Imperial frontiers ignore inhabitants’ rights, leaving rival claims nearly parallel

Evidence

There are also territorial disputes, some quiescent, some active, between Arab states and non-Arab states. One such is the Iranian claim to Bahrain; another is the Turkish claim, now in abeyance, to Mosul. In both cases, the claimants can justly point out that the existing frontiers were imperial arrangements made without reference to the needs or desires or rights of the inhabitants. The Turkish claim to Mosul is certainly no weaker, to say the least, than the Iraqi claim to Kuwait, and one may think that in legal terms it was unwise for Iraq to raise that particular issue. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1613

Categorization

• XREF: Direct evidence for the Saidian claim that imperial boundary-drawing was done without reference to inhabitants; useful to quote.