An economy of survival and reinventing the way of life: The case of oil commerce in Southeast Turkey

Abstract

With rare exceptions, borders have always been fairly porous, says Andreas (2000: 22). Appadurai explains this phenomenon very clearly: The mobility of people has always been an essential characteristic of the world (1991, cited in Monsutti 2004: 43). Therefore, since the early 19th century with the foundation of nation-states, governments have wanted to control their political and economic spaces. So with the creation, construction, or reconstruction of borders, they have tried to persuade the population of the frontier regions that the borders are impassable using modern practices (for instance, passport controls, immigration laws, walls). However most of the people who live in the border regions know that they are 'virtual'. Furthermore in spite of the well-controlled borders, the social and economic relationships between the inhabitants of border regions have quite often continued in a legal or illegal way. Consequently, smuggling (or petit trade) is a product of the border construction and it will exist as long as the borders do.