Territorial conditions and security of border areas
kamyar Emami; Hamid Ganjaeian
Abstract
Extended AbstractIntroductionThe importance of the issue of security has caused the protection of borders and the defense of border areas to be considered by the rulers in all historical periods, and in a way, the protection of borders means the continuation of the governance system of each country. ...
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Extended AbstractIntroductionThe importance of the issue of security has caused the protection of borders and the defense of border areas to be considered by the rulers in all historical periods, and in a way, the protection of borders means the continuation of the governance system of each country. Throughout history, all countries have faced some degree of insecurity, chaos, crisis and border wars to stabilize their country. Many ethnic, racial, and religious groups have coexisted in turbulent political and social contexts in recent years and have lived on borders. Iran has been one of the countries whose borders have been in turmoil in recent years. In fact, Iran's borders have historically seen the most tangible state-nation conflicts; therefore, the issue of borders has always been one of the basic and important issues of governments. Iran's geographical location and the political situation of neighboring countries, along with the intervention of foreigners, have caused us to witness various tensions in the country's border strip in recent years, including Iran's eastern borders. One of the eastern border areas of the country that has faced tension in recent years is the borders of Khorasan Razavi province. In view of the above, the development of military infrastructure in the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province is very important. Due to the fact that the border strip of this province is not uniform in terms of environmental conditions, so the identification of areas prone to the development of military infrastructure, including military bases and observation posts, is very important in this study. Been paid.Materials and methodsIn this research, in order to achieve the desired goals, descriptive-analytical methods as well as an integrated model of fuzzy logic and network analysis (ANP) have been used. The research data include a 30 m high SRTM digital model, 1: 50000 topographic maps and information layer related to the population points located in the study area. The most important tool used in this research is ArcGIS software. In this research, fuzzy logic and ANP models have been used to identify areas prone to military infrastructure development. According to the objectives, this research has been done in two stages. In this first stage, in order to analyze the role of geomorphological factors in the security of the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province, a map of elevation status and geomorphological units of this region has been prepared. In the second stage, using 8 parameters including slope, slope direction, field of view, altitude, distance from the river, distance from the communication road, distance from the border and distance from population points, as well as a combined model of fuzzy logic and ANP to identify areas prone to development. Military infrastructure (including military bases and reconnaissance) is discussed.Discussion and resultsThe study of the geomorphological status of the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province indicates that the border strip of this province has a high geomorphological diversity. The border strip of Khorasan Razavi province consists of 4 units of mountains, slopes, plains and alluvial fans, as well as hills. The mountain unit mostly includes the northern border strip of this province, which leads to the border of Turkmenistan. Due to its high altitude as well as being difficult to cross, this unit can play an important role in controlling the border strip as well as monitoring other areas. Therefore, one of the strengths of the northern borders of Khorasan Razavi province is the existence of a high mountain range and difficult to cross. Mahour hill unit is scattered in the border strip of this province, which has a lower height and slope than the mountain unit. Due to fewer obstacles and more visibility, this unit has a high potential for the establishment of military facilities, including military bases. The slope unit is located between the mountains and the plain, which has a high potential for military purposes, including various defense sites, because a large part of these slopes have eastern slope directions. However, the plain and alluvial fan unit, which is mostly located on the border with Afghanistan, can be vulnerable due to fewer geomorphological obstacles. Although this unit has a high potential for military transport and other military purposes, it is more vulnerable than other units. According to the mentioned cases, the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province has a great variety of geomorphology and each of its parts has different potential for different purposes.ConclusionThe results of the study of the geomorphology of the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province have shown that this province has a high geomorphological diversity and this issue has caused the defense capability in different areas of the border strip of this province is not the same. Also, based on the results, the border strip of this province has a big difference in terms of environmental parameters, so the potential of each region for different military and civilian activities is different. Considering that in this research, the identification of areas prone to the development of military infrastructure has been considered with emphasis on military bases and observation posts, so the desired parameters have been defined in accordance with the objectives of the research and based on these parameters have been identified as areas prone to the development of military infrastructure. Based on the results, parts of the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province have a high potential for the development of military infrastructure and parts of it have a high vulnerability. According to the results, the northern regions of the border strip of this province, due to having a wide field of view, high altitude, the presence of slopes and directions of the eastern slope, have the highest potential to establish military bases and observation posts, as well as middle areas. Due to the lack of a wide field of view, low altitude and being located in the plain unit, this province has little potential for the development of military infrastructure (military bases and observation posts). Due to the above, the middle areas of the border strip of Khorasan Razavi province have a high potential for vulnerability, so it is necessary to make the necessary plans to control and monitor these areas.
