atatÜrk as president - maryvaleufsd.org  · web viewmost muslims who wear the covering call it a...

41
Name___________________ Date______________ Unit: 9 (10.8) Tensions between Cultural Traditions and Modernization BIG IDEA : A clash between Old and New. Analyze and assess the influence of westernization on the Middle East and the difficulty of resolving conflict throughout the region. Compare and contrast tensions between modernization and traditional culture in Turkey under the rule of Kemal Ataturk and in Iran under the Pahlavi’s and the Ayatollahs.(Standards: 2, 3, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, GEO, GOV, CIV, TECH, EXCH) 1

Upload: phungbao

Post on 19-Oct-2018

214 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Name___________________ Date______________

Unit: 9 (10.8)Tensions between Cultural Traditions and Modernization

BIG IDEA: A clash between Old and New.

Analyze and assess the influence of westernization on the Middle East and the difficulty of resolving conflict throughout the region. Compare and contrast tensions between modernization and traditional culture in Turkey under the rule of Kemal Ataturk and in Iran under the Pahlavi’s and the Ayatollahs.(Standards: 2, 3, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, GEO, GOV, CIV, TECH, EXCH)

Themes :

►Science, Technology, and Innovation (TECH)

►Geography, Humans, and the Environment (GEO)

►Power, Authority, and Governance (GOV)

Unit Compelling Questions:

1. Is new always better?

2. How did Kemal- Ataturk reform Turkey?

3. What effects did the Iranian Revolution of 1979 have on Iran?

3. Why is there conflict in Israel-Palestine?

1

DAILY ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Date Essential Question

2

Let’s Review the Middle East

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS:

RELIGIONS:

DIVERSITY:

CLIMATE & NATURAL RESOURCES:

3

INSTABILITY:

Understanding the Hijab…

Hijab is referred to by various names, some of the most common of which are a veil or a headscarf. Most Muslims who wear the covering call it a hijab, an Arabic word meaning

“cover.” However, there are various forms of hijab that are referred to by different names. While hijab is commonly associated with women, Muslim men also sometimes wear a head covering as a means of showing modesty. Muslim

4

women choose to wear the hijab or other coverings for a variety of reasons. Some women wear the hijab because they believe that God has instructed women to wear it as a means of fulfilling His commandment for modesty. While some Muslim women do not perceive the hijab to be obligatory to their faith, other Muslim women wear the

hijab as a means of visibly expressing their Muslim identity.

Traditional Islam vs. Modern Western Ideas

OIL DISCOVERED IN THE MIDDLE EAST!!!In the 1920s-30s, oil was discovered in the Middle East. Guess who developed these oil fields?! If you guessed Middle Eastern countries, you guessed wrong! They had neither the money nor the technology needed, so American and European companies were granted special privileges. Basically, they controlled the oil and the country in which the oil was located received a fixed royalty (not much ). This made the oil-rich

countries mad so they formed OPEC!!!!!

The Conflict over Oil

An offshoot of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Imperialism is the global dependence on oil or petroleum.  Developed countries are especially dependent because of high-levels of industry, transportation, etc.  This means that whoever controls the oil enjoys a fair amount of political, economic, and even social power.  Much of the world's oil supply lies in the Middle East.

In the first half of the 20th century, Middle Eastern nations had the oil but did not have a way to procure, refine, and distribute it.  Foreign governments, such as, Europe and the United States, provided the necessary elements and these oil-producing nations grew rich.  In the 1970's, it was decided that more wealth and power could be had if the foreign influence was removed.  Foreign nations would still have to purchase the oil, but could no longer cut costs by providing the needed infrastructure to produce the oil. 

Therefore, OPEC was established.  The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was formed to further control the oil and reduce foreign influence.  The oil-producing nations, like Saudi Arabia, experienced a rise in their standard of living.  Also, the nations of OPEC, which included some African and Latin American countries, used oil as a political weapon.  -Regentsprep.org

What does OPEC mean?5

OLD VS.

NEW

Who created OPEC and when?

What was the goal of OPEC?

How does the development of OPEC show nationalism?

REVIEW: How did Imperialism lead to Nationalism in the region of the Middle East?

The Middle East has been a crossroads for people of Africa, Asia, and Europe since ancient times. This fact has led to an enormous diversity of peoples, belief systems, and cultures.

