Strategist or Pragmatist: A Challenging Look at Ocalan's Retrospective Classification and Definition of PKK's Strategic Periods Between 1973 and 2012

The PKK, a violent group seeking secession in southeastern Turkey through the use of terror and guerilla methods, has evolved through different strategic and pragmatic phases in pursuing its goal. Ocalan, the incarcerated leader, classified the PKK's objectives into four deliberate strategic periods and commenced the final period of Strategic Lunge in March 2010 (for establishing de-facto autonomy). To compare these periods to PKK's real evolution, this article reviewed the entire process of the PKK (1973–2012) through analysis of resolutions from PKK congresses/conferences and the characteristics of PKK violence (e.g., target status, incident type/location, form, and purpose). This study argues that as opposed to Ocalan's assessment, PKK moves—particularly after 1994—are based on emergent (ex-post) pragmatic shifts rather than predetermined (ex-ante) strategic plans, as verified by analysis of the nature/form of PKK violence. It also argues that the PKK's pragmatic moves permeated even into its ideology and declared goal. Contrary to Ocalan's four-stage strategic periods, the PKK's initial manifesto indicates a three-stage Maoist strategy for reaching its goal. However, the PKK's military attempt to reach the third stage in 1991 failed due to conditions that were not sufficient for realization of the third stage of Maoist strategy. As a result, the PKK quit pursuing military victory after acknowledging its defeat in 1994; instead, since it still possessed the ability to initiate violence, it strategically employed (and ceased) violence to supplement its campaign of political compromise and negotiation.     

Firing distance estimates with pellet dispersion from shotgun with various chokes: an experimental, comparative study

There are several studies suggesting models for firing distance estimation due to pellet dispersion, but few of them consider the degree of choke of a shotgun. The purpose of this research is to suggest some models for estimation of the firing distance for choked and cylinder bore shotguns. Twelve gauge with full chokes, and 12 and 16 gauge with cylinder bore shotguns were fired with #2 and #5 shots from 75, 100, 300, 500, and 1000 cm distances. Statistically significant pellet dispersion values were found for each shotgun by using #2 and #5 shots for different firing distances. All the data obtained were analyzed with linear regression and four models were constituted. Investigators should use special formulae for each shotgun, degree of choke, and pellet type while determining the firing distance. Therefore, more experimental and comparative studies should be designed for each type.     

The assessment of intimate partner violence in Spanish women: the index of spouse abuse

We aimed to analyze the internal consistency and construct validity of the Spanish version of the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA) in a representative sample of 8,995 women attending general practice in Spain in 2006-2007. The factor structure analysis shows that the ISA measures four intimate partner violence (IPV) dimensions: emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and controlling behavior. Cronbach alpha ranges from .82 (sexual factor) to .94 (emotional). Construct validity analysis shows that IPV is associated with poorer self-perceived health, higher psychological distress, and lower tangible social support. The ISA can help make more visible forms of gender violence in the intimate relationship that sometimes are not recognized as such, like sexual violence or controlling behavior. This can contribute to the development of specific interventions for women experiencing IPV, considering the specificities of the violent acts experienced.     

Simultaneous Homicide–Suicide: A Case Report of Double Drowning

Homicide–suicide is a tragic phenomenon which typically does not result in a criminal charge or trial. However, correct diagnosis and classification of homicide–suicide cases are important to determine the perpetrators and dynamics of each category properly. The deaths in the homicide–suicide acts can be divided into two categories with respect to the number of involved individuals: dyadic deaths and triple or multiple deaths. These two categories can also be divided into two subgroups according to the chronology of the incidents: simultaneous deaths and consecutive deaths. Herein, a simultaneous homicide–suicide case of a father and daughter where both deaths occurred through drowning which was not found in the selected literature review and where the victim was a child is presented. The article aims to clarify the term discrepancies about multiple death cases in the literature and to discuss the pathological and psychosocial characteristics of the simultaneous dyadic death cases.     

Measurements of the Foramen Magnum and Mandible in Relation to Sex Using CBCT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate pre‐existing CBCT images of a large sample of adult females and males to provide data on foramen magnum and mandibular measures of sexual dimorphism for use as a reference sample in cases of establishing identity in unknown fragmentary skulls. The study group consisted of 161 adult patients. 3D images of the patients were assessed retrospectively. FM measurements were obtained from reformatted axial sections. Six mandibular measurements were taken. According to the results, the study identified four mandibular measurements as final predictors of sex which are as follows: the gonial angle (G‐angle) and ramus length (Ramus‐L), gonion–gnathion length (G–G‐L) and bigonial breadth (BG‐Br). It was found that the cross‐validated grouped overall predictive accuracy was 83.2% for FM and mandible measurements. It could correctly identify males in 77.3% and females in 87.4% of the cases. To assess sexual dimorphism, the gonial angle and ramus, gonion–gnathion lengths, and bigonial breadth of the mandible and sagittal diameter of the FM may be used on CBCT images.     

Hybrid governance mechanisms as political instruments: the case of sustainability partnerships

Hybrid governance mechanisms have become one of the most preferred models of governance. Their influence and use have increased slowly but consistently since the end of the Cold War. This article investigates their political dimension, by way of studying United Nations’ partnerships for sustainable development, registered with the commission on sustainable development (CSD). Around 350 sustainability partnerships that promise to solve environmental problems and achieve the MDGs are registered with the CSD. Since their endorsement at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit, various studies assessed their value for environmental governance often finding them ineffective or counter-productive. This article exposes a new set of influences that partnerships have on the practice and discourses of global environmental governance, by following the politics of their emergence, that of partnership building and registration, and their actualization: During their negotiation, various contestations emerged and influenced the resulting partnerships regime; this is studied through in-depth interviews. Secondly, this regime leaves many geographical and participatory lacunas with political effects, which are studied through a large-N database. Finally, the unintended consequences of partnership projects on their issue areas and the discursive changes they cause in environmental governance reveal an otherwise concealed political dimension: The introduction of controversial technologies into the UN platforms.     

Gaspirali v. Il'minskii: Two identity projects for the muslims of the Russian Empire

As “music of commitment,” in the period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s rock music in Yugoslavia had an important purpose of providing a popular-cultural outlet for the unique forms of socio-cultural critique that engaged with the realities and problems of Yugoslav society. The three “music movements” that embodied the new rock’n’roll spirit – New Wave, New Primitives, and New Partisans – used rock music to critique the country's “new socialist culture,” with the purpose of helping to eliminate the disconnect between the ideal and the reality of socialist Yugoslavia. This paper examines the New Partisans as the most radical expression of music of commitment through the works of its most important rock bands: Bijelo dugme, Plavi orkestar, and Merlin. The paper's argument is that the New Partisans' socio-cultural engagement, animated by advocacy of Yugoslavism, was a counter-logic to the nationalist dissolution of a distinctly Yugoslav fabric of a socialist community in crisis. Thus, the movement's revolutionary “spirit of reconstruction” permeating its “poetics of the patriotic” was a mechanism of socio-cultural resistance to political, cultural and moral-ethical de-Yugoslavization of Yugoslav society. Its ultimate objective was to make the case that the only way into the future – if there was to be any – rested on strategic reanimation of the Partisan revolutionary past as the only viable socio-cultural foundation of the Yugoslav socialist community.