Alwaght- For centuries, the Ottoman Empire had ruled over a wide region from the European borders to Balkans and the Levant region. The Ottoman Empire included a variety of tribes, races, languages and cultures living under the shadow of Islam and the Ottoman Caliphate. Despite the considerable diversity in the demographic structure of the inhabitants of the Ottoman Caliphate, the areas under Ottoman control enjoyed a relative stability until the collapse of Ottoman Caliphate (after World War I).
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to creation of a new structure in the West Asia which was based on racial differences and ethnic identity. In fact, the new Muslim states in the former Ottoman borders, were established in line with the interests of the Western powers which emerged victorious in the First World War especially Britain and France. At that time, the demands of the factions involved in the new map of the West Asia, were not based on consensus, but on the West's plan to crush those who opposed to the plan. This has created hidden layers of divisions within the borders of the West Asia which have resulted in periods of chaos and conflicts in the region in late twentieth century (Persian Gulf War I in1990) and the second decade of the twenty-first century (the years after 2010). In the meantime, the rise of the nation-state of Iraq and Syria as a result of agreements between the UK and France is very important.. Meanwhile, in 1917 a group of Turks were laying the foundations of a new state called ‘Turkey’ as the heir to the Ottoman Empire. Besides, the British government promised the creation of a state called Israel on the territory of Palestine for the Jews of the world; Britain fulfilled its promise in 1948 and made way for many crises in the future of the West Asia.
In the middle of these issues, the most important problem related to the division of the Ottoman Empire territories had to do with the determination of Mosul Governorate in Iraq. Mosul Governorate included the provinces of Mosul, Kirkuk, Erbil and current Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, which attracted the rapt attention of Britain and Turkey because of its huge oil resources. Eventually, with the support of the international community and after negotiations and fruitless efforts of the Turkish authorities, Iraq which was under British mandate gained possession of the former Mosul Governorate. Since then until now, there were periods of unity and conflict between countries of the region, but none of them have disrupted the order established in the West Asia after World War I and none of them have succeeded to restore the Ottoman Empire. In fact, the artificial and imposed borders of the West Asia after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire represent the fact that any attempts to change them would be possible only with the sword and bloodshed.
Accordingly, we can review today’s political realities and the political future of Iraq and Syria. Since mid-2014, ISIS as a newly emerged terrorist group implemented plans to disrupt the West Asia’s territorial order after World War I; however, it has encountered widespread opposition from domestic forces, and regional and international powers. In the current situation, the central governments’ struggle in Damascus and Baghdad could be assessed as an effort to keep the West Asia’s order after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. For example, if the political future of Iraq was based on the division of the country into Sunni and Shia nation-states, or even three nation-state of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds; undoubtedly one should expect fierce and bloody conflicts among the new territorial units. The same principle applies to the future of Syria. Division of Syria into smaller territorial units in the future, would undoubtedly result in a longer periods of conflicts and bloodshed. However, it seems that maintaining the structure of the West Asia after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire has become an institutionalized fact in the West Asia that any attempt to change it would prove fruitless unless through bloodshed and widespread conflicts. Nevertheless, it might be too optimistic to believe that it is possible to maintain the current territories of the West Asia. In fact, there is a post-Sykes-Picot order under way in the West Asia, though with a full-fledged war and bloodshed.
