastern part, they were

called intelligentsia which constituted the progressive segment of

the society with its mobilizer role. 5

5 Orest Subtelny, "The Growth of National Consciousness." Ukraine a History, 3rded. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000),221.

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Also, on the other hand, romanticism started to increase

its power vis-à-vis Enlightenment, which puts emphasis on the

rationality, universalism, and so on, however romanticism basic

values of people or communities, antiquity, language. 6 Some

member of the intellegentsia adopted the idea of romanticism

and aspired to focus on distinctiveness of cultures, so to

achieve this, they devoted themselves to masses which deserve

to be scrutinised. To make it, first of they inclined to

collect documents, find folkloric distinctiveness of the

endangered cultures; and following this, in many cases,

resurrection of native languages and political demands to get

their sovereignty were experienced.7

Ukraine as an Eastern Europe country, can not be left out

of this progress where the national awakening tried to be

succeeded through intelligentsia in the absence of national

rulers, elites. However, it was impossible to talk about dozens

of intelligentsia, they were so limited and they were mostly

educated in Kharkiv and Kiev Universities. They met regularly,

organized discussions inter se about their thoughts.8

As I mentioned above, intelligentsia , with the effect of

the romanticism, went towards antique, folkloric and

distinctiveness of Ukrainian people while they started to

alienate rulers of the Tsarist Russia. At this point, to

discover Ukraine masses folklore, language, history

intelligentsia started to study intensively but at the begining

of the process they did not envision to form a national6 Ibid,225.7 Ibid,223.8 Ibid,224.

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identity but this paved the way for national awakening of

Ukraine masses.9

At this point, Subtelny specifies the role of

intelligentsia in the process of nation building in Ukraine

that he puts emphasis their roles on the creation of national

history, glorification of the folklore, rediscover of the

language as a common point and enrichment of Ukrainian

literature.

First of all, history studies keep important place in the

awakening process because people are mostly unaware of their

common past and commonality of destinty, so to reveal it and to

increase national awareness, intelligentsia promoted ‘’national

history’’ studies aiming to emphasise bright past of the

people. At the end of the 18th century and early 19th, there

have been published many history books to put emphasis their

common past, so toward mid of the 19th century, these studies

became much more qualified. Many of the studies started to

propound distinctiveness of Ukraine culture and history,

however despite the distinctiveness, it continued to be seen as

a part of the Russian people. For example, Dmytro Kamensky

wrote ‘’A History of Little Russia’’ which is quite influential study in

which he accepted that Ukrainians have different past from the

Russia but disregardless they are part of the Russian people.

In addition to that, one of the most striking study was made by

Istoriaa Rusov who wrote ‘’History of the Rus’’, he accepted also

distinctiveness of Ukrainian past but also on the contary of

9 Ibid,225.

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Kamensky, he also asserted to home rule of Ukrainians. 10 This

study keeps important place in Ukraine nationalist awakening

from the point of its claims because at this period it was

almost impossible to assert under the Tsarist Russia.

Another important step toward to strengthen national

identity and accelerate national awakening, was the rediscovery

of the native language, which was called as Ukrainian language.

Some people claims that Ukrainian and Russian language were the

same initially, but started to differentiate in 13th century,

so Ukraninan language was repressed under the Tsarist Russia.11

Also, one of the most important thinker of nationalism,

Benedict Anderson, streesed the importance of ''print

capitalism'' that means proliferation on the number of the

books which was written in local languages which created an

imagination of unity in the same society. ''Verneculars'' helped

to increase on awareness in the society and acted as an

unifying actors. 12

In this sense, it is useful to glance first studies which

were written in Ukranian language that they made possible to

improvement of Ukrainian language, also first studies were

aiming to bring to people’s attention through cultural,

linguistic richness. Ivan Kotliarevsky’s work, Eneida, are

considered the first considerable work which was written in

Ukrainian language and paved the way for the written culture of

Ukrainians. Following this work, in the first half of the 19th10 Ibid,125-127.11 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004), 338.12 Umut Özkırımlı, ‘’Theories of Nationalism’’, (New York: Palgrave, 2000),418-149.

