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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Are states being wiped off the map? |
| 2015-09-27 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] ISIL has de facto eroded the borders between Iraq and Syria. The Kurdistan region in northern Iraq is getting more and more independent from Baghdad. And Syria has been de facto split into three parts. On top of these, refugees have blurred the borders in this region further. Therefore, frontiers are getting more and more meaningless. The borders in the Middle East, which were drawn by the Sykes-Picot Treaty signed by La Belle France and Britannia in 1916, are slowly eroding. Yet while Syria is melting down, it seems to be giving birth to three new states; one Sunni, one Alevi and one Kurdish. Northern Iraq is on the same track too. In short, states don't disappear. On the contrary, they multiply. The more blurred borders get, the stricter people embrace them. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... there is a huge challenge which states today are exposed to: Even if they maintain their existence and relevance, they are losing control over their territory. This is because they are not able to practice their main function anymore, which is protecting their people from external threats such a terror, war and radicalism. Then how will they cope with this new reality? Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) between 2004 and 2014, suggested a "panacea" in his recent article for Turkish Policy Quarterly. Accordingly, states in the Middle East should give up on trying to copy-paste the state system in Europe, which was formed in the 17th century after the Westphalia Agreement. "It is rather the agreements concluded after the Second World War among European countries that should be considered," he said, referring to the EU. In other words, Ihsanoglu argued borders should be made more flexible rather than stronger. They should become lines of connection and cooperation rather than lines of separation and conflict. He underlined that integration not only brings economic development, but also prevents rivalry and conflicts. The countries of the former Yugoslavia seem to have taken this lesson. In the 1990s, the disintegration of Yugoslavia, which caused about 140,000 deaths, gave birth to seven new states. Now they are all trying to integrate under the EU's umbrella. So it's crystal clear: Keep the border and carry on. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Agree on the Kurds. Unfortunately Turkey fears their own Kurdish minority (soon to be a majority) and won't play ball. Still, unless the Turks go genocidal Anatolia might be the new Kurdistan in a few decades. That would be interesting. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2015-09-27 16:24 |
| #2 it would be good if the Kurds could get their own state in the washup. they need and deserve one. |
| Posted by: anon1 2015-09-27 10:40 |
| #1 The only thing surprising about Sykes–Picot ME was how long it actually lasted. Probably, because their hatred of Israel suppressed their hatred of each other for a time. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-09-27 03:43 |