(In)securitising post-Soviet Space through security policies: Russian and the western concerns on the colour revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia

This article mainly elaborates the relations between Russia and the West during and after the Cold War. Both sides saw each other as a security threat during the Cold War. After 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed, this antagonistic relation ended for a short period. Once Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia once again revealed security concerns in the post-Soviet space. The iconic symbol of this concern was the Colour Revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. The Kremlin saw the Revolutions as a Western threat to Russia's identity formation in the region. On the other hand, the West saw the Revolutions as a call for democratic liberation for the peoples of the region. Hence, this study looks deeply into both sides of concerns about the Revolutions through the concepts of identity politics and security concerns

(In)securitising post-Soviet Space through Security Policies: Russian and the Western Concerns on the Colour Revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia

This article mainly elaborates the relations between Russia and the West during and after the Cold War. Both sides saw each other as a security threat during the Cold War. After 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed, this antagonistic relation ended for a short period. Once Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia once again revealed security concerns in the post-Soviet space. The iconic symbol of this concern was the Colour Revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. The Kremlin saw the Revolutions as a Western threat to Russia’s identity formation in the region. On the other hand, the West saw the Revolutions as a call for democratic liberation for the peoples of the region. Hence, this study looks deeply into both sides of concerns about the Revolutions through the concepts of identity politics and security concerns

Salary promotions from fiqh perspective and alternative product suggestion for participation finance system: Qardh limit