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century, there were written books which were also claimed that

Ukrainian language is another form of Russian language. In this

studies, emphasises centred upon the ‘’Cossack’’ past of the

Ukrainians because, as I will emphasize following parts,

Kievian past is common point with Russian history, but they had

to differentiate from Russians to create independent Ukrainian

consicousness. 13

The most important and much-ballyhooed figure in the

Ukrainian literature Taras Shevchenko that he was so different

from the his pioneers because of his stance against the Tsarist

Russia while pioneers did not object the dominancy and pressure

of the Tsarist Russia. Taras Shevchenko is considered most

influential figure in the matter of Ukrainian literature and

his poets wraped up te national sentiments, so his first work

Kobzar was full of the poets in which stressed Ukrainian

national history and distinctiveness. Moreover, Shevchenko

infused much more belief with many Ukranians to develop

Ukrainian literature and his poets were considered first steps

of Ukrainian autonomy. In fact, Shevchenko loathed the

opression of Tsarist Russia and he aspired for the social

justice.14

At that time, in 1847, a student from the Kiev University

which was known as Aleksei Petrov spied on these intelligentsias

to authorities and they were arrested by them, by this way

authorities found out the organization of ‘’Brother of Sts Cyril and

Methodius’’ which is known first Ukranian ideological13 Orest Subtelny, "The Growth of National Consciousness." Ukraine a History, 3rd ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000),230-232.14 Ibid,235.

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organization in modern times. Many members of the organization

were penalized and the most important figure, Shevchenko were

sent to Siberia and he died in 1861. 15

Publication of the books which were written in Ukrainian

language, after the intense studies of the intelligentsia, was

banned by the reason of creating more threat for Tsarist

Russia, by doing so authorities wanted to vitiate these studies

and Ukrainophilism was described as ‘’the fabrication of the Polish-

Austrian intrigue.’’16

These are the cultural and folkloric basis of the

Ukrainian nationalism or/and national awakening that initially

intelligentsia acted pioneering role and they succeeded to

revival of studies of national history and Ukrainian language

which also enabled to start of political organizations of

people. At this point, I think it is useful to look at

historical claims of Ukrainians that keep important place in

todays discussion because either Russians and Ukrainians claim

for being heir of Kievan Rus. Even today there is an idiom

which is related with this situation: ‘’ Moscow is the heart,

Petersburg; the head, but Kiev the mother of the Russian cities’’ 17

After the intensification of the national history

studies,especially post-indepedence period, Ukrainian

historians tried to undermine the thesis of the Russian

historian that they have a common point of view about the15 Ibid,237.16 Alexei Miller, The Ukrainian Question: Russian Nationalism in the 19th Century (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2003.) 179-181.17 Erhan Büyükakıncı,’’Bagımsızlık Sürecinde Ukrayna-Rusya İliskileri,’’DegisenDunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),401.

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Ukrainian history which claims Ukraine is dependent on Russia

either historically and culturally. 18 Also, it is quite

difficult to talk about any independent Ukraine state, almost,

throughout the whole history they had been ruled by another

country; by rediscovering their ancestors, they wanted to

emphasize their history which were not under the hegemony of

Russian state. 19

The first emphasis on the Kievan Rus state, which emerged

in between 10th and 13th century in todays Ukraine territories

but this is not only Ukrainians’ thesis but also Kievan Rus

State is still accepted as the first Russian State and many

Russian leaders and historians have insisted on that Ukrainians

and Belarussians are part of the ‘’Great Russia.’’ But Kievan

Rus state was vandalized by the Mongol attacks, however

Russians claimed that Kievan Rus state continued to survive in

Russia territory. 20 After the Kievan Rus State, Ukraine

territory started to be divided between various states from the

Lithuanian to Polish, but at the end of the struggle between

Polish and Lithuanian states, Polish state beate Lithuanian and

took control of most part of the Ukraine. 21 After the collapse

of the Kievan Rus state, according to some historians, the

first division between Ukrainians and Russians has emerged in

18 Zenon Kohut, "History as a Battleground."  The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, edited by S. Frederick Starr (N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994),124.19 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),314.20 Zenon Kohut, "History as a Battleground."  The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, edited by S. Frederick Starr (N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994),124.21 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),314.

