The local government of Hasanistan is planning to hold a census on subjects of the Great Turan State and residents, counting the total amount and collecting relevant information on their demographics. It is believed the census will be held in preparation for potential local elections and general elections, which the Hasanistani government has expressed interest in holding this year. The last census was held in 2021, the results of which can be read here.
Tuesday 2 April 2024
Friday 29 March 2024
Hasanistan leader issues statement on Gaza conflict and other recent events
The Leader of Hasanistan and Başbuğ Hasan Çakar has issued a statement on the recent phase of fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces since October last year. In the statement, Çakar called for peace, a permanent ceasefire, the delivering of aid to and opposing the ethnic cleansing of blockaded Gazans, release of prisoners on both sides and condemning "excessive tactics" of Israeli forces referring to the bombing campaigns of the Israeli Air Force, which have been regarded as causing high civilian casualties by many international aid agencies. He also opposed any expansion of the war into Lebanon and Yemen. He stated he believed Israel had "genocidal intent" in Gaza.
The recent phase of fighting between Israel and Palestinian forces, led Hamas but also including other groups, has caused the deaths of nearly half a million Palestinians (largely civilian women and children according to some estimates) and a thousand Israelis.
He also addressed the recent terrorist attack in Russia and the Baltimore Bridge collapse, issuing condolences.
The statement reads as follows:
"The current phase of fighting within the Gaza Strip after the Israeli military offensive, which occured following the border incursion by Hamas, are causing large-scale suffering and instability in the wider region and even the world. We express sympathy with anyone suffering in the conflict, condemn violence and oppose extremism. There must be a permanent ceasefire and adequate humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza, allowing a return to the peace process. The excessive tactics of Israeli forces are especially concerning due to the amount of collateral damage it is causing. We also oppose any attempt at ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and their permanent displacement. Civilian prisoners from Israel held by Palestinian forces and Palestinian prisoners who are being held without just reason by Israel must be freed, especially women and children. The war should also not expand into Lebanon and Yemen, further destabilising these other fragile countries.
The international community must play a greater role in pushing for an end of the conflict. The sale of weapons fueling this conflict must end, especially from actors such as the United States, France and India. Alleged war crimes from both sides must be investigated by reputable international organisations like the ICJ, OSCE, UN and the Turkic Council. Hasanistan supports the ICJ in its role in deliberating the case "South Africa v Israel" for violations of the Genocide Convention. In my view, the actions and rhetoric of Israel have constituted genocidal intent against the Palestinians.
I reiterate the position of the Hasanistani government in 2021 on the Israel-Palestinian conflict generally, we support a realistic end of the conflict which can only occur if the Israeli illegal (per international law) occupation and settlements in the West Bank, the blockade of Gaza and violations of the sanctity of Mesjid-i Aqsa end. We believe the Israeli government should also de-commission their nuclear weapons, end illegal and racist espionage activities by Mossad and distance themselves from radical groups like fundamentalist Kahanists and Sternists.
I also wish to express condolences to victims of the recent terrorist attack by Daesh in Moscow, Russia and the bridge collapse in Baltimore."
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of the conflict, some internet organisations have adopted censorious attitudes especially to those who are perceived to be anti-Israel and accuse them of racism and misinformation. The statement of Hasanistani public figures and publications of the Batyr Times only report on what has been reported by well-respected Western news agencies. Statements in quotes are neither endorsed or condemned by the Batyr Times as a publication.
Monday 4 December 2023
DÜNYAHASANİ Charter released and ratified; organisational structure established
The Charter of the World Hasanistan Alliance has been released after having been ratified by Hasan Çakar. The charter defines the organisational structure, its symbols and its inaugural constituent organisations. Under the Charter, the DÜNYAHASANİ shall be lead by a chief executive president elected by the members and three boards to oversee the organisation: the Mejlis, the Organisational Consultation Forum and the General Council. It shall be spit into eight chapters, six for the traditional provinces of Hasanistan and two branches for the diaspora (in other areas of the Great Turan State and outside of it).
