Kissura

Flag of Kissura

Coat of Arms of Kissura

**Kissura** (Akhdari: كيسورا), officially the **State of Kissura**, is a state located within the Akhdar Peninsula region of Turan. It is a unitary dictatorship that consists of 12 provinces and borders Kindar to the south, Marad to the east, and Sippara to the west. A country of plains, deserts, and mountainous regions to the south, Kissura comprises mostly Akhdari people and is one of several Akhdari states whose majority religion is Aferism. The capital and largest city of Kissura is Amarra. Kissura is a member of the Akhdari Association.

The modern state of Kissura encompases the site of many ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Kamarlar Civilization that emerged in the 3rd century BC and which was one of the earliest to bureaucratically organize in the Akhdar Peninsula. Amarra and its sister city Aswarut are some of the oldest continually-inhabited cities in the world. In the Middle Ages, Amarra served as the capital of the Ahamani Sultanate, and later a provincial capital under the Sayyidaya Sultanate. The modern Kissuran state was founded as part of the Zirut Accords that governed the breakup of the Galesam Empire in the wake of the War of Lions, and became ruled by the al-Kaba dynasty, who had previously served as provincial governors and styled themselves as the Presiding Officers of Kissura. The al-Kaba family was particularly unpopular in Kissura, however, and as such they were quickly removed from power by a military coup. After this, the government was reorganized into a military dictatorship, under the guidance of High Commissar Abdul Ghafoor el-Hatem.

In the years after el-Hatem's successful coup, Kissura entered a period of relative peace. Like most other Akhdari states, the nation worked to industrialize itself and modernize its economy, and found oil production to be a particularly lucrative enterprise. Prospectors found the Tall Iskawr and Al Banura oil fields in 1931, two of the largest in the Akhdar Peninsula, and soon thereafter the state-owned Kissuran National Oil Company began operations. Kissura was one of the original founding members of the Oil Producing League of the Akhdar Peninsula, alongside Sippara, Marad, Kindar, and Larak.

Tensions with the neighboring nation of Kindar eventually came to dominate Kissuran politics, however. Instances of border skirmishes began with the Skirmish at Tell Ubainbar in 1952, and fluctuated in intensity for the next two decades. The two nations also competed frequently in the sale of raw and refined oil, a conflict that more than once was forced to be resolved by sessions of the OPLAP. Most importantly, however, was the religious conflict that emerged between the nations when the Kindari monarch, Umair el-Saleh, began to limit the public worship of Aferism and formulate a cult of personality around himself and his family. Kissuran High Commissar Hakam el-Sahli famously accused el-Saleh of blasphemy and apostasy in the 1974 session of the Akhdari Association's Council of Delegates, which led the Kindari monarch to walk out of the forum and increase military presence along the Kissuran-Kindari border. Tensions eventually culminated in 1977, when el-Saleh outlawed the worship of Aferism in the Kindari capital of An Nasrah. Furious, el-Sahli campaigned privately within the Akhdari Association for a joint invasion of Kindar, aimed towards removing the el-Saleh dynasty from power and installing a new Aferist government. His efforts eventually bore fruit, and Kissura was one of the major parties involved in the initial invasion of Kindar, launched in March of 1978. This invasion failed to achieve its goals, however, and eventually dragged on for two more years, starting the First Peninsular War.

Kissura would eventually lose the war in 1980, and although it suffered no territorial changes, it was internationally humiliated and economically ruined. Airstrikes conducted by the Kindari Air Force in Kissura throughout the course of the war destroyed as much as 25% of the nation's industry, which in combination with the lack of consumer goods production, lowered confidence in the Kissuran Dinar, and large-scale unemployment post-war, spurred the 1980 Kissuran Recession. Similar recessions were faced in Sippara, Marad, and Kindar, however Kissura suffered the worst economically. As a result of his failure during the war and the recession, Hakem el-Sahli was removed from power on November 2nd, 1980, and arrested for treason soon thereafter. He would die in prison on May 7th, 1992.

Still not fully recovered economically, Kissura was once more dragged into war following the 2002 Maradi Revolution, which saw the long-reigning dictatorship there overthrown by a popular uprising. Chaos emerged in Marad post-revolution, with no singular faction able to secure control of the entirety of the state. Kissura, afraid that the success of the Maradi revolution might inspire a rebellion in Kissura as well, participated in the joint invasion of Marad launched on August 26th, 2002. This invasion was initially unpopular in Kissura, but as the invasion dragged on, public opinion worsened and worsened. Eventually the invasion became the catalyst for the 2003 Kissuran Revolution, during which hundreds of thousands of civilian protesters called for the end of the military government, tens of thousands of workers went on strike, and several armed groups conducted attacks on Kissuran military installations. The emergence of their own rebellion prompted Kissura to pull their military out of the war and sign a bilateral armistice with Revolutionary Marad, effectively dooming the Akhdari Association's war effort.

In modern times, Kissura has frequently struggled to remain politically stable, as conflict that emerged post-revolution was violently suppressed by the military government in actions decried by both the Kissuran populace and the international community. Long periods of martial law declared in the nation have also made the ruling regime immensely unpopular, alongside the lack of avenues for political participation and many rights such as the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion. Warfare has also made Kissura one of the most corrupt nations globally - the government deeply-entwined with local oil dynasties - and has resulted in Kissura becoming the country with the worst income inequality in the world. Today, more than 60% of the country lives in poverty and 50% face regular food insecurity.