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that period because of the Polish influence, and some others

claim that the new communities which came from the Carpathian

region in 14th and 15th century, laid the foundations of

Ukrainian ethnic identity. 22

The other, maybe most, important development was the

Treaty of Pereyaslav which was signed between Cossacks and

Tsarist Russia that enabled Tsarist Russia to engage old Kievan

Rus State territory and this treaty rendered Russia dominant

power in Eastern Europe. 23 Despite the Treaty of Pereyeslav,

many Ukranian considered Ukraine Cossacks as the pioneers of

the Ukrainian national awakening and protector of the Ukrainian

territories, even they claimed that the latest independent

Ukraine state was Cossacks. However, ironically, Russians put

emphasise on Cossacks and Treaty of Preyeslav because according

to them it was important concerning the reunion with other

Russian societies and protection of Russians interests.

Concordantly some Ukrainian leaders (Leonid Kravcuk-Viacheslav

Chornovil) in post-indepedence period made special emphasis on

Cossack past of the Ukrainian state because in this period

leaders had to stress importance of independent Ukraine and

distinctiveness of the their past.24

In the 18th century, Ukraine territory was divided one

again between Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia, so Ukraine

22 Zenon Kohut, "History as a Battleground."  The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, edited by S. Frederick Starr (N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994),124.23 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),314.24 Zenon Kohut, "History as a Battleground."  The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, edited by S. Frederick Starr (N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994),132.

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divided as the East and West side of Dnieper River. This

division is also important for Ukrainians because two sides of

the River were treated so different that Austria-Hungary part

was much more free from the point of cultural rights while

Tsarist Russia was applying more repression, even Ukrainian

language was prohibited in 1863. This was one of the

exacerbating point for Ukrainians which were living under

Tsarist Russia that affected Ukrainians stance against Russia.

When we comes the 1917, in Tsarist Russia, socialist

revolution was carried out by Bolsheviks which was the turning

point either world and people who were living in it. This

political turmoil enabled to creation of independent Ukraine

state (Ukrainian People’s Republic, shortly UNR) for a short

period of time because in the eastern part of the country there

was a political vacuum that Ukrainian benefited from this

vacuum, so declared their independent states but it was a short

lived experience. They lost their struggle with the other

organization which were established nearly same period and

adopted socialist values. This meant end of the Ukrainian

People’s Republic which was aimed to form by nationalist forces

but failed due to the insufficient support from the

international society and material impossibilities. Huge part

of the Ukraine became dependent on Soviet Union in 1922 with

the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR25. Ukrainian People’s

Republic might be short lived experience, however many

Ukrainian took it as respectable nation building attempt into

account. Also, after final independence from the Soviets they25 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),315.

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embarked on same flag, similar emphasis on national components.26

Soviet Union took full control of Ukraine in 1939 while

advanced toward Polish territories that it was an important

phase for Ukrainians because after long centuries their

territories united again27, new period started for them under

the Soviet rule. The completion of the modern Ukraine map was

achieved with the devolution of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954.28

I will put emphasis on the Soviet period practices and

Ukrainian’s reactions against their practices but at this

point, I wanna define characteristics of Ukrainian national

identity and nationalism since some of the scholars and

historians tried to make some objective assesments.

Many of the studies, as historians asserted, underline the

fragmented structure of the Ukrainian identity because of

territorial divisions that I mentioned above, Ukrainian

territory was divided into between many states which affects

Ukrainian people lifestyle, thinking style, cultural level,

etc. That makes, almost, impossible to constitute uniform

identity. This is one of the important hardship while remarking

Ukrainian nationalism or national identity. 29

26 Zenon Kohut, "History as a Battleground."  The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, edited by S. Frederick Starr (N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994),134.27 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),315.28 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),101.29 Ibid,98.

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In Ukraine, under this circumstances that I mentioned

