Yemen’de Devam Etmekte Olan Çatışma: Bir Vekalet Savaşı mı?

Mart 2015’de patlak vermesinin üzerinden yaklaşık üç yıl geçen Yemen’deki iç savaş, yoğun siyasi istikrarsızlık ve vahim insani krize neden olmuştur. Bu makale, Yemen’deki iç savaşı, savaşta yer alan aktörler ve çıkarlarına odaklanarak detaylı olarak incelemektedir. Makale ayrıca Yemen’deki iç savaşın doğasını, temel olarak bu gerilimi Suudi Arabistan ve İran arasında bir vekalet savaşı olarak tanımlamanın geçerliliğini sorgulayarak değerlendirmektedir. Son yıllarda, Yemen’deki çatışmayı, bölge üzerinde kontrollerini güçlendirmek amacıyla, Sünni Suudi Arabistan ile Şii İran arasında yaşanmakta olan dini bir mücadele olarak açıklama eğilimi vardır. Çalışma, Yemen’de devam etmekte olan krizi, Suudi Arabistan ile İran arasında bir vekalet savaşı olarak tanımlamanın yanıltıcı olacağını savunmaktadır. Burada; gerilim, söz konusu iki ülkenin çıkarlarının çatışması sonucu ortaya çıkmamıştır. Daha ziyade, Suudi Arabistan ve İran’ın Yemen’in iç savaşında taraf olmaları, ülkede devam etmekte olan gerilimi daha karmaşık hale getirmek suretiyle arttırmıştır. Sonuç karışık yapıda bir çatışma olsa da, bu makalenin yazarı bunun kesin olarak vekalet savaşından farklı olduğu görüşünü savunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Yemen, İç Savaş, Vekalet Savaşı, Suudi Arabistan, İran

ONGOING CONFLICT IN YEMEN: A PROXY WAR?

It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leading to high political instability and severe humanitarian crisis. This article elaborates on the civil war in Yemen by focusing on the interests of main actors, who are involved in the ongoing conflict. The article also evaluates the nature of civil war in Yemen, mainly questioning the liability of describing the tension as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In recent years, there has been a tendency to explain Yemeni conflict through the lens of a religious struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’a Iran in order to reinforce their control over the region. It is argued in this study that it would be misleading to call Yemen’s ongoing crisis as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The tension did not emerge as a result of clash of interests by these two countries. Rather it would be fair to suggest that involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen’s civil war further triggered and complicated the already existing tensions in the country. The outcome is a complex pattern of conflict which the author of this article argues is indeed different from a proxy war.

Keywords:

