On the concept of borders

            Recently a photo was cross-posted in the Armenia subreddit from some other subreddit. A picture of Khor Virap with Mt. Ararat in the foreground, captioned something like “Armenia in the foreground, Turkey in the background”. This area is at the modern-day Armenia-Turkey border. Now I, in a moment of nationalism, commented “All I see in the picture is Armenia.” Because until the early 1920’s, Mt. Ararat was in Armenia. It’s still the central symbol of Armenia. And someone, likely Turkish, replied “All I see in the picture is Turkey”.  Implying of course that what little land Armenia does still have is rightfully “Turkey”. Now, I have better things to do than argue with trolls on the internet, especially nationalist Turks. I hate arguing in general. So I ignored it. But, upon turning this unpleasant interaction over in my head, I had another thought. All I really see in the picture is some land, and a mountain. That’s all it is. Human beings created borders and nations. It’s not real. We’re like territorial monkeys. When are we as a species going to overcome this animalistic behavior? Just like the concept of money, humans decided to give something meaning where there objectively is none. What is Turkey? What is Armenia? Neither are objectively real. In admitting that, I have to let go of something I don’t like letting go of. It makes me feel somehow insecure. What is it, that feeling? Pride? Ego? Identity? Is there a word for it? So many people never ask themselves these questions. They never question nationalism. And they never question themselves.

             

That borders are just subjective lines drawn on the ground that have no actual meaning beyond what humans decide is significant is hardly a mind-blowing realization, nor the first time I thought this. I’ve been going back and forth on this for a long time. The first time the idea was really put in my head was when I heard Serj Tankian’s song “Borders Are”, which essentially postulates that borders are nothing but lines drawn in the sand, “the gallows of our national egos”. The music video features a world map where one by one the borders disappear. It’s a beautiful song. I want to agree with it. Humanity would be better off without the entire concept of nations and nationalism. In Armenia’s case though, they can’t afford to part with the concept, because their neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan believe in it so deeply, they’d take the soonest opportunity to wipe Armenia off the map and commit genocide. They dream of “Pan-Turkism”, a mono-ethnic Turkish state stretching from Greece to Central Asia, and in this unrealistic pipe dream there is no room for the existence of Armenians, Kurds, Georgians, or any other ethnicity other than Turkish. Nationalism is a game we’re all forced to play. Nationalism is a necessary evil for Armenians. It’s self-defense. History has shown what happens when Armenians give up this nationalism. However, nationalism is a completely useless and unnecessary concept in countries that are under no existential threat whatsoever, like the United States. There it often leads to bigotry and racism.

            I can get behind the idea of cultures and ethnicity, as long as you’re not saying your culture and ethnicity are superior to others and trying to impose your values on other cultures. I suppose collective identities can be comforting, even fun.  But I don’t like the concept of nationalism. After losing so much territory thanks to imperialist bureaucrats in the early 20^th century, and having an internationally unrecognized country (the Republic of Artsakh) in modern times, I think any Armenian who is honest with themselves can agree that the concept of borders and territory is inherently meaningless and something humanity would be better off without. The war of independence Artsakh fought was really a rebellion against these concepts. Azerbaijan had already demonstrated that they intended to commit genocide against the Armenians on their internationally recognized territory with the pogroms in Sumgait and Baku, as well as the complete erasure of Armenian culture in the exclave of Nakhichevan. This made the rebellion against the modern concept of nations and borders a necessity for the Armenians of Artsakh. The “territorial integrity” that Azerbaijan whines about when it comes to Artsakh is hollow, and ultimately meaningless. Borders have changed in the past, they will change in the future, they are not static. The idea of rigid, strict borders covered in barbed wire fences and patrolled by guards is relatively new in history. Would someone have been arrested for crossing the border of the Persian Empire into the Roman Empire without a visa or passport? Was there ever a such thing as an illegal immigrant before the 1800’s? Why is modern humanity so invested in this concept? “Why can’t we all just get along?” as the old quote goes. Egos and pride. Humanity’s biggest enemy. Everyone acts like this is just “the way it is”, as if it’s the only possible way for the world to be, as if it’s always been this way and is going to be forever. I’m sure people thought this way when feudalism was a thing too. And it’s this defeatist attitude that keeps things the way they are. It's just like with the two party system in the US. If enough minds became critical of the status quo things could change overnight.

            I share these thoughts not because I want to argue with anyone, but because I don’t think enough people take them into consideration. Not enough people think outside the box or look at the big picture. Another social norm I dislike is the idea that if you state any kind of opinion you should be prepared to have some long, drawn out, mentally exhausting argument with someone in order to defend it. I hate arguments. I’d rather put my energy towards creating, not arguing. And who knows, maybe a year from now I'll have changed my mind about all this or had some other realization. I'm still figuring out how the world works.