above , it is not a mistake to expect not to exist ethnic

nationalism at state level which based on the ethnicity or

cultural commonality, even after the indepedence newly

established Ukrainian State endowed citizenship according to

residence, in this sense, at least, Ukraine adopted civic form

of nationalism initial years of the indepedence. This was so

different from Rukh, nationalist organization in Ukraine,

interpretation of the citizenship and in the first election

support for the Rukh’s nationalist candidate Vyaçeslav

Çornovil remained so limited (%23.27) while former communist

and pro-independce candidate Leonid Kravçuk got more

support(%61.59).30

On the other hand, beginning from the late 18th and early

19th century, Ukrainian historians or nationalists tried to

cease Russian hegemony on the history, so Russian thesis were

mostly called Ukrainians as little Russians and viewed them as

a part of Russia history. However, to cease this hegemony or

dominancy, Ukrainian nationalists, scholars started a study to

propound distinctiveness of Ukrainians and specified Ukrainian

national identity with some features by comparing with Russian

national character. The first emphasis was on Individualism. It

meant that Ukrainian respect individual values and rights much

more than Russians because Russia historically attached more

importance to authorities like Czar. Another point was

Ukrainians’ love of freedom and democracy which describes

Ukrainians as searcher of freedom, indepedence organizations

30 Ibid,134-136.

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and puts emphasis on the Cossack and Kievan Rus past of the

Ukrainian history because according the them, they had some

democratic features like codes. In addition to that, studies

alleged ‘’love of land and popular culture’’, ‘’romanticism’’

and ‘’tolerance’’ as characteristic features of Ukrainian

national identity. 31

Another issue is much more linked with Soviet period of

Ukrainian history because Soviet Union was quite different

experience for world politics either politically and

sociologically, so it had also important effects for each

Soviet Republic. Under the Soviet Legacy title, I want to

underline Soviet period of Ukraine and its legacies for

independent Ukraine.

2-Soviet Period in Ukraine and Legacy of the

Soviet Regime

As I mentioned above, after the Bolshevik Revolution, a

group of Ukrainians benefited from the political vacuum and

established Ukrainian People’s Republic, but it was a short-

lived experience, so they couldn’t strive with the pro-

socialist Ukraine and signed Union Treaty then became a part of

USSR. 32

First years of the Soviet rule, under the leadership of

Lenin, Korenizatsiya policy was carried out which aimed to get

support from Ukrainians in favor of Soviet rule and it included

31 Stephen Shulman, "The Cultural Foundations of Ukrainian National Identity",Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:6 (Routledge:2010), 1016-1019.32 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),104.

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supporting of the native languages and employing peoples from

other nationalities in the Soviet rule but it induced

conflicting consequences, so on one hand it led to increase in

Ukrainian national identity while on the other hand it

increased Soviet consciousness.33

After the Lenin period, in 1930’s was so catastrophic for

Ukrainians because under the Stalin rule, they experienced

Famine 1932-1933(Golodomor) and millions of people died, there

is not consensus about number of the death; Stalin’s

industrialisation policy led to huge Russian migration toward

Ukraine territories; intense Russification efforts and Russian

language adopted as compulsory language in primary education

and at the end of the 30s Ukraine controlled by Soviet Union as

a whole.34

Death of Stalin affected positively to Ukrainians and

views of Kremlin about Ukraine started to change,so cultural

repressions started to reduce and Ukrainian identity became

important for Soviet rule because Ukrainians were the second

crowded population in the USSR, so Soviets needed their help to

rule. Even, Crimea was given to Ukrainian Soviet as good-will

gesture in 1954, in the memory of Pereyeslav Treaty which tied

Cossacks and Russians each other and made Russia dominant power

in Eastern Europe. 35

This period of relief took a short time, beginning from

the 1970s and early 80s cultural repressions started to become33 Ibid,105-106.34 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),315.35 Ibid,317.

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more intense. Either nativization policy (Korenizatsiya) was

shelved and Russification policies become the main topic of

conversation once more time, so political prisoners in 1970s in

Soviets were mostly Ukrainian which shows political repression

in Ukraine in this period. Again, Ukrainian nationalists argued

against the Russification policy and strived for the free

development of Ukrainian culture which was described as a part

of Eastern Europe by them. 36

However, as I said before, Soviets was much more different

from the its fellows in terms of its structure. At this point

Brubaker said that:

Soviet elites might have sought to organize the same territories and

peoples as a nation-state –whether as a Soviet nation state, founded on an

emergent Soviet nation, or as a Russian nation-state. But they did neither.

On the other hand, Soviet rulers never elaborated the idea of Soviet

nation. ... But in 60s,70s they developed the doctirine of ‘’Soviet People’’ as

a new historical community.37

Despite this doctrine, in the Soviet Union, Russians were the

hegemon on the formal state structure and communist party

structures, beside of it Russian language were the language

neutral.38

When the Gorbachev came into power as a general secretary

of the Communist Party, he carried out Perestroyka and Glasnost

policies which meant political and economic openness, however

36 Ibid.37 Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and Its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account." Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),28.38 Ibid,29.

