On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 00:38, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
I don't think White_Cat's nomination is purely without ulterior motive, unfortunately. As some editors from ku.wp have alluded to, the issue of the name and designation of the "Kurdish Wikipedia" has ethnic and nationalist ramifications on both sides of the debate. Several of the ku.wp editors are on one side of that debate, and White_Cat (who is Turkish) is traditionally on the other.
The proposal is definitely a good faith one.
I've read relevant articles about Kurdish political disputes and there is no [relevant] political dispute on the ethnolinguistic lines. Actually, Sorani area [1] in Iraq is actually held [2] by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [3], which is supported by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) [4]. Northern area in Iraq is controlled by Kurdistan Democratic Party [5], supported by Turkey in Iraqi Kurdish Civil War [6].
If White Cat has pro-Turkish bias, he wouldn't support Sorani speakers, as they are "on PKK's side" and PKK is the archenemy of Turkey. However, much more relevant factor in inter-Kurdish disputes are personal and political feuds, not ethnic tension.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dialects.jpg [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iraq_kurdish_areas_2003_vector.svg [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotic_Union_of_Kurdistan [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Democratic_Party [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdish_Civil_War