These differences have sometimes led to conflict. The discovery of oil in the region brought power to some Middle Eastern nations. Oil is a vital part of the global economy. Oil resources, however, are not evenly distributed across the region. As a result, Middle

Eastern countries have gone to war over oil-rich lands. Dependence on oil is one reason why countries around the world take an active interest in

conflicts in the Middle East.

Religious & Ethnic

Differences

Natural Resources

Governments

Islamic Tradition

Muslims, ___________, and Jews

Different sects within religions

More than ______languages

Religious, racial, and

Largest ________fields in the world

Oil-rich nations gain wealth, ____________& economic power

Limited __________supply

____________ in Israel & Turkey

Rule by royal family in ____________ & Saudi Arabia

Single-party ___________ in Iraq & Syria

Laws of ____________ influence government, society, and ____________ life

Anti-__________feelings

1990s revival of Islamic traditions

6

Sources of Conflict in the Middle East

__________ prejudices

Desire for a united Arab state

Arguments over dams and ________rights

WHERE THERE’S OIL, THERE’S WEALTH!!!

Wealth from the oil industry brought a more materialistic lifestyle to many Middle Eastern countries. Some leaders began to modernize and westernize their countries with the oil profits. Technology, urbanization, and women’s roles were lifestyle changes that resulted. This made some people in the Middle East very unhappy! The conflict between traditional Muslim values and new ideas and lifestyles gave way to Islamic Fundamentalism.

7

TURKISH NATIONALISM

Kemal Ataturk: “Father of the Turks”

-Overthrew________________________ & ________________________________

__________________________________

-Declared Turkey a _________________

Westernization & Modernization:

NATIONA

IRANIAN NATIONALISM

Reza Shah Pahlavi:

Westernization & Modernization:

How did Kemal Atatürk reform Turkey?

Turkish Flag

What was the Ottoman Empire?The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299 by a family of nomadic Turks from the region in western Asia known as Asia Minor. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire ruled over vast lands that included a diverse group of inhabitants. As the Ottoman Empire’s control over its territories declined, nationalism among the ethnic groups ruled by the empire inspired rebellion against the Ottomans.

At its height in the 1600s, the Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Middle East, north Africa, and eastern Europe, but its power declined over the next three centuries. Due to a series of weak and ineffective rulers, a corrupt government, nationalist movements within its borders, and European imperialism, Ottoman power diminished.

8

NATIONA

ARAB NATIONALISMM

ZIONISM

Theodor Herzl: Father of Zionism

Zionism:

Problems:

The leaders of some ethnic groups that were critical of the empire’s weakness and its willingness to adopt European ideals in the 1800s started to pull away from the empire. For example, in southeastern Europe the Greeks revolted in 1821, the Bulgarians in 1876, and Moldavia gained autonomy in 1861.

While nationalism grew throughout the empire in resistance to Ottoman rule, it was also a strong force in Istanbul, the Empire’s capital. A nationalist group called the “Young Turks” came to power in the early 1900s. They wanted to modernize the empire and turn it into a democratic state. They also turned the empire, which historically welcomed other ethnic groups into the fold, against non-Turks.

On the eve of World War I, the Young Turks hoped to redefine the Ottoman Empire while ethnic groups throughout the empire were hoping to carve out a place of their own if the “Sick Man of Europe” (as the Ottoman Empire was known at the start of the 1900s) were to die.

Source: Adapted from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ottoman_Empire

1. Why did different ethnic groups resist the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s?

2. What did the “Young Turks” want when they came into power? What changes did they hope to make?

9

How did Atatürk change Turkey?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) was an army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey as the Ottoman Empire was falling. He served as Turkey’s first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He is most well known for implementing reforms to modernize Turkey. These reforms rapidly secularized and westernized the country.

A reform is a change designed to improve society. Atatürk’s reforms were influenced by ideas of modernization, secularization, and westernization.

Modernize Secularize WesternizeModernization is the transformation from a traditional and rural society to a secular, urban and industrial society.

Secularization is a process in which religion loses social and cultural significance.