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these policies couldn’t change picture in the Ukraine because

Gorbachev did not want to lose Ukraine due to its strategic

importance and secondary role in the Soviet Union. Even so, it

led to decrease in political repression, many political

prisoners were released that boosted political opposition in

Ukraine. The other important incident was Chernobyl nuclear

accident that Ukrainians started to question legitimacy of the

Soviet regime and communist party authorities on the grounds

that not to take necessary measures in the case of Chernobyl.

Nationalists used it to consolidate their power and mobilize

people to struggle for independence Ukraine. 39

Soviet Union dissolved and 15 newly states emerged but

these new states encountered problems which were stemming from

the Soviet structure. First of all, the territorial and ethnic

incongruence which is quite important for a nation-state and as

Gellner asserted that ''nationalism is primarily a political principle which

holds that the political and the national unit should be congurent'' 40 However,

in the post-Soviet countries, especially in Ukraine and

Kazakhstan, millions of Russian people remained in there. Also,

Brubaker attached that:

‘’... nearly 25 million Russians in non Russian successor states, the

enourmous military power of Russia, and the uniquely radical decline in

status experienced both by the new Russian minorities and by key segments

of Russian elites in Russia would make a revisionist Russia a potentially

much graver threat than the other successor states to regional and even

global security.’’41

39 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),318.40 Umut Özkırımlı, Theories of Nationalism, (New York: Palgrave, 2000),129.

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These are the developments of Soviet period and legacy of the

Soviet regime to successor states.Ukraine declared its

independence 24 August 1991 that it means a new beginning for

them but also new problems to be encountered. At this point I

will put emphasis nation building process, first steps,

elections, propagandas and problematic relation with Russia.

3-) Nation Building Process in Ukraine and

Encountered Problems

Following years the Perestroika and Glasnost, nationalist

movements accelerated, many many started to give voice for

independence, especially Rukh movement’s (nationalist

organization but was not racist and chauvinist) members mostly

mentioned about independence and applied for nationalist

discourses, however they were aware hardships to leave Soviet

Union. Even so, Ukraine experienced increasing demonstrations

which paved way for the independence. The most resplendent

demonstration was held 22 January 1990 that 500.000 Ukrainians

paraded with their blue-yellow Ukrainian flag and after short

period of this demonstration, nationalist inclined Rukh took

dazzling support and got 117 seat in 450. 42

In this period there was huge cleavages between

nationalist and communist segment of the society that

nationalist forces supported full indepedence while communists

41 Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and Its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account." Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),45.42 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),319.

23

were supporting autonomy of the Ukrainian military. In time,

demonstrations instensified, so Ukrainians proved their desire

to be independent, thereby at the end of the process Ukraine

declared its indepedence and Ukraine voted in proportion to %

90 in favor of indepedence in 1 December 1991. This was a

turning point for Ukraine because they got chance to live

together under their self-rule but they had/have to confront

many problems like economic, societal, , territorial;

especially they are related with Russia and Russians. 43

Ukraine inherited nearly 11 million Russian people which

mostly live Eastern part of the country posed main difficulties

because Ukraine had to be careful while building a nation not

to conduce problems. First of all, Ukraine government treated

equal to all people and since independence, tried to avoid

ethnic nationalism while describing citizenship and citizenship

equated with residence and Ukrainian mother or father. Put

simply, Ukrainian nationality refrained ethnic based

citizenship definition not to induce problems with Russian

minority and Russia, as a protector of this population. In

addition to that, Ukrainian constitution which was approved in

1996, adopted the building-up of minority practices, however

Russian people did not accept to be described as minority.44

Another important problem originated from the language

which keeps important place in nation building process because

as Anderson asserted, language helps to increase public

awareness and consciousness. In this sense, Ukrainian43 Ibid,319-320.44 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),178-185.

