10 Unrecognised or De-facto States You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
By Morris M, Urban Ghosts Media, 12 January 2015.
By Morris M, Urban Ghosts Media, 12 January 2015.
The world is a complicated place. While we might believe the right to self-determination trumps all others, the reality is far murkier. In Europe alone, there are dozens of peoples, regions and cultures desperate to break away from their home countries. Globally, there are hundreds.
But while most of these secessionist movements are mere pipe dreams, others are the real deal. Across the world, there are an astonishing number of de facto states - operational, yet widely unacknowledged. This article explores 10 of the world’s unrecognised states.
1. Karakalpakstan (Central Asia)
Only a handful of people outside Tashkent have ever heard of Karakalpakstan. An autonomous republic within Uzbekistan, this cotton-producing region has been a distinct entity ever since Soviet times. It has its own government, own constitution, and a veto over anything Tashkent decrees. The only thing it doesn’t have is the right to declare itself an independent state.
This may be just as well, because Karakalpakstan is desperately, mind-bogglingly poor. A vast, desolate expanse of nothingness ever since the Aral Sea dried up, this not-quite nation is one of the sickest - and saddest - on Earth. Its people are riddled with tuberculosis and enjoy the highest infant mortality rate in the former USSR. But even this has nothing on the storms. Violent clouds of carcinogenic dust that poison everything they touch, Karakalpakstan’s killer storms are like something out of a dystopian Sci-Fi film. Today, those who possibly can avoid the region; typically only entering during Uzbekistan’s annual cotton harvest.
Yet, despite its problems, Karakalpakstan is a place with its own unique culture, heritage and art. The only thing it doesn’t have, sadly, is hope.
2. Abkhazia (Caucasus Region)
On the remote Western flank of Georgia, bordering the Black Sea, sits the tiny republic of Abkhazia. Less than half the size of Wales, it’s officially recognised by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru. It’s also a country built upon strictly ethnic lines; the result of a particularly dark period in Caucasus history.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Abkhazia was mostly populated by Georgians. Ethnic Abkhaz culture had long been quashed by Russia and many expected the status quo to continue. But in 1993, a wave of violence tore the province apart. Abkhaz separatists rose up and unleashed a campaign of ethnic cleansing against their neighbours stunning in its ferocity. Georgia was forced to abandon the region; although it still considers it part of its official territory.
Today, Abkhazia is under Russian protection and utterly autonomous from Tbilisi. Peacekeeping soldiers are stationed along the Georgian border, and tensions are never far from boiling point.
3. South Ossetia (Caucasus Region)
In the ancient world, criminals were sometimes sentenced to death by a thousand cuts. Instead of dying from a single major wound, they would instead bleed out through many, many smaller ones. To the people of Georgia, this feels exactly like what is happening to their country. Over a decade after Abkhazia declared itself a separate state, the region of South Ossetia followed suit; triggering a devastating 8-day war.
Since 2008, South Ossetia has been effectively a separate state. Only slightly bigger than Rhode Island - and with a population of about 50,000 - it’s a tiny, rural region with a capital you could probably walk around in under half an hour. Its international recognition is almost non-existent; comprising Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and a handful of island nations. Yet the War of Secession, which saw Russian troops unleash hell on Georgia, was so brutally wounding that a reintegration into its parent state now seems impossible. Yet Georgians live on in hope; each successive leader offering the restive region new deals in the hope that it may one day return home.
4. Trans-Dniester (Eastern Europe)
A tiny slither of land hugging Moldova’s Ukrainian border, Trans-Dniester is one the most-unlikely nations you’ve never heard of. Barely 20 miles across at its widest point, the Russian-speaking enclave consists of the Dniester River’s left bank and little else. Its capital Tiraspol is only slightly-bigger than Norwich and the entire country contains fewer people than a good, mid-sized city. Its economy is an absolute shambles. Aside from steel and furniture production, this micro-not-state mostly runs off gun smuggling.
Yet, a functional state it clearly is. Instead of falling back on another, it prints its own usable currency. Its citizens are issued with passports, and the central government is fiercely independent from Chișinău. Its people are proud of their independence, even if that independence hasn’t been recognised by a single UN member state. However, the region is also a potential flashpoint for international relations. When Russia annexed the Crimea back in 2014, many feared that Trans-Dniester would be next to fall.
5. The Aland Islands (Finland)
A tiny collection of 20,000 windswept rocks scattered across the blistering cold of the Baltic Sea, the Aland Islands are home to a mere 28,000 Swedish-speaking people. Of that handful, nearly 40 percent are squeezed into the tiny capital of Mariehamn. Aside from shipping and tourism, there’s almost no way of making money. Yet the region is one of the most-autonomous non-countries within the whole of Europe. And, best of all, its relationship with its parent state Finland is a model of cooperation.
