Deniz Yürük
| Deniz Yürük | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 November 1987 Avellino, Italy |
| Nationality | Birgesh, Italian |
Deniz Yürük (born Daniele Saba Passio; 14 November 1987), is the founder and Tsaloj of Birgeshir. He is best known for his enthusiasm for simulating virtual sports competitions. He has been involved in sports simulations since the mid-late '90s and in micronationalism since around 2009.
Personal life
Deniz was born in Avellino (Italy) in 1987. He has two brothers (one of which is his twin brother who is different in appearance while having a similar mindset and life experience). Unlike his brothers, Deniz hasn't attended University.
He refused his Italian given name and last name since he was a child, believing that when a person reaches maturity (s)he should choose another name and surname if desired. During the 2000s his fascination for the Turkish language led him to choose the name "Deniz" because it means "sea" and it is a name used by males and females (as reference to his gender nonconformity). The last name Yürük was chosen randomly.
Deniz has always been an unconventional person and critic of human customs, mindset and society, developing a strong aversion for humanity over the years (altough "hidden" in his attitude) aggravated by his own personal experience of being subject to bullying, discrimination and, hence, social exclusion. These factors are considered one of the causes that led to the founding of his own micronation, Birgeshir.
Micronations
Deniz discovered micronationalism around 2009. After a disappointing experience as a citizen of the micronation Impero, he founded Birgeshir on 18 January 2010 considering it his own "ideal Nation". Being its only citizen, he automatically assumed the role of Tsaloj, that is the "ruler". However, Deniz generally doesn't use styles for himself as he consider them a "useless way to brag oneself, especially when you have no real authority over anything".
After explaining his desire to develop micronational virtual sports competitions, he was persuaded to join Micras and on 8 July 2012,Birgeshir's Micrasian claim was successful. Deniz was initially skeptical about Micras since he considered many micrasian micronations to be just created for a sort of role-playing game and nothing more. Later, he accepted simulationism in Micras as a way to show Birgeshir's culture. However, Deniz still publicly said that Birgeshir is a serious micronation (despite having a virtual side) and he used Micras just for sport simulation.
In late May 2020, Deniz left Micras but stated that "Birgeshir is still an active micronation because it was not created for Micras and will not die leaving it".
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.
Deniz's interaction with other micronationalists has become gradually very minimal over the years.
Politics
From around 1999 to early 2000s, Deniz was sympathetic to Communism and Socialism, happening to go in a extremely opposite direction to his father who was a Religion Teacher (and former Dominican friar).
Later on, however, Deniz stated that it was actually impossible to place himself in a specific traditional political spectrum and that Communism is actually an obsolete and flawed response to Capitalism.
Religion
Deniz was raised in a Catholic family but in 2001 he converted to Islam saying that it was more in line with what he believed about the role of Jesus and God. However, he was never a mainstream Muslim but rather a reformist and liberal Muslim, labelled by other Muslims as a heretic.
After a difficult struggle on trying to be in line with his religion, Deniz left Islam in 2014 because he felt that the Abrahamic religions didn't really answer his many questions about life and creation and found their theology and moral teachings to be mostly inconsistent.
Soon after leaving Islam, Deniz started learning more about the Ancient Egyptian religion since he knew Kemetism years before as a muslim without looking into it deeply.
He successfully completed the online Beginners Class lessons made by the Priests and Nisut (spiritual leader) of the Kemetic Orthodox faith but Deniz never requested to fully convert after being graduate. This is because he believes that the Kemetic Orthodox faith isn't completely accurate about ancient Egyptian Religion.
Even outside of the Kemeric Orthodox faith, Deniz never stated to be "Kemetic" in general and while he mentions the Gods several times during his life, he thinks that the ancient Egyptian religion isn't very convincing on some points.
When speaking of religions, Deniz often says: "Religions are the manifestation of failed human efforts to explain the unexplainable or the divine". This could lead many people to think that he actually is Agnostic like his twin-brother.
Arts
Yürük likes cartoons, comics and movies. He also likes Theatre. Indeed, he made an Italian farce in 2012 called "Gli Affari Tremano"(ENG:"Business is shaking").
He also made some short comics and even created some instrumental songs.
From late July 2018, Deniz started to create some board games which are "grouped" through Amuself.
Since Deniz enjoys creating stories, he created a fictional insular microstate near Russia ruled by vampires called "Noktyurn" for his short story "Vladlena: Tsarina of Noktyurn" in 2012. Noktyurn is also home of Baron Dusk, another vampire character created by Deniz in the same year and he's considered to be his "vampire alter ego".
Sport
When Deniz was a child, he expressed his desire to start playing sports such as association football, basketball, baseball and american football but never got the chance to play any of them (much to his displeasure). Growing up he also developed interest in professional wrestling, sumo wrestling, olympic weightlifting and shot put. However, his depression, lack of own money and social anxiety disorder made it impossible for him to try at least one of those sports.
Despite this, Deniz loves many sports and they are shown in his micronation. He even invented sports such as Brosatamış in 2013, Pondball in 2018 and Rimthud in 2022.
Fascination with death
Deniz often thinks of death. As an inevitable fate of every living being, he believes that being aware of death is important and it could teach how to live properly. He doesn't accept it, however, since he knows that death is part of life and he has a pessimistic view about life calling it a "hoax" due to aging, illness and precisely death. Not knowing what's exactly next after life anymore, Deniz is not sure if at least death could give an opportunity for something better than this existence. But this remote possibility has always caught his attention.
Deniz enjoys taking a walk in cemeteries whenever he can. He is also fascinated with artificial and natural mummification.