24

government got to work on to demolish Russian language hegemony

and in this sense, aiming to reduce Russian language usage or

restrict it in order to break its influence in Ukraine. To make

it real, in 1989 Ukraine acknowledged Ukrainian language as

official language to balance Russian language but in following

years, especially after the independence declaration, there

were made many regulation in favor of Ukrainian language in

education and media-press sector, by this way Ukrainian

language rendered superior against Russian language. However

another problem have arisen in this point that there are many

Ukrainians which described themselves as Ukrainian but use

Russian language, they felt aggrieved and also pro-Russian

oligarchs and communist and pro-Russian parties advocated that

Russian language, at least has to be second language or equal

to Ukrainian language.45

The other important issue was Ukrainian economy. After the

break down of Soviet Union and foundation of independence

Ukraine, to be powerful and durable country Ukraine had to

improve its economy and decrease its dependency on Russian

economy, aiming to achieve these, first of all put onto the

market in 1992 but it led deterioration in Ukraine economy and

in 1996 new currency was released ‘’Hryvna’’. In addition to

that, Ukraine need Russian energy to produce and has powerful

economy but Russia increased prices of energy that led economic

crisis for Ukraine. Even today, Ukraine or many other European

state need for Russian energy/gas to sustain their economic

development but Ukraine has various problems with Russia.

45 Ibid, 188-203.

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Ukraine wanted to decrease its dependence with Russia to has

much more sustainable economy but this created more problem for

Russia, because even today they don’t give up their claims over

Ukraine and don’t want to lose Ukraine.46 Economic conditions

also affected leaders’ discourse. If economy retrogressed

because of bad relationship with Russia, candidates used this

as a tactic to get more vote and promise to regulate relations

with Russia or nationalists leaders commit to knit up with

Europe. Leonid Kucma used this tactic in 1999 elections against

Sumonenko.47 Similar developments took place in religious

affairs because it was conducted by Moscow(Ukrainian Orthodox

Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and new government in Ukraine

wanted to change this picture and started to support Ukrainian

Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) and Ukraine Otocephalus

Orthodox Church while they were supporting government’s efforts

to create a new nation but later picture changed once more

time, so Yushchenko changed this picture again and he started

to support also Ukraine Rum Catholic Church which was known its

nationalist character and took support from Western nationalist

inclined people.48

These steps were taken by the Ukraine government to

struggle with Russian based problems and to mold nation and

still they do not form stable country, so recently Ukraine

crisis broke out at the end of the 2013 and this crisis could

46 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),335.47 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),146.48 Ibid,209-212.

26

not be thought independently in the context of history and

struggles between two camps.

4) What is the dynamics of ongoing Ukraine

Crisis? Where does nationalist struggle locate ?

Ukraine, like other newly established states, as Brubaker

asserted that ‘’They are states in the making’’ 49 Due to this reason

Ukraine has to challenge with many problems which were

inherited from the history, also should prove its power in the

presence over threats from Russia. Today for the majority of

the people, Ukrainian people are not different from the Russian

people and their languages look like similar. 50 Ukrainians,

since late 18th and 19th century have tried to prove their

distinctiveness, in order to claim their self-rule, however

Ukraine was divided many times by different countries and

underwent different process at the same period.

Firstly, Ukraine had striven to demolish Russian

historiography which asserts that Ukrainians are the part of

the Russian nation, and tried to replace them with Ukrainian

thesis that assert distinctiveness, so change its national

holidays, national heros; beside of it Ukrainian historiography

demonized its Tsarist and Soviet Russia past such as

‘’Holodomor.’’51

49 Rogers Brubaker, "Nationhood and the National Question in the Soviet Union and Its Successor States: An Institutionalist Account." Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),43.50 Paul, D'anieri, "Nationalism and International Politics: Identity and Sovereignty in the Russian‐Ukrainian Conflict", Nationalism and Ethnic Politics (Routledge:2007),7.51 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),238-267.