Yemen, Civil War, Proxy War, Saudi Arabia, Iran,

PDF

___

Arimatsu L. and Choudhury, M. (March 2014). The legal classification of the armed conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya. Chatham House. Accessed: 10.03.2018, https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/home/chatham/public_html/sites/default/files/20140300ClassificationConflictsArimatsuChoudhury1.pdf, 1-43.
Arraf, S. (October 2017). The armed conflict in Yemen: A complicated mosaic. The Geneva Academy. Accessed: 10.03.2018, https://www.geneva-academy.ch/joomlatools-files/docman-files/The%20Armed%20Conflict%20in%20Yemen.pdf, 1-10.
Birchall, G. (April 12, 2018). What is a proxy war, what happened during the cold war and is there a proxy war in Syria between the US and Russia? The SUN, Accessed: 13.04.2018. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6039358/what-is-a-proxy-war-what-happened-during-the-cold-war-and-is-there-a-proxy-war-in-syria-between-the-us-and-russia/
Broder, J. (December 2017). Hit and missile. Newsweek. 8-12.
Calabresi, M. (April 2015). Caught in the cross fire. TIME, 25-27.
Cockburn, Patrick (2017). Yemen is a complicated and unwinnable war. Donald Trump should stay out of it. Independent. Accessed: 20.06.2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-war-donald-trump-us-military-iran-middle-east-isis-counter-terror-operation-william-owens-seal-a7622471.html.
Cordesman, A. H. (May 2017). The war in Yemen: Hard choices in a hard war. Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). Accessed: 04.03.2018, https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/170509_Yemen_Hard_Choices_Hard_War.pdf? Hv3JAIjcvSh5eBGPB44sP4r4lCn1kJyG, 1-16.
Cragin, R. K. (2015). Semi-proxy wars and U.S. counterterrorism strategy. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38, 311–327.
Durac, V. (2011). The joint meeting parties and the politics of opposition in Yemen. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 38(3), 343-365.
Esfandiary, D. and Tabatabai, A. (2016). Yemen: An opportunity for Iran–Saudi dialogue? The Washington Quarterly, 39(2), 155-174. Gilder, A. (2017). Bringing Occupation into the 21st Century: The effective implementation of occupation by Proxy. Utrecht Law Review, 13(1), 60-81.
Hill G. and Nonneman, G. (May 2011). Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States: elite politics, street protests and regional diplomacy. Chatham House Briefing Paper. Accessed: 10.03.2018, https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/Research/Middle%20East/0511yemen_gulfbp.pdf, 1-20.
Human Rights Watch. (2018). Yemen: Events of 2017. Accessed: 10.03.2018, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/yemen, 1-8.
Iran Says Evidence It Arms Yemen Rebels Is Fabricated (2018). Haaretz. Accessed: 19.06.2018, https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/iran-says-evidence-of-role-in-yemen-fabricated-1.6030357.
Juneau, T. (2016). Iran’s policy towards the Houthis in Yemen: a limited return on a modest investment. International Affairs 92(3), 647-663.
Krieg, A. (2016). Externalizing the burden of war: the Obama Doctrine and US foreign policy in the Middle East. International Affairs, 92 (1), 97–113.
Larison, Daniel. (June 2018). Hodeidah and the Saudi coalition’s deliberate starvation of Yemen. The American Conservative. Accessed: 19.06.2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/hodeidah-and-the-saudi-coalitions-deliberate-starvation-of-yemen/
Mousavian, S. H. (2015). Is Iran really to blame for Yemen conflict? Near East News Agency. Accessed 20.06.2018, http://nena-news.it/is-iran-really-to-blame-for-yemen-conflict/.
Mumford, A. (2013). Proxy warfare and the future of conflict. The RUSI Journal, 158(2), 40-46.
Niarchos, N. (January 2018). Making war: How U.S. support inflames the conflict in Yemen. The New Yorker, 30-35.
Orkaby, A. (November-December 2017). Yemen’s humanitarian nightmare: The real roots of the conflict. Foreign Affairs, 93-101.
Powell, B. (February 2016). Death by proxy. Newsweek, 26-28.
Rugh, W. A. (2015). Problems in Yemen, domestic and foreign. Middle East Policy, 22(4), 140-152.
Saudi Arabia and the Yemen Conflict (April 2017). Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Report. Accessed: 09.03.2018, http://ksamissioneu.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/White-Paper_Yemen_April2017.pdf, 1-57.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, launch attack on Yemen’s port city of Hudaida (June 2018). Al Jazeera. Accessed: 19.06.2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/saudi-uae-launch-attack-yemen-port-city-hudaida-180613054921062.html Scahill, J. (April 2011). The dangerous US game in Yemen. The Nation, 11-19.
Sharp, J. M. (February 2018). Yemen: Civil war and regional intervention. Congressional Research Service Report, Accessed: 12.03.2018. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43960.pdf, 1-9.
Tzemprin, A. , Jozic, J. and Lambare, H. (2015) The Middle East cold war: Iran-Saudi Arabia and the way ahead. Croatian Political Science Review, 52(4-5), 187-202.
United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) (March 2018). Yemen monthly operational update. Accessed: 06.04.2018, http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites /default/files/UNHCR%20Yemen%20Update%20-%20March%202018%20%28Final%29.pdf
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s Report on Yemen (September 2017) Accessed: 05.03.2018, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/ Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22025&LangID=E
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216 (April 14, 2015). Accessed: 03.04.2018, http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2216.pdf, 1-7.
With arms for Yemen rebels, Iran seeks wider Mideast role (15 March 2012). The New York Times, Accessed: 08.03.2018, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/middleeast/aiding-yemen-rebels-iran-seeks-wider-mideast-role.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. World Food Programme (2017). Yemen Situation Report #36. Accessed: 11.03.2018, file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/Yemen%20article/World%20Food%20Programme%20Yemen.pdf, 1-2.
World Health Organization (2018). Annual Report 2017: Yemen. Accessed: 11.03.2018, http://www.who.int/emergencies/crises/yem/yemen-annual-report-2017.pdf?ua=1, 1-58.
Zweiri, M. (2016). Iran and political dynamism in the Arab World: The case of Yemen. Digest of Middle East Studies, 25(1), 4–18.