Westernization is the process of adopting or being influenced by the cultural, economic, or political systems of Europe and North America

Mustafa Kemal [Atatürk] was a secular nationalist who believed that all the inheritance of the Ottoman Empire should be abandoned and Turkey should be transformed into a modern European state. This involved less of a sudden break with the past than might appear. The Tanzimat reforms [between 1839 and 1876] had laid the foundations of a secular state, and the Young Turks, even while attempting to preserve the empire, had given a powerful impetus [motivation] to the cause of Turkish nationalism. During the war years [1914–1918], the secularization of education had proceeded and the universities and public positions had been opened to women. Certain of the law courts under the control of the religious authorities had been placed under the Ministry of Justice. A law in 1916 had reformed marriage and divorce....

Source: Peter Mansfield, A History of the Middle East, Viking1. According to Peter Mansfield, what did Mustafa Kemal Atatürk believe Turkey should be

transformed into?

2. According to Peter Mansfield, what is one reform made by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk?

10

ATATÜRK AS PRESIDENT - HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/KEMAL-ATATURK

Even before he became president, Greece agreed to send some 380,000 Muslims to Turkey in exchange for over 1 million Greek

Orthodox practitioners. Meanwhile, under Mustafa Kemal, the forced emigration of Armenians continued. Although Turkey was now

almost homogeneously Muslim, Mustafa Kemal deposed the caliph, the theoretical successor to the prophet Muhammad and spiritual

leader of the worldwide Muslim community. He also closed all religious courts and schools, prohibited the wearing of headscarves

among public sector employees, abolished the ministry of canon law and pious foundations, lifted a ban on alcohol, adopted the

Gregorian calendar in place of the Islamic calendar, made Sunday a day of rest instead of Friday, changed the Turkish alphabet from

Arabic letters to Roman ones, mandated that the call to prayer be in Turkish rather than Arabic and even forbade the wearing of fez

hats.

Mustafa Kemal’s government espoused industrialization and adopted new law codes based on European models. “The civilized world

is far ahead of us,” he told an audience in October 1926. “We have no choice but to catch up.” Eight years later, he required all Turks

to choose a surname, selecting Atatürk (literally Father Turk) as his own. By that time, Atatürk’s government had joined the League of

Nations, improved literacy rates and given women the right to vote, though in practice he essentially imposed single-party rule. He

also closed opposition newspapers, suppressed leftist workers’ organizations and bottled up any attempts at Kurdish autonomy.-

1. What are examples of Atatürk’s reforms that secularized Turkey?

2. What are examples of Atatürk’s reforms that westernized Turkey?

11

Reviewing Forms of Government

Democracy

Description:

Republic

Description:

Monarchy

Description:

12

Totalitarianism

Description:

Communism

Description:

Fascism

Description:

1. Why did the United States interfere in Iran in the 1950s? What was the result of their interference?

13

2. Why did some Iranians support the Shah?

3. Why did some oppose the Shah?

4. What was the result of the Iranian Revolution of 1979? Who was removed from power? Who gained power?

14

6. In the article, Roger Cohen writes, “Revolutions, Islamic and otherwise, seldom deliver on all of their promises, and a clear external enemy can serve as a useful diversion from internal problems.” Identify at least one other revolution from your study of history that supports Cohen’s claim and explain it is an example.

15

Conflict between Israel and Palestine

16

17

18

19

20

21

THE ISRAELI

-PALESTI

NIAN CONFLI

CT

Anti-Semitism led to Zionism:

1917—Balfour Declaration: “The British government supports the establishment of…”

1948—Creation of Israel:

Reaction—1948-73 Wars:

Why?

Who? Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria

o Israel gets strong military, economic and political support from _______________________

o Israel wins these conflicts and nearly doubles its territory

22

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO):

Why?

o 700,000 Arab refugees displaced into campso Extreme __________________-- ANGER!o They want ____________________________

Who? _______________________________ was the leader of the PLO>

How? Use ______________________ and guerilla warfare against Israelis

o Israeli’s respond with __________________________o Increased discrimination and seizure of land

Intifada: Palestinian Uprising boycotts, demonstrations, attacks on Israeli soldiers

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS:

Camp David Accords—1979

o Ends war between ___________________ and ______________________o Egyptian president _________________________ becomes first Arab leader to

visit and recognize the Jewish state (he was assassinated by Muslim extremists )

Oslo Agreement—1993:

o Israel agreed to _______________________________________________________________.

o This was not achieved and Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Jewish extremist.