Under Finnish law, the Aland Islands are essentially free to do whatever they want to. Its citizens are exempt from conscription, operate their own postal service and parliament, run their own police force and even have their own airline. Rules exist to govern who can buy property in the area, and voting in local elections is so controlled that even immigrants from other parts of Finland are excluded. Despite all this, the locals - perhaps uniquely for this list - harbour no desires to completely secede and establish a new nation. Comfortable simply doing their own thing, the Aland Islands are the most-intriguing de facto state in Europe.
6. Bougainville (Melanesia)
Bougainville’s recent history hasn’t been a happy one. Geographically part of the Solomon Islands, but politically a province of Papa New Guinea, this wannabe nation spent most of the latter half of the 20th century blighted by unrest and civil war. In 2000 the fighting parties finally disarmed, and since then the island has existed in a tentative state of autonomy; neither fully integrated nor fully independent.
Unlike many on this list, the future of Bougainville is uncertain. The copper mining that holds the shaky economy in place has also led to natural disasters and raw, blighted scars crisscrossing the landscape. The government has been described as repressive and corrupt and sporadic referendums on independence could yield a surprise result at any time. According to the Guardian, many of the island’s cities still bear the signs of war and decay and hopelessness are rampant. Whether Bougainville holds it together in the future or slides back into disaster is yet to be seen.
7. Kachin State (Southeast Asia)
A Christian region in a Buddhist country, opposed to Myanmar’s military junta and with deeper ties to China than its parent country is comfortable with, the Kachin state is an anomaly in the heart of Southeast Asia. Although officially citizens of Myanmar (AKA Burma), the Kachin people have their own distinct language, customs and even army - a state of affairs that has led to frequent fighting and an on-going humanitarian crisis.
Thanks to the constant clashes between Myanmar’s military and Kachin’s soldiers, the region is something of a basket case. Economically, the area relies on illegal mining and logging operations and drug trafficking. When it needs some legitimate cash, the government is forced to court the Chinese, who invest in the area in return for a political advantage over nearby India. Although Kachin enjoys autonomy from Naypyidaw in most matters, this is purely because Myanmar’s government considers the province too dangerous to enforce laws in.
In short, this undeclared nation exists only as a political football; one the Chinese are eager to score a goal with - much to the detriment of the Kachin people and their culture.
8. Somaliland (Gulf of Aden)
Of all the states on our list, the blistering desert territory of Somaliland is the closest to being accepted internationally. After Somalia collapsed in 1991, both Somaliland and Puntland broke away from the failing state and declared themselves autonomous republics. But while Puntland suffers Somalia-levels of violence and dreams of returning to its parent state one day, Somaliland has managed to create a fully-functioning country with its own government, army, judicial system, central bank, transport system and embryonic tourism industry.
Unfortunately for its citizens, Somaliland is almost completely unrecognised on the world stage. Although the African Union (AU) and EU have previously considered extending the area recognition, things have never got past preliminary talks. As an additional headache, Somalia’s slow march toward stability is causing a potential rift between Somaliland and any future representative government in Mogadishu.
9. Nagorno-Karabakh (Caucasus Region)
Rugged, mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh represents an anomaly: a de facto independent democratic state surrounded by a sea of authoritarianism. Comprising a large chunk of Western Azerbaijan and populated by ethnic Armenians, Nagorno-Karabakh has a far more open society than either state, yet remains completely unrecognised on the world stage.
The cause for Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition isn’t helped by simmering tensions in the region that sporadically threaten to boil over. In 1991, the wannabe state voted to join Armenia; a move that triggered a war with Azerbaijan and left neither country in control of the province. Today, the country is ringed by a heavily militarised zone that frequently explodes into deadly skirmishes - the worst of which in 2014 killed 15 people.
10. Balochistan (Middle East)
Straddling the border of Pakistan and Iran, the historic region of Balochistan has been fighting for recognition for a very long time. We mean that literally. Ever since Pakistan was created in 1947, the Balochs have been trying to form their own breakaway republic; a move opposed by both Pakistan’s military and Iran.
Although contested, the region is effectively self-governing. Balochistan has its own Supreme Court, bloated civil service and parliament - nearly all of which is unrecognised by Pakistan. Unfortunately, this state of affairs has led to an on-going, covert war between the two nations; including a spate of deadly suicide bombings and abductions of native Balochs.
Despite this, Balochistan remains a culturally unique area in the region; a fact that has encouraged many within the independence movement to keep applying pressure to Pakistan. Yet Islamabad has no interest in negotiating a settlement. Like the Kurds in nearby Iraq and Iran, the Balochs are a people without a country; marooned by fate and geopolitics in the heart of enemy territory.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.