Individual membership will be eligible for any former citizen of past Hasanistani polities, as well as Great Turan State citizens with a connection to Hasanistan. The constituent organisations of DÜNYAHASANİ shall be the Burea for HasanistanPedia and Archiving (renamed as the National Archives Organisation), Hasanistan Sports Federation, Hasanistani Turanic Society and the Batyr Times and the Hasanistan Radio and Television Organization (which shall be organised under the newwly-established Hasanistan Public Media Group). The Hasanistan Language Institution and the Hasanistan Women's League shall also be established to be inuagural members of the organisation, alongside the Hasanistan Public media Group.
The full charter can be read here.
Sunday 5 November 2023
Batyr Times Interviews: The Micronational Directory
In the first of a new interview series by the Batyr Times, bringing attention to interesting stories from both micronational and other topics, we talked with Ramiro the head admin of "The Micronational Directory". The Micronational Directory is a recently-established and growing project seeking to create an online index of micronations, which will allow people to learn about different micronations in the world and can be a useful tool for both micronationalists and non-micronations alike.
The Micronational Directory may be viewed here. People who wish to donate to the project can do so here.
Note: Any views expressed by the interviewee are their own personal views and not the views of the Batyr Times.
Q: Greetings, thank you for taking the time to speak to Batyr Times. The Micronational Directory has gained prominence recently as a new project in the intermicronational community. Could you briefly describe the purpose of TMD and the reason or inspiration behind its establishment?
Thank you for the invitation, it is my pleasure for having the opportunity to talk more about my project. The Micronational Directory emerged after a combination of circumstances that ultimately led to its development.
To begin with, I am a micronationalist myself who participated in the Latin American sector circa 2009-2011, a time in which I was able to discover this wonderful world of political criticism and simulationism. Back in the day, I was able to find in micronationalism a niche place where I was understood and where there were plenty of people alike, basically idealists and enthusiasts advocating their own vision in politics, history and geography by using a made-up country as a medium for that purpose. Even when I was a teenager by then, I was still able to pull off something that I felt glad about and that certainly enriched me as a young man. So all of that represented a valuable enjoyment and a sense of belonging for me. I feel that I owe so much to this world.
The second aspect takes us right to the present day. Nowadays, I am a junior web developer working on my first job, and I still have to enlarge my portfolio. I took this as an opportunity to cover both matters: give something in return to micronationalism and continue learning. The idea of an interactive directory floated within my mind for the last few years, but I always lacked the resources to put that into reality. Until this year. So overall, TMD can be considered a gift to the community for all that I have received in the past, and also a project to continue growing as a web developer.
Q: There are currently 500 micronations registered on the directory. Would you say that since its establishment, the Micronational Directory has been successful in its goal to be the main directory for micronationalism? How has growth of the project been?
Despite that being quite a great milestone achieved, I think we are still far from calling TMD a success. At the time of writing, there are exactly 650 micronations in our Directory, while probably some thousand micronations existed through history. That means there is still a long way to go, a lot of old and dead micronations yet to be unveiled and rediscovered, and plenty of current day micronationalists yet to hear about our project.
Regardless, there is indeed great work performed until now. Considering TMD was launched as a public website on August 31, we are moving at a speed of ~325 new approved entries per month on average. And that is an amazing work carried out by our team and by all users who offer their time and effort to contribute to our mission. Although we still need to work on balancing this matter, because as of today ~70% of the entries are provided by the TMD team and the remaining ~30% is a sum of all 40 users who have provided at least one approved entry. We want to build a larger community of users who not only use and consume our service, but also who participate through the dynamic and interactive platform we provide. The first Contest was an attempt to put that info effect; some things worked and some others didn’t. There is still a lot to do with marketing, social media or SEO techniques in order to enlarge the base community. We can consider success if these parameters change as well.