Bankacılık ve ticaret sistemi işletme ve kâr maksimizasyonunu sağlamak üzerine kuruludur. Dolayısıyla bankalar müşteri sayısını artırabildiği ve müşterilerinin finansal birikimlerini yönetebildikleri oranda kendi işletme kapasitelerini artırabilmekte ve büyüyebilmektedir. Müşteri potansiyelini artırmak amacıyla ise farklı stratejiler ve kampanyalar geliştirilebilmektedir. Günümüzde maaş promosyonu olarak bilinen uygulama da bu amaç doğrultusunda geliştirilmiş ve bankalar tarafından uygulamaya konulmuş olan bir üründür. Bankalar, maaş hesabı açtıran kamu çalışanı ile Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu (SGK) tarafından emeklilik hakkı verilmiş bireylere ödül, hibe veya hediye adı altında promosyon vermektedir. Bazı bankalar bu ödüle ek olarak kredi kartlarına para puan da yüklemektedir. Ayrıca banka tarafından müşterilerine özel krediler, kredi kartları, sigorta ve emeklilik poliçeleri gibi hizmetler de sunulmaktadır. Promosyon Fransızca kökenli bir kelimedir ve bir ürünün geniş kitlelere tanıtılması ve sürümünün gerçekleştirilebilmesi amacıyla yapılan çalışmaların tamamını ifade eder. Finans sektörü içerisinde ise bankaların ürün ve hizmetlerinin kullandırılması ve tanıtılması amacıyla kişilerin maddi açıdan lehine olabilecek her türlü kazandırmayı ifade etmektedir. Maaş ödemesi ve yapılacak ürün/hizmet tanıtımları karşılığında kurumların kendisi ya da personeline emtia tahsisi, nakit ödeme gibi kazandırmalar bu kapsamda değerlendirilmektedir. Bankaların yapmış olduğu bu kazandırmalara, finans sektöründe “promosyon” adı verilmektedir. Mevcut konvansiyonel sistemde uygulanan haliyle promosyon uygulaması güncel finans sektörü içerisinde İslâm’ın uygun gördüğü kurallar çerçevesinde sürdüren katılım finans sektörü için belirlenen kriterlere uymadığı kabul edilmekte ve bu sebeple konvansiyoneldeki biçimi danışma kurulları tarafından onaylanmamaktadır. Dolayısıyla birçok katılım finans kurumu konvansiyonel bankaların promosyon ödemeleri sayesinde müşteri çekme yarışına dahil olamamakta ve katılım finans kurumlarının finans sektörü içerisindeki payının büyümesine engel sebeplerden biri olarak görülmektedir. Öte yandan Türkiye’de görev yapmakta olan din görevlileri ve ilahiyat hocalarına halk tarafından bu bağlamda sorular yöneltilmekte ve buna dair çözüm üretilmesi talep edilmektedir. Ancak promosyon uygulamasında faiz ihtimalinin bulunduğuna dair kanaat sebebiyle çoğunlukla olumsuz cevaplar verildiği görülmektedir. Bununla beraber mevcut uygulamaya ne katılım finans kurumları tarafından ne de danışma kurulları tarafından alternatif çözüm üretilememektedir. Katılım finans kurumlarının hem katılım finans kriterlerine uygun hem de kişilerin katılım finans kurumunu maaş için tercih etmesini sağlayacak ikinci ihtimal ise promosyondan bağımsız geliştirilecek yeni uygulamalar ile mümkündür. Bu bağlamda geliştirilebilecek ürünlerden biri “Karz Limiti” uygulamasıdır. Geliştirilecek sistemin temelinde tamamen faizsiz bir uygulama olan ve katılım finans kriterlerinin dayanağı olan ayet ve hadislerle teşvik edilerek güzel borç olarak adlandırılan “karz-ı hasen” bulunmaktadır. Malum olduğu üzere karz-ı hasen zimmette borç olarak tahakkuk eden miktarın aynıyla ödenmesini içeren bir uygulamadır. İslâm bunun dışında herhangi bir karşılığı bulunmayan ve bahsi geçen borç sebebiyle fazladan alınan miktarı faiz olacağından dolayı yasaklamaktadır. Bu kapsamda maaşını almak üzere katılım finans kurumunu tercih etmesi istenen emekli ve çalışanları teşvik etmek üzere promosyon yerine karz-ı hasen vaadinde bulunmak ürünün çıkış noktasını oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma hali hazırda uygulanmakta olan çalışanlara yönelik promosyonun fıkhi boyutunu detaylı şekilde incelemenin ve bu açıdan uygun olmayan yönlerin detaylı analizini yapmanın yanı sıra katılım finans stratejisi ile fıkhi açıdan uygun ve uygulanabilir bir ürün geliştirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu sayede toplum içerisinden İslâmi hükümlere uygun hareket ederek yaşamını sürdüren insanlara da alternatif bir ürün geliştirilmeye çalışılmaktadır. Böylelikle kişilerin hak ettikleri kazançlarını daha meşru yolla alabilmeleri sağlanabilecektir.The banking and commercial system is based on business and profit maximization. Therefore, banks can increase their business capacity and grow to the extent that they can increase the number of their customers and manage their customers' financial savings. Different strategies and campaigns can be developed to increase customer potential. The application known today as salary promotion is a product developed for this purpose and implemented by banks. Banks give promotions under the name of rewards, grants or gifts to private or public employees who open a salary account and to individuals who are granted retirement rights by the Social Security System (SGK). In addition to this reward, some banks also add points to credit cards. The bank offers services such as special loans, credit cards, insurance and pension funds to its customers. The word promotion, which came into our language from French, can generally be defined as all the work done to promote a product to large audiences and to ensure the release of that product. In the finance sector, the contributions made by banks to institutions in order to promote their products and services and make them available for use are included in this scope. In exchange for product and service promotions to be made within the framework of the salary payment protocol, cash payment to institutions and/or institution personnel, granting (allocation) of the use of vehicles belonging to the Bank or transfer of ownership of these vehicles, invoicing the construction, renovation, repair and decoration costs of the institution to the Bank. Payment by bank etc. Various contributions are provided. For all these works and transactions, banks provide benefits to the institutions in a broad sense. These benefits are called "promotions" in the banking sector. In its current form, the promotion practice does not comply with the criteria of Participation banking, which continues its activities within the current financial sector but excludes the activities prohibited by Islam, and for this reason it is approved by advisory boards. Therefore, many participation banks cannot participate in the race to attract customers thanks to the promotional payments of conventional banks, and their share in the financial sector cannot improve in this context. On the other hand, the public asks questions to many fiqh academics working in Turkey in this context and demands a solution to this issue. However, when it became obvious that the promotion practice involved interest, it was seen that the fatwa authority gave negative answers. However, neither participation banks nor advisory boards can produce alternative solutions to the current practice. The second possibility, which will enable participation banks to both comply with Participation Finance criteria and enable people to choose participation banks for salaries, is possible with new applications that will be developed independently of the promotion. One of the products that can be developed in this context is the "Karz Limit" application. The basis of the system to be developed is "karz-ı hasen", which is a completely interest-free practice and is called a good debt, encouraged by verses and hadiths, which is the basis of participation finance criteria. As is known, qard al-hasan obliges the payment of the amount accrued as a debt in the dhimmah, and prohibits taking an extra amount due to the said debt, which has no counterpart. In this context, the starting point of the product is to promise qard-ı hasen instead of promotion in order to encourage retirees who are asked to choose the participation bank to receive their salaries. The study aims to examine in detail the fiqh dimension of the currently implemented promotion practice for employees and to make a detailed analysis of its inappropriate aspects in this respect, as well as to develop a suitable and applicable product in terms of participation finance strategy and jurisprudence. In this way, an alternative product is being developed for people from the Turkish society who live their lives in accordance with Islamic rules. In this way, people will be able to receive the earnings they deserve using a more convenient way

