Kurdistance: It's Quiet Out Here

One of the hardest things about reporting on various blogospheres is the natural ebb and flow of people's writings. The past two weeks in the Kurdish blogosphere have been strangely quiet, the kind of quiet that is found before a great storm.

Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes writes about the rampant corruption found in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. Vladimir on From Holland to Kurdistan talks about the rise of popularity in French politics of a pro-Kurdish politician. Rasti exposes the roles of women in the PKK. And Save RojTV celebrates its one year anniversary.

Sorry for the slow week, however if you want to read an interesting dialouge on the nature of Kurdistan in the geographic sense, check out the comments on the last installment of Kurdistance.

16 comments

  • Quiet?

    You’ve obviously not seen my new blog then.

    And my old one at http://hevallo.stumbleupon.com/

    Have a look!

    Selam and Silav

    Hevallo

  • Deborah we love you unconditionally, but I can’t help but point out that since Jan 1, 2006, you have posted “Kurdistance” 25 times and “Turkey is Typing” only 17 times. With simple math it’s clear to see that there have been about 5 instances when two Kurdistance entries were posted consecutively, and this honor has never been given to the Turkish entries. If this Global Voices feed is truly about “Turkey”, then I would like to see that at least half or more of the entries are for the Turkish blogs. I don’t believe that this is unreasonable. Are our blogs so horrible and the Kurdish blogs so great that we deserve to play second fiddle to them on our own site at G-V?

  • I thought this was the “Turkey’ page. I don’t see any posts about Turkish bloggers since October 14. The Pope came and went, and not even one reference.

    Create a Kurdistan page, and post there all you want about the Kurds. The Kurds are not just in Turkey anyway. And for people who are so adamant about gaining independence, I don’t see why the Kurds have to post under the ‘Turkey’ heading.

    Again, I am not opposed to Kurd posts. I am opposed to having Kurd posts under ‘Turkey,’ and the person responsible for Turk posts not posting any since October. Isn’t there someone else out there that can ‘fill-in’ when Debbie can’t?

  • The Kurds make up one third of Turkey and obviously feel they have much more to say. So please express yourselves about Turkey and not just make posts complaining the Kurds are posting under the Turkey headline.

    Where to you expect the Kurds from Turkey to post? There is no ‘Kurdistan’.

    You deny them a voice in Turkey and now you want to deny them a voice online.

    Come on, just please tell us about Turkey and not target the Kurds, don’t be afraid of democracy, embrace it!

  • Hevalo: I didn’t know this was only for Kurds of Turkey. My impression of many of the Kurd blogs that frequent here was of a greater Kurdistan incorporating Kurds from Iraq, Iran and possibly other areas.

    And in the prior post, we’ve already discussed Kurdistan. And it is obvious, there are many who believe in its existence, not just in a geographical sense.

    My problem is not about Kurd posts here. My problem is about the lack of Turk posts. And obviously I am in no position to post. I can only comment.

    I am an American and live in the US, I know a little bit about democracy. By the way, who makes up the other two thirds of Turkey. And do you even know what democracy means? Well, it means the majority rules. You must be thinking of a Republic, where individuals have rights to protect them from the majority. Just a friendly reminder.

  • The Kurds who live in the Turkish Republic are Turkish citizens, like it or not, and last I checked, the Global Voices site is divided up by country (nationality), not ethnicity. Of course there is room for Kurdish blogs here, I completely insist, but NOT if they are people who spit on the Turkish flag. No thank you, I will cease to be a promoter and visitor of this site if the blogs of militant PKK supporters and the blogs of seditious separatist traitors continue to share space with the Turkish bloggers. It’s bad enough that Turkish blogs are given 2nd priority in their own venue.
    Furthermore, I reiterate that the disparity between Kurdish blog coverage and Turkish blog coverage, is excessive and unacceptable. This sounds like a hurtful remark coming from a nationalist, I’m sure, but if you think this sounds nationalistic, then you do not know the meaning of the word, because a real nationalist would reject the idea of any Kurdish blog coverage on this venue, completely and without exception. I’ve asked that at least half of the posts cover Turkish blogs, and again I re-iterate, this is not an unreasonable request. It’s perfectly fair.
    Hevallo, refrain from putting words in my mouth.

