[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#13864) Data: Kurd nation

["Daniel Markstedt" <himasaram@xxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=13864 >

> [chrisk - Thu Nov 03 17:15:45 2005]:
> 
> On Thu, Nov 03, 2005 at 07:44:54AM -0800, Daniel Markstedt wrote:
> > 
> > Updated Kurd ruleset.
> 
> I have headache with the mention of Abdullah Öcalan as a leader. 
AFAIK he is
> the leader of the PKK.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKK
> 
> I don't think you can call him a leader of a national or liberty 
movement
> and not at all a potential leader of the Kurds.
> 
> BTW, the PKK have been one of the main suspects charged with the 
murder of
> Olof Palme.
> 

Ok, I agree Öcalan is a slightly too controversial character for 
Freeciv. But hey, he would be in good company amongst all the mass-
murderers we have in our leader lists ;-)

So perhaps he should be removed and the list be expanded with non-
controversial names instead.

> Another point is that there are no cities from turkey in, while in 
southern
> turkey there live lots of Kurds.
> 

AFAIK the autonomic province of Kurdistan in Iraq is the only legally 
Kurdish territory in existence.

> In general, I think that adding a various number of ethnics 
as 'pseudo'
> nations to Freeciv is rather political hot. While support for ethnic
> identification is probably ok in general, we should maybe more 
sensible with
> this; this might support playing the national card as well. The 
experience
> with several european wars in the last two decades should kept as 
warning
> IMHO. Please excuse me if the expression of my thoughts here is
> insufficient.
> 

I don't think we should avoid adding more 'pseudo nations' to Freeciv -
 If you try to make a clear distinction between nationality and 
ethnicity, you will fail! We just have to be extra careful about 
selecting cities and leaders so that we don't become accused of 
supporting terrorists or controversial separatists.

> So, what I suggest is, not force this, until there is public 
interest. We
> have a great number of nations now, not at last with the help of 
your good
> and skilled work.
> 
> Christian
> 
> 

I'll put the Kurd nation on hold for now. Generally because the 
situation in the region is as unstable as it is, making it difficult 
to be impartial, and specifically because the flag is banned in 
several countries (i.e. Iran and Syria). Let's avoid making Freeciv an 
outlawed piece of software.

-Daniel