Borderlands

British entering Baghdad on March 11, 1917

These are called the borderlands since the Middle East is in fact on the border between continents and cultures. Across these lands have passed many an army since ancient times. To the east is the heart of Asia. To the northwest are the nations of Europe. To the southwest is Africa. Whether 2,000 years ago or today, these lands seem to be the focus of much of the world's conflicts.

The nations and boundaries of today's Middle East are in major part (1) creations by the victorious European nations following the end of World War I and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and (2) actions by the British relating to their former colonial possessions in India and North Africa. The resultant mess has created one great headache for the area's inhabitants and the rest of the world.

Nation Federations

The Middle East imagined here is primarily organized into four great federations of nations: Egyptian, Iranian, Semitic, and Turkic. The common thread uniting these federations is a language family. Two of the federations, Semitic and Egypt, have a common language, Arab, but are split for cultural, ethnic and geographic reasons. Ethnic groups within the federations having at least 10 million members (with some exceptions) are designated as distinct republics on the map.

Republics which may not fit easily into the four federations for historical reasons are imagined as Autonomous Nation States. The Kurd Autonomous Republic is one such instance. Israel and a smaller Lebanon are two others. Although it is possible in 200 years that these last two might be peaceably integrated into a Semitic Federation.

The rationale for the imagined nations and boundaries is covered in more detail below. 

Borderlands Map

I considered a map of a re-imagined Middle East in 2006 and dropped the project. I thought it might be too controversial. I also was unhappy with the topographic maps then available in the public domain for use as a base map.

The first issue of the Atlantic magazine of 2008 caused me to reconsider this post. It included an article entitled, "After Iraq", with a somewhat flippant map vision of a future Middle East. I thought, I could do better. I also discovered excellent topographic maps of the earth based on the data generated by NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission satellite.

The map imagined below can be enlarged by clicking on it with the mouse. Any location on the map can then be brought further into view by clicking again on the desired location.

The boundaries of nations set forth on the map are based on a number of factors: current principal location of ethnic groups, consolidation of the sometime scattered locations of these groups, logical and/or defensible geographic formations (mountains, deserts, etc.) coterminous with the boundary, and political reality. For this to work, at least two mass movements of people would regrettably be required.

Three basins on the map (Caspian, Qattara, and Dead Sea) are shown filled with water to sea level.

Map base layer courtesy NASA, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

Egypt

This federation is imagined as including peoples within the boundaries of present day Egypt and Sudan. The Darfur area and southern Sudan, home to primarily black African people, are seen as outside this federation, joining instead with more closely related groups in sub-Saharian Africa.

The below sea level Qattara Basin in northwestern Egypt is envisioned as being filled with ocean water with a channel connecting to the Mediterranean Sea. This new water basin would open an opportunity for a fishery and new cities along its shoreline. Most importantly, it would provide an alternative residence for the population outside the narrow corridor along the Nile River. Currently more than 90% of the inhabitants of Egypt and northern Sudan live along the Nile.

Iranian Federation

Present day Iran has a population of about 70 million. The imagined Iranian Federation is seen as including most of present day Iran, plus Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the western part of Pakistan. All of these regions are primarily inhabited by people speaking languages of the Iranian family, with about half of Afghanistan speaking Persian. Language speakers numbering 10 million or more are shown as separate republics on the map.

Three major groups inhabiting present day Iran are shown outside the Iranian Federation. These are the Azeri who speak a Turkish language and are also the principal inhabitants of Azerbaijan. They are shown in the Azeri Republic within the Turkic Federation. Another group is the Kurds, who are envisioned joining with their fellow Kurds from Iraq and Turkey in a Kurd Autonomous Republic. Last are the Arabs. Arab speaking western Khuzestan is seen as joining with Shiite inhabitants of southern Iraq in a new Mesopotamia Republic.

Kurd Autonomous Republic

The Kurds are seen as a special case in the Middle East. Numbering about 30 million, they are probably one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without their own country. As with many ethnic groups lacking recognized borders, they are scattered in many places in the area, with a large diaspora in western Europe. However, the main concentration of Kurds is in the region centered where Turkey, Iran and Iraq adjoin.

