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What the Ottoman archive and Belarus unrest showed
Summary
A retrospective on two regional developments reported in mid-November 2020: a archival find in Turkey and a sanctions appeal from Belarus's opposition.
What was happening in Ukraine's neighbourhood by 20 November 2020? Two reports from the preceding days point in very different directions: one to an archive, the other to the streets of Belarus.
An archival find in Turkey
On 14 November 2020, it was reported that originals of the texts of the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had been found in an Ottoman archive in Turkey. Among the documents was the ratification instrument of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi.
Appeal over Belarus
On 17 November 2020, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on European leaders to impose sanctions on supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko. Her appeal followed reports that police had used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesters. The reports placed the appeal within the 2020 Belarusian protests and the wider relations between Belarus and the European Union.
Together, the two reports show how a historical discovery and an ongoing political confrontation were both drawing attention in the region in the days before 20 November 2020.