27

As I mentioned above, Russian minority constitute % 22 of

the Ukraine population and they mostly concentrated on the

Eastern part and Crimea that gives chance Russia to intervene

Ukraine’s internal affairs, as already accept in 1993, Russia

securitize Russian minority in other countries. 52 Also, we see

in recent crisis that Russia sided with the Russian minority in

the eastern part of the Ukraine which organizes acts of

violence in order to get autonomy. This incidents exacerbated

ethnic tensions between Russians and Ukrainians and turned into

an ethnic conflict between them.53

In addition to that, as I mentioned above, Ukrainian

historiography designed to form distinct Ukrainian national

identity, and in order to achieve this, new historiography

claimed that Ukraine is a part of Eastern Europe not part of

the Eurasia. By this was Ukraine tried to differ from and

engage with Europe.54 As far as we see post-independence

period on one hand, strove to balance relationship with Russia,

on the other hand came close to Europe and Atlantic, even

Yushchenko made benefit of ‘’Russian threat’’ discourse to

strengthen Ukraine’s in the process of approach with Europe and

organizations. To prove his Russian threat discourse’s

righteousness, he swatched Georgia conflict. 55 Recent Ukraine

crisis demonstrated, in Ukraine, that Russian minority and

52Günhan Turan, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),377-379.53 Laurence Peter, "Bes Soruda: Ukrayna Krizi." BBC News. September 1, 2014. Accessed January 20, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/haberler/2014/09/54 Utku Yapıcı, "Kimlik İnsası."  Sovyet Sonrası Cografyada Devlet Ve Milliyetcilik, (Ankara: Tan Kitabevi Yayınları, 2011),245.55 Ibid,380-398.

28

Ukrainian nationalists have quite different interests and

expectations which lead violent conflicts. Pro-Russian

president Viktor Yanukovych chose to work closely with instead

of European Union and cancelled negotiations with EU that led

to a chaos in nationalist front. 56

Another important point in this crisis, Putin’s political

character, who is so influential in his country’s decision

making and his country’s foreign policy is equated and called

as ‘’Putinism.’’ He tries to restore his country’s power and

revive ‘’old powerful Russia’’, in order to achieve this, he

acts an active role in foreign policy and strives to ‘’win

hearts and minds’’ of Russians. He challenges to strengthen 57

Revival of the Russia needs a buffer zone between Europe and

Russia in order to secure his country’s. In this sense, Putin

gives much more importance to Ukraine and Crimea which is

opening door to Black Sea. At this point, Ukraine becomes an

arena of conflicting interests of Ukrainian nationalists and

pro-Russian rebels. 58

Also, regional differences can be easily seen in this

crisis in which western Ukraine symbolizes the pro-Western and

nationalist front while Eastern and Southern part symbolizes

pro-Russian front because of historical reasons. There are not

56 Beril Köseoglu, "9 Soruda Ukrayna Krizi: İç Savasın Esiginden Dönülebilecek Mi?" Diken. February 21, 2014. Accessed January 25, 2015. http://www.diken.com.tr/kievin-en-zor-secimi-bati-mi-dogu-mu/57 Michael Crowley, "'THIS IS WAR' Vladimir Putin Has Seized Crimea andDestabilized Ukraine. What Drives Him ?" Time, May 19, 2014, 33.

58 Tolga Bilener, "Ulus-Devlet Olma Sürecinde Ukrayna." Degisen Dunyada Rusya Ve Ukrayna, complied by Erhan Büyükakıncı, (Ankara: Phoenix, 2004),311.

29

only political but also religious differences between two

region. In western, Catholics concentrated on, however Orthodox

people concentrated on the Eastern part. 59

5) Conclusion

I think that recent Ukraine crisis couldn’t be thought

independently of historical conditions and special

circumstances of Ukraine that makes Ukraine vulnerable in the

presence of different groups’ interest. Under the conflicting

interests of Russia and Ukrainian nationalists or/and

Ukrainians, looks like difficult to come up with a solution. A

few days ago Russian separatists in the Eastern Ukraine

organized an attack to Mariupol city which is under the control

of Ukraine and both sides (Russia and Ukraine) blame each other

on the grounds that break the agreement of Minsk which was

signed in September to cease conflicts. 60 In my opinion, this

crisis will exacerbate ethnic tensions in Ukraine and there

will be no room for neutrality and will create ‘’Reactive

Nationalism’’ in next Ukrainian generation knee-jerk against

the Russian claims that renders impossible to come up with a

solution, also will lead to deepen of cleavages. In this study,

I aimed to provide historical and political dynamics of

Ukrainian-Russian relations and Ukrainian national-awakening in

order to make sense of Ukraine crisis.

59 Ibid,333.60 Editorial,"Ukrayna: Mariupol'de Gerginlik Tırmanıyor." BBC News. AccessedJanuary 26, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/haberler/2015/01/150126_ukrayna_mariupol.

30

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