The imagined Kurd Autonomous Republic includes some but not all of these lands where the Kurds are most concentrated. Its northern boundary being Lake Van and the Hacres Mountains extending west, south of the Murat river. Kurdish regions of Turkey north of this line are excluded, as their inclusion would separate Turkey proper from its Turkic speaking cousins to the east in the Azeri Republic. A Turkic Federation split by a Kurd Republic would be impractical. Kurds ouside these boundaries that wanted to be part of the new republic would need to move within these boundaries.

The Kurd Republic would not be part of any federation, but is imagined as an autonomous entity under the direct oversight of the Solar Union.

Semitic Federation

The name recognizes that the language family historically dominate in this region was Semitic. Although the predominate semitic language currently is Arab, the Semitic name gives explicit recognition to other Semitic languages such as Hebrew. The boundaries within this federation are generally not based on ethnic differencies. The rationale for its organization is both the most complex and tentative of all the federations set forth here. Most of the designated republics within this federation do not exceed 10 million residents in population.

The nation of Iraq was created by the British at the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The reimagined Middle East has the northern highlands becoming part of the Kurd Republic, with the rest divided among a new nation of Mesopotamia, a redesigned Iraq, and a new Baghdad city state.

Mesopotamia would include the primarily Shiite areas of Iraq south of Baghdad, Arab speaking western Khuzestan in Iran, and the primarily Shiite coastal area of Saudi Arabia north of Qatar, plus the island of Bahrain. The reconstituted Iraq would include the primarily Sunni Iraq north of Baghdad, western and southern Iraq beyond the Shiite areas and Kuwait, plus small eastern areas of Syria and Jordan. Kuwait, created by the British, is included since it is primarily Sunni Moslem in religion and would provide the new Iraq with its own outlet to the sea.

The Baghdad City State recognizes the Shia/Sunni divide of present day Iraq, with the country split between the two Moslem sects. Making the city a separate administrative entity would facilitate the creation of a more secular government open to equal opportunity for members of both sects. It also recognizes that division of the city between the two main Moslem sects would be an untenable solution. Baghdad, as the former capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, would be a prime candidate for the capital of the Semitic Federation.

The reimagined Syria would include most of current Syria plus southern Shiite Lebanon and the Golan Heights currently administered by Israel.

The new Palestine would include some of the West Bank portion of Palestinian lands, Jordan (with about 40% of its people being of Palestinian extraction) and the area of Saudi Arabia bordering the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan, created by the British out of most of the post World War I Palestinian mandate to provide a kingdom for Abdullah of the Hashemite family, would be folded into a new Palestine. The area of present day Saudi Arabia along the Gulf of Aqaba would provide a new seaside home for relocated Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, a failed entity in its current isolated location and cramped size. The flat desert lands along the entrance of the Gulf would be watered by desalinated sea water to create farmland. The farmers, fishermen and rest of Gazan Palestine could live in peace in a greatly expanded homeland.

Hijaz would include some of the holiest sites of Islam; Mecca and Medina. This land would no longer be under the thrall of the intolerant and fundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam. Arabia would include much of the rest of today's Saudi Arabia plus the Arab Gulf states. The term "Saudi Arabia" would no longer apply. The boundaries of Yemen and Oman would be similar to today, with some minor expansion.

Last we come to Israel and Lebanon. The ideal situation would be their inclusion in a tolerant Semitic Federation. The alternative would be their existence as autonomous republics similar to the Kurds. The second situation would make the Arabian Federation a more likely name for this federation.

Turkic Federation

The Turkic Federation encompasses present day Turkey on the Anatolian Peninsula and a good part of the lands populated by Turkic language ethnic groups and formerly part of the defunct Soviet Union. The boundaries of the different Turkic language speaking members of this federation would generally be the same as today, with some minor adjustments to reflect ethnic realities and physical geography.

The Uzbek Republic is extended west into the much larger, but less populace, Kazahk Republic to give it an outlet on the Caspian Sea. The Azeri Republic has been expanded south to include Azeri areas of present day Iran. Slight adjustments of the borders of the Kazahk, Turkmen and Kyrgyz Republics reflect a desire to make them more logical and incorporate adjoining fellow members of their ethnic group. Some scattered members of these ethnic groups would need to move if they want to live in the same nation as the majority of their ethnicity.