International diplomacy is extremely complex and one of the most controversial issues is the question of statehood. There are a number of declared countries that have failed to gain recognition from other nations. They could be countries run by terrorists or simply countries dwarfed by their neighbours. Here are 10 interesting unrecognized countries. Until 1974 Cyprus was just one united country, but in 1974 Greece attempted to enact the island. Fearing Greek expansion Turkey invaded Cyprus and took control of its north. Ever since then Cyprus has been split in half. Northern Cyprus is the unrecognized nation set up by Turkey. It is internationally considered to just be part of Cyprus, but physically it's a different country, protected by the Turkish military. It operates as a republic with an elected president and prime minister and is split into five districts. Today, northern Cyprus and Cyprus are separated by a united nation's buffer zone to keep the peace. As a word is now part of Mali, but for a short period in 2012 it was an unrecognized state. On April the 6th its independence was declared by the terrorist group who were in control there. Being a terrorist state, no one recognized it and the French government was forced to intervene. French soldiers managed to drive the terrorists away from most of As a word in a matter of days. One year later the terrorists finally accepted defeat and requested negotiation with the Mali and government. Both sides agreed to a peace deal four months later. In the Horn of Africa there is an unrecognized country called Somali land. Somali land was once a British colony, but was unified with Somalia in 1960. Northern Somalia soon saw rebel activity as its citizens wanted to maintain their independence. Somali land is considered to just be part of Somalia, but in 2001 97% of Somali landers voted for their independence. This vote was rejected by both Somalia and the international community, so Somali land is currently in a bizarre diplomatic limbo. They do have non-official diplomatic relations with many other countries, but they have the official recognition of literally no countries. Abkhazia is recognized only by a handful of countries, most of which have almost no diplomatic influence themselves. Most countries consider it to be part of Georgia, but it is controlled by its own independent government, who are pretty much able to do what they like. Several armed conflicts have been fought over Abkhazia, with the Russians supporting Abkhazian independence. This is why Abkhazia is able to have its own government. The Russian military protects them. In 2014, there was a revolution in Abkhazia that forced their president to resign from office. His people revolted against him because he didn't want to persecute ethnic Georgians. I imagine you're all familiar with ISIS. Controlling a huge number of oil fields, their economy is much larger than some recognized countries. In a traditional nation, this would give them diplomatic clout, but let's be honest, they have a lot of chance of getting recognized. The Chechen Republic is an unrecognized state in Russia. They've been struggling for independence since the 1920s, but it's really heated up in the last 20 years. It was actually an independent country in the 1990s, and they defended their sovereignty. In 1996, they won a war against Russia through guerrilla tactics. This sparked a new war that lasted over nine years. This time, the Russians were victorious and Chechen independence was lost. Kosovo is a tiny unrecognized state in Europe. During the Cold War, it was part of Yugoslavia, and fell under Serbian control in the 1990s. This caused tension as most of Kosovo's population are ethnically Albanian. NATO broke Kosovo free from Serbia in 1999, after the Serbian government basically committed genocide there. Since then, Kosovo has been declared an independent country, but Serbia refuses to recognize it. It's unclear to what extent Kosovo operates as an independent nation today, and with a population of almost two million, anything could happen. Taiwan is an unrecognized island nation of the coast of China. The official name for Taiwan is the Republic of China. The country was founded by the ex-government of mainland China, who were forced into exile by the Chinese communists in 1949. To this day, they claim to be the true government of all China. The only problem is that the international community doesn't recognize them, but Taiwan has grown one of the biggest economies in Asia, a population of 23 million and a strong military. Nagorno-Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan. With a population of 146,000, it's only recognized by other unrecognized countries. It's like a club of places that don't exist. It used to be part of the Soviet Union, but has since been forgotten about. It's two neighbours, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been waiting war over land disputes since their own independence. Behind the war, Azerbaijan took control of Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Azerbaijan military is unable to enter the region as it has its own military. They have their own airport too, but no one ever uses it. They even have a presidential palace. In recent years, Ukraine has basically been split into several countries. Ukraine and Russia have been at war for two years now, and during this conflict, rebel groups have declared their separation. They took control of Ukraine's Dundes region and declared the Dundes peoples' republic. This was in April 2014, and they have defended their territory since. They are militarily supported by Russia, but they have no diplomatic recognition, so last year they joined another unrecognized nation. Together, they founded the unrecognized political union of Novorosia. They have their own parliament and prime ministers, and their flag looks somewhat familiar.