Road Map:

o Internationally devised peace plan that seeks

Israel/ Palestine: Who’s Homeland? ~ Two Views

Daud (A Palestinian Arab): Well, looking back on the Arab-Israeli conflict, it all seems inevitable, doesn’t it? Like it had to happen!

David (An Israeli Jew): yes, I guess it does. We were two oppressed peoples with nationalistic feelings coming into conflict over the same land.

Daud: But there are still some things I’m not clear about; For instance, the beginnings of Zionism. Where did this idea come from? Why did the movement spring up after so many years?

David: Well, for many reasons, but mostly because the Jews in Eastern Europe were victims of anti-Semitism, beatings, and murders in their ghettos. It became clear that without our own country we would never be a loud to live our own lives.

Daud: But why my country? Many people, the Palestinians, were living here!

David: The Jews came to Palestine because it is the Promised Land for the Jewish people. It is our ancient homeland, which we were promised in the bible and for which we have been praying for two thousand years!

Daud: Wait a minute. The Jews may have lived in Palestine in the past but they left! We Palestinian Arabs have lived in Palestine since that time. How can people who have been gone for almost two thousand years return and expect that people who live there now to move aside and make room for them?!

23

David: No one is asking you to move aside. You could have stayed. All we wanted was a place to settle. There was room for both of us. We accepted the terms Britain gave us in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. This didn’t declare a Jewish nation but a home for the Jewish people, and we accepted that. After the slaughter of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust during WWII, it became clear that more than a Jewish home was needed, that a Jewish nation was needed. Daud: And that’s just the point! We Palestinian Arabs were living there and wanted our own nation! We were thrown out by European Jews who had never seen Palestine or the Middle East in their lives, people who spoke German, or Russian, or Polish. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all lived in Palestine. In fact, at the time of your Balfour Declaration 90% of Palestinians population was Arab and only 10% was Jewish.

David: Look, there have always been Jews in Palestine. Many Jews never left. They have, in a sense, held the land for us.

Daud: How can land worked by my relatives and ancestors for centuries belong to a people scattered all over the world?

David: You talk as if the land of Palestine were completely occupied when we arrived. Much of it wasn’t. We have taken land that was never cultivated and put it to good use. We bought land that was occupied.

Daud: You bought some of it but much of it was taken in the 1948 war. Arabs were evicted to make room for Jewish labor.

David: We were desperate people with no land of our own. We acquired land legally wherever we settled.

Daud: And you were able to acquire that land because you were bankrolled by the West. You can’t deny that you are here because of the

24

Western countries. The Christians in the west have worked out their guilt feelings about the Holocaust by giving you our land.

David: You may have a point about Christians’ guilt feelings about the Jews – in fact, many of them probably wanted to get rid of us and they didn’t care where we went. But it was the Jews who wanted to go to Palestine, their holy land.

Daud: You as a people wanted to go to Palestine after World War II only because the U.S. wouldn’t admit as many of you as wanted to settle there!

David: That’s only partially true! There are many Jews who are not Zionists who personally don’t want to live in Palestine, although they support the nation of Israel. They might live in the U.S. but they agree with Herzl, the founder of Zionism, that the solution to the mistreatment of Jews in Europe and around the world had to be the establishment of a Jewish nation – a return to the holy land. In fact, the whole world, as represented by the U.N. believed in this goal and voted to establish the country of Israel.

Daud: The Arabs never agreed to have a Jewish nation! We told you we would attack if such a country were formed and we did, as soon as Israel was declared a state by the United Nations in 1947. The war has continued on and off ever since.

David: Yes, you attacked and you lost! You lost more land than you would have lost if you had just accepted the U.N. partition.

Daud: How could we accept what was unjust and wrong? In 1917, the year of the Balfour Declaration, Palestine was clearly an Arab country. What if someone wanted half your house and when you protest said, “Oh, don’t worry, there will be room for both of us!” We fled for our lives when the war broke out.

25

David: But many Palestinians did stay and are not full Israeli citizens who vote and send members to Parliament. The Palestinians who did flee forfeited their right to their land in the new country. All we want is to live in peace. We are abandoning some of our settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. So Palestinians can have their land back. All we ask is secure borders.

Daud: And you get them by bombing whole villages when a few Israelis are killed. You accuse us of terrorism when you have killed many more Palestinians can have their land back. All we ask is secure borders.

