Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

For Iraqis, October 15th is the big day… the day of Iraqi Constitution Referendum. The vote is a simple yes or no in favor of the Iraqi Constitution. All Iraqis are eligible to vote, even former dictator Sadaam Hussein. The Kurdish people of Iraq are abuzz with these events. Sami from Iraqi Thoughts takes a look at the new constitution through  A Sunni Iraqi eye's, and finds justification in opposing it, but also finds that through his own Kurdish viewpoint that he must vote for it. Hiwa from Hiwa's Hopes questions his own vote on the referendum:
I dont know what to say,
I voted in the elections, I am not sure if I did the right thing? do you think my successors won't accuse us of being coward enough to ask for our full self-determination?
Ultimately, Hiwa adopts a wait and see attitude about the referendum, which seems to be a common view on the subject.
Moving north in Kurdistan, Delal from The Kurdistan Bloggers Union addresses some of the major news items about the Kurds within the borders of Turkey and Syria; most notably the closure of Kurdish Language schools in Turkey. Incidently, if you are looking for an introduction to the Kurdish language, the group blog Learn Kurdish is an excellent starting point.
And then moving in the Eastern regions of Kurdistan, Medya from Medya Daily discusses the  pressures of blogging in a country that is unreceptive to alternative points of view. He feels that sometimes blogging is opening himself up to threats from others, be it the students in his university classroom to the Iranian government itself. We hope that he continues to blog and stays safe.
A new blog dedicated to Eastern Kurdistan was begun recently entitled Land of the Sun: Kurdistan. While currently it is just getting off the ground, this should be a great blog to keep an eye out for.
There is a subseries of pro-Kurdish blogs that are in French (with occasional English postings). The authors are not Kurdish themselves but have either lived or worked in or with Kurdish regions and Kurdish people. If you are able to read French, I do recommend that you visit them, as they provide an objective and supportive viewpoint of the Kurdish people. They are Incoherent Thoughts from the Librarian at the Kurdish Institute of Paris, OFK a travel-log of the Kurdistan region,  Bienvenue à Van which chronicles the Van region of Turkey/Northern Kurdistan, and  Chroniques de Beyoglu from a French man currently working in Turkey.