And just a few words on comparing TMD with other similar initiatives: I think we all seek different missions, specifically different data. If we compare The Micronational Directory with MicroWiki or Micro Flag Archive, there is a noticeable difference in the content that is being created. Therefore I can only say that we aim to be the main website on what we do, that is pretty much unique (unless there is another service just like TMD that I do not know about!), exactly as these other projects.
Q: How is the Micronational Directory managed and run as a project and an online service?
TMD is basically managed by myself, Ramiro, developer and manager. There is some occasional help from a colleague but it’s mostly a one-man job. Given that, processes are quite straightforward. I check and study new possible features, based on my criteria and feedback that I receive. Then I simply work locally on the code on these new features and I perform a little test afterwards to make sure everything is OK. If so, the version is deployed to the host we use and users can make use of it. Honestly, there is not much more science than that.
We also consume a series of services and digital resources in order to offer the full experience that is published on our website. I invite you all to take a look at this page to have a broader overview on this matter.
I do also take care of the X.com (former Twitter) account, the only social media we have at the moment.
Q: Does the Micronational Directory work with other areas of the micronational community?
We are starting to cooperate with other institutions in order to provide and as well receive mutual help. For instance, MicroFlag happily agreed to have a partnership with us for the Inaugural Contest 2023, since they offered a part of the prizes for the winners in the form of discounts on their store. Also, the managers of Micro Flag Archive recently contacted us to cooperate in mutual promotion and we will probably suggest exchange of micronational data at some point.
With some luck and work, maybe the future will bring interest from micronational governments wanting to spread our mission (actually a few actually currently do) and to actively participate in it.
Last but not least, our first contest determined the involvement of Luis Felipe Lugo, the renowned Latin American micronationalist and Head of State at El Dorado (among many other titles), who contributed with an outstanding amount of entries to the Directory, clearly joining our mission. We aspire to get the recognition and a similar involvement of other micronationalists.
Q: What are the plans for the future of the Micronational Directory?
Above all, to continue this line and to keep pursuing our main mission: to collect as many micronations as possible and store them in a safe, modern database so that their legacy lives forever. We are counting everyone in for this!
And on the other side, in order to achieve that, we will continue improving our website by adding multi language support, providing moderation privileges to some users, adding more tools and resources to engage with the Directory, adding new features such as a timeline of foundations, more user capabilities and more contests. And whatever comes across our path and we like it!
Q: How could others in the micronational community, as well as those interested in micronationalism, help your project?
Mainly, by creating an account and submitting their micronation, or their allies or any micronation that they want to see listed and preserved in history. That is the main essence of The Micronational Directory, and do note there is a contributors ranking, and those who reach 50 approved entries can access our ‘Special thanks’ area with due acknowledgment and opportunity to promote themselves.
Also, any promotion of our project and its mission will be highly appreciated! To spread the message through social media, events, or news articles just like this one. We need to get to as many enthusiasts as possible and there are still a lot of them out there unaware of TMD.
In case that is possible for certain users, we accept donations too, to cover our expenses in third-party services and tools. But what we really want is to create a healthy community that focuses on protecting the legacy of micronations.
Wednesday 1 November 2023
World Hasanistan Alliance established
The World Hasanistan Alliance (to be also known as the brand name DÜNYAHASANİ) has been established by Başbuğ Hasan Çakar as an umbrella organisation for the goal of "preserving, promoting and developing" Hasanistani culture and promoting fraternity among Hasanistani community and ethnic Hasanis both in Hasanistan and in its diaspora.
The organisation will be composed of various cultural bodies established through Hasanistani history and serve as their central administration. It will have regional branches corresponding to the provinces of Hasanistan, with a special branch for the region of Ardajan due to its unique local culture. Aspects of its administration will be clarified in a planned charter for the organisation.
Başbuğ Hasan Çakar has said that the organisation will co-operate with the Sanjak authorities and have a consultative role with them. It has also pledged eternal allegiance to His Imperial Majesty the Khagan Daniyal I of the Great Turan State. The organisation will be governed by collective committee of executives until a leader is appointed.