  • Nistiman

    I think Kurdistan should have it’s own section. I’m puzzled at why it’s under Turkey to begin with. Many Kurdish blogs have nothing to do with Turkey and if they do, it is with respect to Kurdish issues…

    This will probably be more work for Debbie, but if she can do it, I think it would be beneficial for both Turkish and Kurdish bloggers.

  • Nistiman. I agree with you completely. But maybe the reason Kurdistan is under the Turkey heading may be to improve ratings. Who else but Kurds would really subscribe the other way? This way they get the non-Kurd Turks as a captive audience. Unless of course the Turks abandon the site.

  • There is no case of “Kurdish Favoritism” but unfortuate circumstances of my own personal life interferring with my ability to post. There have been more instances of Kurdish articles because they are due during the week, while the Turkish articles are due on Saturday…and there have been times when my poor planning have affected that. I am in the process of re-evaluating the days and frequency of my postings.

    It is heartening to hear that no one disagrees with my coverage just the frequency of it.

    As to the issue of Kurdish articles being listed under Turkey…as you have pointed out before, there is no country of “Kurdistan”. There is however a historical region of Kurdistan. If you notice on the Global Voices main page, countries are listed and the major regions like the Middle East and Asia. I have requested that when the new organization is done on the global Voices mainpage that a Kurdistan region is created. However I will still categorize those articles under the countries that the Kurds live in: Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. Why? Because the Kurdish population lives in those countries, they are a part of them, and Kurdish politics and happenings affect those in those countries. Regardless of how much a Turk or Iraqi or Iranian or Syrian what to pretend that the Kurds are not in their country…they are. The purpose of Global Voices is to allow voices that may not be heard be heard.

    Now back to the subject of the Turkish voices being heard, those articles will continue and I will continue to cover them in my objective manner. I refuse to be bullied however. There has been no Kurdish favoritism and I am offended at the accusation.

  • Nistiman

    I still insist that having a separate section for Kurdistan is the best way out of this messy situation.

    Metin is correct when he says, “My impression of many of the Kurd blogs that frequent here was of a greater Kurdistan incorporating Kurds from Iraq, Iran and possibly other areas.”

    Although the Kurdish region may be divided by official borders, one of the main mission of Kurdish bloggers’ is to transcend those artificial borders. I don’t want to imply that Debbie’s intentions are askew in any way, however, I think that any superficial examination of Kurdish blogs would tend to support my point of view. The Kurds may not have a state, but the least they can demand for, and receive, I would hope, is a unified coverage of their views, considering that the borders imposed on them are very much artificial.

    As for Metin’s colorful post implying that no one other than Kurds would bother subscribing if Kurdistan had its own section, I would just like to state that while issues relating to Kurdistan may seem boring and uninteresting or seditious or unknown to Turkish readers (Metin can clarify his point if he would like) this is up to the tastes and interests of the Global Voices’ readers, and thankfully not according to Turkish bloggers’ opinions. And why is it that the same rule of thumb doesn’t apply for Turkish blogs? And irrespective of whether other people will want to learn more about Kurdistan, there are nearly 40 million Kurds, their numbers will suffice to provide Kurdistan with an adequate number of subscribers.

    As for Murat’s point how there can only be room for Kurdish blogs that recognize and sanctify the unitarian character of the Turkish state and only for ‘good Kurds’ who preach the integrity of the Turkish state is an idea that belongs in Turkey, or under Bush’s War on Terror . If what Debbie is said is true, namely that Global Voices is a venue for those voices that are not heard to be heard, then the voice of militant Kurds wishing an end to the state-sponsored oppression should naturally find a home here.

    As well, I just want to add one final point regarding Metin’s reference to democratic values and the concept of “majority rules”. I would suggest that he reads the fine print. Democracy is a not a black and white strap-jacket that should be used to oppress minority opinions. The idea of ‘majority rules’ is at best arguable, not some law of nature that you can use to defend your opinions with. Ever heard of the concept of ‘affirmative action’? One can make an argument that perhaps, because the Kurdish issue has long been ignored in Turkey, it is very democratic for Kurdish views to be in the majority and outnumber Turkish posts.

    Just something to think about…

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