Cyanus depressus (M. Bieb.) Soják Türünün Karyolojik ve Palinolojik Yönden İncelenmesi

Cyanus (Asteraceae) cinsine ait Cyanus depressus (M. Bieb.) Soják türü karyolojik ve palinolojik yönden incelendi. 2011 yılında Elazığ’daki doğal habitatından toplanan türün temel kromozom sayısı 2n=16 olarak tespit edildi. Türe ait kromozomların median (m) ve submedian (sm) sentromerli olduğu gözlendi. Palinolojik çalışmalar sonucunda polen şekli subprolat, apertürleri tricolporat, ornemantasyonun ise skabrate olduğu belirlenerek, gerekli ölçümler yapıldı

Determination of some heavy metals and mineral nutrients of bay tree (Laurus nobilis L.) in Bartin city, Turkey

Concentrations of Al, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb in Laurus nobilis L. were examined for assessment of the impact of heavy metal exposure during winter periods, since these metals have the highest toxic potential. In this study, leaf (washed and unwashed), bark and branch samples of L. nobilis and soil samples were collected from 13 different localities, belonged to three stations. In conjunction with analyzing impact of the heavy metal exposure on the city using L. nobilis as a biomonitoring tool, the uptake and composition of mineral nutrients of L. nobilis were also investigated for determining the effects of heavy metals on mineral nutrition metabolism of the plant. The heavy metal and mineral nutrient concentrations of the collected samples were measured by using ICP-OES. The obtained data was analyzed with SPSS statistics program. As a result of measurements, the lowest and highest heavy metal accumulations and the amount of mineral nutrients measured in plants were as follows; Al (14.69-122.44 mg/kg d. wt), Cd (0.23-0.89 mg/kg d. wt), Cu (1.64-14.25 mg/kg d. wt.), Ni (0.001-0.45 mg/kg d. wt.), Pb (2.06-5.28 mg/kg d. wt.) and B (1.04- 6.67 mg/kg d. wt.), Ca (1195.34-4919.03 mg/kg d. wt.), Fe (17.13-203.25 mg/kg d. wt.), K (538.99-3778.37 mg/kg d. wt.), Mg(48.1-268.5 mg/kg d. wt.), Na (24.91-77.43 mg/kg d. wt.) and Zn (4.75-15.74 mg/kg d. wt.). According to the experimental data, the volume of the air pollution was analyzed and found significant in the city. Also, it was noticed that the metabolism of mineral nutrients of L. nobilis was altered by heavy metals. Finally, it was proved that L. nobilis is a suitable organism to be used as a biomonitoring tool for conducting research on heavy metal pollution

Determination of thermodynamic protonation constants of some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in water-acetonitrile binary mixtures