David: your terrorists have killed innocent people just trying to go about their daily business. These are the acts of madmen!

Daud: We don’t like their methods but their cause is a just one – a free Palestine unoccupied by foreign powers. You are asking us to give up and accept being displaced forever. That is something you claim you never did for your people in your 2,000 year exile.

David: If you had been more realistic in the past, more compromising, perhaps all this would never have happened. But perhaps we have not been so compromising, either. Perhaps we are both desperate people who just could not see the world from the others’ point of view. In any case, one thing is for sure: we all need peace.

WHOSE HOMELAND SHOULD IT BE?

26

ISRAELI PALESTINIAN

27

28

THE KURDS

Kurdistan was erased from the world's maps after World War I when the Allied Powers carved up the Middle East and denied the Kurds a nation-state. More than twenty million Kurds live in parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Throughout the 20th century their struggles for political and cultural autonomy (independence/freedom) were opposed by the region's countries and the Kurds were often used as pawns in regional politics.

Here are a few quick facts:

1. Ethnic Kurds comprise 22 million people in 6 countries - 10 million in Turkey, 5.5 million in Iran, 3.5 million in Iraq and pockets of population in Syria, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

2. They have lived for 2,000 years in the roughly 74,000 square mile mountainous territory that they inhabit

3. They speak a language related to Farsi.

4. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim.

5. Following WW1 the Kurds were promised their own state, carved out of the former Ottoman Empire (Modern Day Turkey). This was stopped by the British, French and Turks after oil was found in the territory.

6. In 1988 thousands of Kurds were killed in Northern Iraq when Saddam Hussein ordered gas attacks against them.

7. One of the most famous Kurds was the warrior Saladin, who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century.

UN experts confirmed in 1986 that Iraq had contravened the Geneva Convention by using chemical weapons against Iran.

Iraq is known to have used the blister agent mustard gas from 1983 and the nerve gas Tabun from 1985, as it faced attacks from "human waves" of Iranian troops and poorly-trained but loyal volunteers. Tabun can kill within minutes.

In 1988 Iraq turned its chemical weapons on Iraqi Kurds in the north of the country.On 16 March 1988, Iraq dropped bombs containing mustard gas, Sarin and Tabun on the Kurdish city of Halabja. Estimates of the number of civilians killed range from 3,200 to 5,000, with many survivors suffering long-term health problems.

29

Chemical weapons were also used during Iraq's "Anfal" offensive - a seven-month scorched-earth campaign in which an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Kurdish villagers were killed or disappeared, and hundreds of villages were razed.

There have been between 97,461 and 106,348 civilian deaths up to July 2010.

The bloodiest period was the month of invasion. In March 2003, 3,977 Iraqi civilians lost their lives.

The US has lost 4,487 service personnel in Iraq since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19, 2003, according to figures from the US Department of Defense.

Experts estimate the true cost of the Iraqi War to be $3 trillion for the United States.

30

PRACTICE!!!

The Armenian Massacre, the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge, and Saddam Hussein’s attacks against the Kurds are examples of

A. apartheid B. enslavement C. human rights violations D. forced collectivization

31

32

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 began on 25 January 2011 and was part of the Arab Sprin g  and also known as Arab Awakening Movement. It consisted of demonstrations, marches, occupations of plazas, riots, non-violent civil resistance, acts of civil disobedience and strikes. Millions of protesters from a range of socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Violent clashes between security forces and protesters resulted in at least 846 people killed and over 6,000 injured. Protesters burned over 90 police stations. The protests took place in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities.

The Egyptian protesters' grievances focused on legal and political issues, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of free elections and freedom of speech, corruption, and economic issues including high unemployment, food-price inflation and low wages. The protesters' primary demands were the end of the Mubarak regime and emergency law, freedom, justice, a responsive non-military government and a voice in managing Egypt's resources.

During the uprising the capital, Cairo, was described as "a war zone"] and the port city of Suez saw frequent violent clashes. Protesters defied a government-imposed curfew, which was unenforced by the police and military. Egypt's Central Security Forces police, loyal to Mubarak, was gradually replaced by military troops. In the chaos, there was looting by gangs.

International reaction has varied, with most Western nations condoning peaceful protests but concerned about the stability of Egypt and the region. The Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions have influenced demonstrations in other Arab countries, including Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria and Libya.

