Intermediate Region

An established geopolitical model set forth in the 1970s by the Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis, professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada, which is formally recognised by, among other institutions, the Royal Society of Canada. [Keyserlingk, Robert H., "Dimitri Kitsikis", pp. 125-130 in Royal Society of Canada, vol.52, Ottawa, 1999, 143 pages.] According to this model, the Eurasian continent is composed of not only two civilisational regions, that is, Western (or Western European) and Eastern (or Far Eastern), but also a third region found between the two. Called the “Intermediate Region,” it comprises a distinct civilisation.

Description

The lands between the Adriatic Sea and the Indus River form the Intermediate Region, and are considered a bridge between Western and Eastern civilisations. This vast area extends from the eastern half of Europe to the western half of Asia. Its significance, from the point of view of civilisation, is that there is neither such thing as a uniform Europe nor a uniform Asia. The terms “Europe” and “Asia” denote geographical regions and not civilisations. In terms of population, the dominant religions in the Intermediate Region are Orthodox Christianity and Sunni Islam, and to a lesser extent Shiite Islam, Alevism and Judaism. In contrast, Catholicism and Protestantism dominate in the West, as do Hinduism and Buddhism in the East.

The Intermediate Region had for 2500 years been dominated by an ecumenical empire, whose centre lay by the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea. Fundamentally the same empire throughout history, its successive leaders sought to unify its respective peoples. From the Persian empire of Darius, it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, then to the Hellenistic Romans, the Christian Romans and finally to the Bektashi-Alevi Ottomans until 1923-24. This Central Empire had been subject to attempts by other empires to seize succession. These empires, situated along its periphery, were the Arab, the Islamic, the Persian and the Russian (until 1917.)

The dynamic between the Central Empire and the Peripheral Empires constitutes an internal conflict in the Intermediate Region. Each of the main peoples in this area struggled to seize control of its centre of influence, that is, Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul, which remained the undisputed focal point for nearly 2000 years. The Arabs in the 8th century and the Russians in the 20th century almost succeeded in doing so, but were not able to take control of the ecumenical empire. Western intervention, since the 18th century, is considered to be an external conflict, which sought not succession, but the destruction of the ecumenical empire, and later its dismemberment (Balkanisation) and its subjection to the stranglehold of Westernisation.

In conclusion, “due to historical events spanning thousands of years, the Eurasian continent, of which Europe is but one of its peninsulas, comprises three civilisational areas: a) The West, which today includes North America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Western Europe b) The East or “Far East” which includes the peninsulas of India, Southeast Asia (with Indonesia) and China (with Korea and Japan.) c) The Intermediate Region, which is found both in the East and the West.” (D. Kitsikis, "L'Empire ottoman," Paris, PUF, 1985, p.15).

Footnotes

Published works concerning the Intermediate Region

# P. Davarinos, Geschichtsschreibung und Politik, Dusseldorf, 1995.
# P. Davarinos, "Die Historische Theorie der Zwischenregion in Osten und Westen", Journal of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 10 (1999), pp.131-143.
# "L'Empire ottoman (The Ottoman Empire)," Paris, PUF, 3e éd., 1994.

# Société Royale du Canada. Académie des lettres et des sciences humaines, "Géopolitique de la Région intermédiaire (The Geopolitics of the Intermediate Region)", Ottawa, vol.52, 1999.

# «Une vision géopolitique: la Région intermédiaire» (A Geopolitical Vision: the Intermediate Region), "Relations internationales," Paris, no.109, 2002.

# «Géopolitique d'un Proche-Orient à venir» (The Geopolitics of a future Middle East), "Diplomatie," no. 24, 2007.

# "He Geopolitike kai he historia tes mesa apo chartes (Geopolitics and its history through maps)," Trito Mati, Athens, vol.153, 2007

# "Geopolitike kai Hellada (Geopolitics and Greece)," Athens, Esoptron, 2001.

# "Endiamese Perioche (Intermediate Region)," quarterly journal on geopolitics, published in Athens since 1996.

# "Türk-Yunan İmparatorluğu. Arabölge gerçeği ışığında Osmanlı tarihine bakış (The Turco-Hellenic Empire. A study of Ottoman history from the point of view of the Intermediate Region)," Istanbul, Iletişim, 1996