Bu çalışmada, trisiklik antidepresanlara alternatif olarak kullanılan selektif serotonin geri alım inhibitörleri (SSRİ)’nden sitalopram, fluvoksamin ve sertralinin su-asetonitril ikili karışımında, ters faz sıvı kromatografik (RPLC) yöntemle alıkonma davranışı incelenmiştir. Kromatografik analizler, mobil faz pH’sı 6,5 ila 10,5 arasında değişen, %45-%55 (h/h) arasında asetonitril içeren asetonitril-su ikili karışımlarında gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışma boyunca, kolon sıcaklığı ve akış hızı sırasıyla, 30 oC ve 0,8 mL/dakika’da sabitlenmiştir. Bu çalışmada, mobil faz pH değerlerine karşı bileşiklerin alıkonma değerlerinin lineer solvasyon enerjisi ilişkisi (LSER) yaklaşımıyla değerlendirilmesiyle teorik alıkonma değerleri hesaplanmıştır. Ayrıca farklı pH değerlerindeki mobil fazların aktivite katsayıları değerleri hesaba katılarak doğrusal olmayan regresyon programıyla bileşiklerin termodinamik protonasyon sabitleri ((_s^s)〖pK〗_a) belirlenmiştir. Hidrofobik özellikteki bileşiklerin (_s^s)〖pK〗_a değerleri kullanılarak iki farklı yaklaşımla su ortamındaki protonasyon sabiti değerleri hesaplanmıştır. Çalışma sonunda her iki ekstrapolasyon yönteminden elde edilen sonuçların birbiriyle uyumlu olduğu görülmüştür.In this study, the retention behaviour of citalopram, fluvoxamine, and sertraline, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) used as alternatives to tricyclic antidepressants, was investigated in a binary water-acetonitrile mixture by reverse-phase liquid chromatographic (RPLC) method. Chromatographic analyzes were performed in binary acetonitrile-water mixtures with mobile phase pH ranging from 6.5 to 10.5 and acetonitrile content between 45% and 55% (v/v). Throughout the study, the column temperature and flow rate were fixed at 30 °C and 0.8 mL/min, respectively. In this study, the theoretical retention values were calculated by evaluating the retention values of the compounds against the pH values of the mobile phase using the linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) approach. In addition, the thermodynamic protonation constants ((_s^s)〖pK〗_a) of the compounds were determined with a nonlinear regression program, considering the activity coefficients of the mobile phases at different pH values. Using the (_s^s)〖pK〗_a values of the hydrophobic compounds, the values of the protonation constants in the water medium were calculated using two different approaches. At the end of the study, it was found that the results obtained by both extrapolation methods were compatible with each other

Lactoferrin Levels in the Gastric Tissue of Helicobacter pylori-Positive and -Negative Patients and Its Effect on Anemia

Aim. To determine gastric tissue lactoferrin (Lf) levels of Helicobacter pylori- (Hp-) positive and -negative patients and its effect on anemia. Methods. Cases in which initial presentation was of abdominal pain and that were Hp-positive at endoscopy were included. Hp-positive cases and -negative controls were divided into two groups. Results. The study included 64 cases (average: 10.2 ± 0.4 years, 39 male and 25 female). Lf levels were subsequently studied on 61 cases. 45 (73.8%) of these were Hp-positive, while 16 (22.2%) were Hp-negative. In Hp-positive cases, mean staining percentages and density of glands in the antral mucosa were 45.5 ± 4.7% and 1.9 ± 0.1, respectively. Hp-negative cases showed significantly different values of 17.8 ± 4.5% and 1.3 ± 0.2, respectively. Hemoglobin and serum ferritin values of Hp-positive cases were 12.7 ± 0.2 g/dL and 32.5 ± 2 ng/mL, but these were comparable with Hp-negative cases (12.6 ± 0.1 g/dL and 30.7 ± 4.4 ng/mL). Conclusions. Tissue Lf was significantly higher in Hp-positive cases compared to Hp-negative cases, but no difference was observed between the two groups with regards to hemoglobin and ferritin level. As a result, it is difficult to say that this rise in Lf plays a role in the development of iron deficiency anemia in Hp-positive patients

The Effect of Tranexamic Acid and Tourniquet Use on Tibial Cement Penetration in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasties

Background: In this study, our aim was to compare the effects of tourniquet and tranexamic acid (TXA) use on tibial cement penetration in primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) using radiograph images. In addition, we also aimed at investigating the effects of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and bone mineral density on cement penetration. Methods: One hundred seventy patients who underwent TKA for primary osteoarthritis were retrospectively evaluated. TXA was administered to patients in group 1 (n = 96), and tourniquet application was used in patients in group 2 (n = 74). Tibial cement penetration was evaluated radiologically on a total of 4 zones: 2 anteroposterior and 2 lateral zones. In addition, age, gender, BMI, and bone mineral density were recorded in each group. Results: The mean cement penetration in the total study population was 2.34 ± 0.24 mm, with a mean of 2.33 ± 0.25 mm in the TXA group and a mean of 2.35 ± 0.24 mm in the tourniquet group (P = .453). A negative correlation was detected between BMI and anteroposterior 1 values in the total and TXA groups (P = .022 and P = .029). In the evaluation of the differences between genders, significantly higher penetration values were observed only in the females in the tourniquet group (P = .024). Conclusions: The use of TXA instead of a tourniquet does not reduce the depth of cement penetration in TKA. The clinical implications of individual-induced penetration differences may be significant for future implant survival. © 2020 The Author