Tsalojdom of Birgeshir
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
| Motto: "Unconventional, and proud of it!" | |
| Official languages | Birgesh |
| Recognised national languages | English, Ancient Egyptian |
| Religion | Secular State (see Religion) |
| Demonym(s) | Birgesh |
| Government | Unitary elective[1] absolute monarchy |
• Tsaloj | Deniz Yürük |
| Establishment | |
• Date of foundation | 18 January 2010 |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 1 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy. |
| Driving side | right |
Birgeshir (Birgesh: Birgeşir [birɟeʃir]), officially the Tsalojdom of Birgeshir (Birgesh: Цalojlık tæ Birgeşir), is a non-territorial small micronation consisting of only one citizen.
Its founder, Deniz Yürük, defines it as a "hybrid micronation" in that it makes use of simulation due to it being too small, while also having a secessionist nature. However, the only territorial claim the micronation considers plausible is in a house or a room and hence the importance to retain its non-territorial aspect as well.
Birgeshir is arguably currently the longest-living one-man nation and is expected to last until its founder's death.
History
Pre-Birgeshir period
The "secessionist spirit" of Deniz Yürük dates back to the early years of his life. He didn't know anything about micronations but he imagined and created a fictional "planet" (usually referred to as the MDian world) along with his twin-brother, as a way to escape from their sad reality and from a world they started to feel "foreign" and hate more. Deniz treated the MDian world as a place he would have loved to be in and a sense of relation to it was starting to become a more serious thought, so much that this sentiment never died for his entire life. Two nations were created entirely by Deniz in that fictional planet: Turksan and later Adarva. He made their culture roughly similar to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Adarva was the "nation" that shared more things in common with what whould have become years later Birgeshir, especially the three colors featured on the flag, the language and the suffixes "-ojk/-ejk (Fem: -ojka/-ejka)" in many of its "citizens"' surnames.
Micronationalism and the “One man nation”
«It's not the place of birth that establishes one's nationality.» (Deniz Yürük)
It was only in late 2000s that Deniz Yürük got to know better the world of the Micronations and he tried his first micronationalism experience, becoming a citizen of Impero on 28 June 2009. It lasted a few months until he renounced his citizenship on January 14, 2010. According to Yürük, the main reason was that within Impero continued to exist a "slightly Italian feeling". Another reason was that he considered the Emperor an "atheist cyberbully" and he had a disappointing experience with its community as well.
Yürük started to realize that secession from a nation should not necessarily happen solely and exclusively for political reasons. This could also happen for a sense of not belonging to that Nation regardless of the political situation. If a person secedes from a Nation for purely political reasons, he/she would risk to create a Micronation that is more like a political party than a proper different Nation.
From this, it was born the theory of "Nation of the individual", namely the Nation founded and populated by only one person. According to this theory, a Nation can be defined as such even if it is populated by a single person because that person could have developed his or her own cultural characteristics that can become different from his or her Country of origin.
Birgeshir foundation
Since Deniz Yürük didn't want to join another micronation anymore for distrust towards humanity, he decided to found his own one as "ideal Nation" around 18 January 2010, calling it Birgeshir but inheriting the characteristics of his fictional nation Adarva (from the MDian world). This led him automatically to assume the position of Tsaloj (head of state).
The name of the micronation comes from bir meaning "one" as a reference to the only citizen in it, while geşir is a distortion of the Turkish word şehir meaning "city".
Birgeshir was initially called "Single Citizenship of Birgeshir" but shortly later became "Tsalojdom of Birgeshir" despite still being de facto a one-man nation. However, even though the Tsaloj was the only citizen in the micronation, he opened its doors to new possible citizens with the official website having a Citizenship Application section at the time.
Islamic period
From its foundation, the official religion in Birgeshir was Islam under a reformist and liberal school until June 8, 2014, when the Tsaloj Deniz Yürük had officially left Islam after 13 years as Muslim. This marked the end of the Islamic period in Birgeshir.
"Kemetic" period
In 2014, the micronation started to be heavily influenced by Ancient Egypt due to the Tsaloj's interest in Ancient Egyptian religion. The names of Islamic origin used for fictional Birgesh people (for "demonstration purposes") were removed and replaced with Kemetic names in reference to the Ancient Egyptian deities. Even the Birgesh language started to adopt ancient Egyptian loanwords.
Furthermore, from 2015 onwards, a golden winged scarab beetle started to appear in all Birgesh flags replacing the half moon and the six stars used in the Islamic period. For the Egyptians, the scarab beetle was connected to the rebirth and immortality of the Sun and was thus used as symbol of renewal and rebirth.
In June 2022, however, the Tsaloj made it clear that Birgeshir has no official state religion.
Association with Micras and its End (2012-2020)
In 2012, after the Tsaloj explained his desire to develop micronational virtual sports competitions, he was persuaded to join Micras and on 8 July 2012, Birgeshir's claim on a small Micrasian land was successful. The main reason for Birgeshir's presence on Micras was sport simulation and Deniz Yürük considered many micrasian micronations to be just created for some sort of geofictional role-play game and nothing more. However, the Tsaloj took advantage of "simulationism" to better show birgesh culture, but he was never involved in political matters.
In late May 2020, Birgeshir left Micras. Deniz Yürük stated that "Birgeshir is still an active micronation because it was not created for Micras and will not die leaving it".
"Hermit" period and the return to the very origin (2020-present)
After leaving Micras in mid 2020, Deniz made his micronation unavailable for new citizens, closing its doors to them and underlining the "one man nation" nature of Birgeshir. According to him, this decision was mostly made in order to preserve Birgeshir as his "ideal nation" without the risk of being ruined by other people and "infected by earthly morals".
