Kin Conflicts Revisiting Kin-state-minority relations in Eurasia in light of war in Ukraine

Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine and the use of irredentist rhetoric citing ‘Russian speakers' and ‘Russian world' to justify it has reanimated the debates on relations between minority groups and their ‘external homelands', or ‘kin-states'. Beyond the relations between Ukraine and Russia, these concerns are relevant for greater Eurasian region, where many minority groups reside outside their ‘nation-states'. Taking the concepts of motivational and organizational capacity as our point of departure, in this seminar we question the assumed links between minority groups and their ‘kin states'. Citing examples from the cases of Georgia's Azeri-Turk population and Azerbaijan's Talysh minority, Dr. Karli Storm-Närväinen (University of Eastern Finland) will speak to the limitations of the kin-state concept and explore possible alternatives to it. Dr Aliya Tskhay (University of St Andrews) will explore the tumultuous relationship between Kyrgyz and Tajiks living in border regions, the potential for violent conflict and local solutions to its prevention.

Speakers: Dr Karli Storm- Närväinen (University of Eastern Finland) and Dr Aliya Tskhay (University of St Andrews). Moderated by Dr Leyla Sayfutdinova (University of St Andrews).