Mubarak dissolved his government, appointing former head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Omar Suleiman vice-president in an attempt to suppress dissent.  In response to mounting pressure, Mubarak announced he did not intend to seek re-election in September.

On 11 February 2011 Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak would resign as president, turning power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The military regime announced on 13 February that the constitution would be suspended and the military would rule for six, months (until elections could be held).

 On 24 May 2011, Mubarak was ordered to stand trial on charges of premeditated murder of peaceful protesters and, if convicted, could face the death penalty. On 2 June 2012 Mubarak was found guilty of complicity in the murder of protesters and sentenced to life imprisonment, but the sentence was overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered. A number of protesters, upset

33

that others tried with Mubarak (including his two sons) were acquitted, took to the streets. Mubarak was eventually cleared of all charges on 29 November 2014 l.

After the revolution against Mubarak and a period of rule by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt through a series of popular elections, with Egyptians electing Islamist Mohamed Morsi to the presidency in June 2012. However, Morsi's government encountered fierce opposition from secularists and members of the military. Mass protests broke out against his rule in June 2013. On 3 July 2013, Morsi was overthrown by a coup d'état led by the minister of defense, General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ,  who became Egypt's de facto strongman and was eventually elected president himself in a2014 election.

Syria: The story of the conflictMore than 200,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. This is the story of the civil war so far, in eight short chapters.

1. Uprising turns violent

Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.The unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad's resignation. The government's use of force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country.

Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas.

2. Descent into civil war

Violence escalated and the country descended into civil war as rebel brigades were formed to battle government forces for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012.

34

By June 2013, the UN said 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. However, by August 2014 that figure had more than doubled to 191,000 - and continued to climb to 220,000 by March 2015, according to activists and the UN.The conflict is now more than just a battle between those for or against President Assad. It has acquired sectarian overtones, pitching the country's Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alawite sect, and drawn in neighbouring countries and world powers. The rise of the jihadist groups, including Islamic State, has added a further dimension.

3. War crimes

A UN commission of inquiry, investigating alleged human rights violations since March 2011, has evidence that those on both sides of the conflict have committed war crimes - including murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearances. Government and rebel forces have also been accused by investigators of using civilian suffering, such as blocking access to food, water and health services, as a method war.

In February 2014, a UN Security Council resolution demanded all parties end the "indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas". Since then, activists say more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by barrel bombs dropped by government aircraft on rebel-held areas. The UN says in some instances, civilian gatherings have been deliberately targeted, constituting massacres.

Islamic State has also been accused by the UN of waging a campaign of terror in northern and eastern Syria. It has inflicted severe punishments on those who transgress or refuse to accept its rule, including hundreds of public executions and amputations. Its fighters have also carried out mass killings of rival armed groups, members of the security forces and religious minorities, and beheaded hostages, including several Westerners.

4. Chemical weapons

Hundreds of people were killed in August 2013 after rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired at several agricultural districts around Damascus. Western powers, outraged by the attack, said it could only have been carried out by Syria's government. The regime and its ally Russia blamed rebels.

Facing the prospect of US military intervention, President Assad agreed to the complete removal or destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal as part of a joint mission led by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The destruction of chemical agents and munitions was completed a year later.Despite the operation, the OPCW has since documented the use of toxic chemicals, such as chlorine and ammonia, by the government in attacks on rebel-held northern villages between April and July 2014 that resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people.

5. Humanitarian crisis

35

Almost 4 million people have fled Syria since the start of the conflict, most of them women and children. It is one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. Neighboring countries have borne the brunt of the refugee crisis, with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey struggling to accommodate the flood of new arrivals. The exodus accelerated dramatically in 2013, as conditions in Syria deteriorated.

A further 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced within the country, bringing the total number forced to flee their homes to more than 11 million - half the country's pre-crisis population. Overall, an estimated 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, including 5.6 million children, the UN says.

In December 2014, the UN launched an appeal for $8.4bn (£5.6bn) to provide help to 18 million Syrians, after only securing about half the funding it asked for in 2014.A report published by the UN in March 2015 estimated the total economic loss since the start of the conflict was $202bn and that four in every five Syrians were now living in poverty - 30% of them in abject poverty. Syria's education, health and social welfare systems are also in a state of collapse.

36