The Tsaloj also stated that Birgeshir needs to keep (and give priority to) its non-territoriality even when claiming in a room or a house because it's where the micronation expresses itself at its best, escaping the physical and demographic limits through simulation where the Birgesh citizens are represented by the Artificial Intelligence and its "non-territoriality" by virtuality. For this reason, Birgeshir claimed a place in the MDian world (much like it did with Micras) merging with (and replacing) its fictional counterpart and ancestor, Adarva, but at the same time also retaining a small place in this reality represented by its micronational side.
Religion
After the end of the Islamic era, the micronation started to be inclined towards Ancient Egyptian religion but has essentially been Secular because it does not have an official state religion. This is also due to the fact that Deniz Yürük himself, which is the only citizen, has not "officially" converted to any other religion after leaving Islam, expressing only an interest in the ancient Egyptian religion without, however, being completely convinced on several points. Nevertheless, there are some references to the Egyptian deities in AI-controlled Birgesh citizens' names used for simulation purposes.
Languages
Birgeshir's spoken languages are Birgesh, English and Italian.
The Birgesh language sounds like the Turkic, Slavic and, starting from 2015, ancient Egyptian languages because many words originate from them, but its grammar is mostly different.
Since the Birgesh language is very different from Deniz's native language (Italian), its development has not yet been completed, especially the vocabulary.
Government
The Tsalojdom of Birgeshir is an Absolute elective monarchy since its foundation, but the micronation no longer supports the idea of including other people in it.
"Tsaloj": name and role
Цaloj [tsaloʒ] (English: Tsaloj; Italian: Zaloj) is a birgesh title used to designate the monarch of Birgeshir. The name comes from birgesh words "цalӕdç" ("guide") and "ojtüm" ("everything or "all"). Sometimes the suffix "-a" is added for denoting a female Tsaloj.
The Tsaloj of Birgeshir is, since the nation's foundation, Deniz Yürük and he is the "Founding Father".
Foreign relations
Birgesh foreign policy is characterised by its neutrality which is actually more a result of apathy and distrust towards other micronations and macronations. Tsaloj Deniz Yürük showed his aversion to some micronationalists several times, such as those that claim to be more serious than others just for being better known or for having a micronation with many human citizens and those that claim sovereignty over other planets without being truly different from human society, labelling them as "dangerous parasites" or "viruses in the outer space". He also considers absurd the idea of someone being a "retired micronationalist" and sees it as the consequence and destiny of many micronationalists who tend to be just people who roleplay or have a micronation that looks more like a political party while feeling a more serious attachment to their respective macronation.
Nonetheless, Birgeshir gained full diplomatic recognition from the Aerican Empire in 2013.
Culture
While it's true that Birgeshir is influenced by Turkic, Ancient Egyptian and Eastern Slavic culture, this is for the most part an "aesthetical" element. The micronation is strongly "futuristic" in the sense that its government supports science and technology for the purpose of improving every aspect of life and society, even if it means overturning things as we know them today.
Deniz Yürük has always stated that Birgeshir is like an "alien embassy" on planet earth. This is because the micronation mostly differs from human customs.
Since Birgeshir is a one-man micronation, its "culture" is basically the sum of the ideology and preferences of its founder Deniz Yürük.
Clothing
A "typical" way of dressing in Birgeshir would be that of combining western and ancient Egyptian-like clothing. Hence, it is considered normal to see both men and women wearing wigs, jewelry and black kohl for marking their eyes besides western clothing. A more "traditional" way of dressing would combine ancient Egyptian-like and Ottoman-like clothing.
These ways of dressing are not mandatory and they are not the only way of dressing in the micronation.
Jobs
It is constitutionally illegal to work more than three hours. In Birgeshir, a job is a cog that makes society functional but it must not become the meaning of life. Also, it should not hinder progress (i.e. automation,etc.) which means that the ultimate goal is to increasingly limit work for everyone while retaining the right to live through a full basic income.
In the virtual side of Birgeshir, money doesn't exist at all.
Marriage
Polygamy is permitted for men and women. Polyamory is considered normal.
Gender roles
In Birgesh society there are not rigid gender roles and stereotypes. Man, women and those who consider themselves in between have the same rights and are expected to put it into practice in everyday life.
Sports
Due to the lack of territory and population, sports in Birgeshir are only virtual. Nonetheless, sports have been one of the main expressions of the micronation's culture and the number of sports valued is high.
Qængüm (Rimthud in English) is considered Birgeshir's national sport. It was created in 2022 by Deniz Yürük himself and the domestic league for the sport is the Süper 8.
Board games such as Blood Bowl, Chess, Subbuteo, Paper soccer and Senet are very popular.
Other favoured sports include Olympic weightlifting, Baseball, Volleyball, Water Polo, Soccer, both Rugby codes, Basketball, American football, Cricket, Sumo wrestling, Professional wrestling, MMA and Professional boxing.
From 2012 to 2020, Birgeshir had many sports competitions simulated on Micras but they were all disbanded as soon as the micronation left the planet. Even Brosatamış, Birgeshir's first attempt to create an own domestic sport, started to decline after leaving Micras, eventually being replaced by Qængüm.
Music
Typically traditional Birgesh music has influences from ottoman and Arabic music.
Western-style music styles like pop music, rock, metal, electronica, hip-hop/rap and dance music are also very popular.
References
- ↑ Birgeshir does not accept citizenship application anymore.