Talk:2017 Turkmenistan presidential election

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Previous election results[edit]

The current page states that Berdimuhammedow received 97.14% of the vote in the last election. Most sources appear to say it was 97.4% - I haven't changed it at present but if someone could confirm that would be helpful. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ConstitutionalLawyer (talk • contribs) 22:38, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's from this government press release. Number 57 22:41, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Province vs other terminology[edit]

I have used the term 'province' in this article. The translation seems closer to the French département but could just as easily be the equivalent to the English County or American State. Anyone with knowledge of the language who can provide a better translation for "welayatlar" please do change it. I'll leave it as 'province' for now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ConstitutionalLawyer (talk • contribs) 11:54, 30 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You should use whatever terminology has been chosen for the appropriate Wikipedia article – i.e. regions. I have amended the article and correct the spelling of Daşoguz Region. Also, you need to sign your talk page messgaes using four tildes (~~~~). Number 57 12:31, 30 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 18 May 2020[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved to X Turkmenistan presidential election. (non-admin closure) Sceptre (talk) 02:11, 6 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]


– Turkmen normally refers to an ethnic group; the adjective for the (multi-ethnic) country & its people is Turkmenistani according to The World Factbook. We should use that term to avoid confusion. Sangdeboeuf (talk) 11:18, 18 May 2020 (UTC)—Relisted. – Ammarpad (talk) 16:28, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose I don't think it's confusing to use the current title. Turkmen is widely used as the adjectival form of the country.[1][2][3] Number 57 11:38, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • When multiple terms are used in reliable sources, then it makes sense to pick the one that best adheres to other naming criteria, namely precision. Turkmenistani is unambiguous. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 12:39, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
      • So is "Turkmen" in the context of "Turkmen president". Number 57 13:00, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
        • Turkmenistani president unambiguously means 'president of Turkmenistan', whereas Turkmen president could be read as 'president of the Turkmens'. Given the country's murky relationship between tribal and national identity alluded to in the article (and in various sources such as Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan and Central Asia: From Ethnic to Civic Nationalism), I think it pays to be as specific as possible. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 14:31, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
          • But there is no such thing as "President of the Turkmens", so I don't think there is any issue here. Also "Turkmen" is used to refer to citizens of the country – see, for example, the government page of Turkmen citizenship (or the local US embassy) – this official designation is probably more important a source than the World Factbook (pinging SelfieCity for reconsideration on this basis). Number 57 14:41, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
            • The World Factbook is a standard reference for geography, demographics, etc. It is also an independent source, which is preferred over "official" sources (especially compared with an autocratic regime like Turkmenistan's). The US embassy source looks fine, but is an instance of use of the word Turkmen for nationality, rather than being directly about the term's usage. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 15:45, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

* Support. I don't have any local knowledge whatsoever, but the World Factbook page that is mentioned in the proposal makes clear in its statistics the distinction between Turkmen (ethnic group, language) and nationality. Given the minority groups that also live in the country, as demonstrated by that source under the "People and Society" section, I think it would be best to change the name accordingly so it is clear that minorities, who presumably are Turkmenistani but not Turkmen, also vote in the elections (I assume they do). --Comment by Selfie City (talk about my contributions) 13:37, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support Ethnicity does not equal country. Zoozaz1 (talk) 00:18, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment: If moved, I would advise moving to 2017 Turkmenistan presidential election, etc., a la something like 2020 United States presidential election (not "2020 American presidential election") or 2019 United Kingdom general election (not "2019 British general election") – yes, I know the adjectival form is generally used, but in this case that strikes me as a bad idea. --IJBall (contribs • talk) 22:03, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • That works for me. Pinging Number 57, SelfieCity, and Zoozaz1 for their input. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 23:05, 25 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
      • It doesn't for me. We should use one of the two adjectival forms – though "Turkmen" is my first choice, "Turkmenistani" would be infinitely preferable to "Turkmenistan" IMO. The American and British articles (which themselves really should be moved to comply) cause enough problems with trying to ensure people follow the naming guideline and the last thing we need to do is create more exceptions that people can use in arguments. Number 57 11:01, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
        • Disagree, rather strongly. At List of adjectival and demonymic forms for countries and nations, "Turkmen" is actually the listed adjectival. But I agree that in this case it is a bad idea – instead the country name "Turkmenistan" should be used, as this is the best, most accurate, most WP:RECOGNIZABLE choice. Guidelines are not a straight-jacket – commonsense exceptions should apply. This is one of them. --IJBall (contribs • talk) 14:36, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
          • Likewise in strong disagreement. As there are two potential adjectival forms (Turkmen or Turkmenistani), both of which are recognisable, there does not seem to be a pressing need for an exception, so naming guideline for elections should apply. Number 57 15:06, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
            • Frankly, neither adjective is without problems. Turkmen is ambiguous, and Turkmenistani seems uncommon, if correct (meaning the list is wrong). Therefore, using the country name seems like an appropriate alternative. I doubt readers will be astonished by IJBall's proposed wording. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 15:16, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
              • Again, the term "Turkmen presidential election" is not ambiguous. Realistically there is nothing else it could refer to other than the election of the president of Turkmenistan. Number 57 15:19, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
                • Since Turkmens are the dominant ethnicity in the country, the term Turkmen presidential election can be read as excluding ethnic minorities. Turkmenistan's national identity was deliberately constructed along majoritarian ethnic lines in the Soviet era,[1] while in the post-Soviet era, ethnic minorities have been actively marginalized by the state.[2] So using the adjective Turkmen for the country's entire population mirrors the country's government's own ethno-nationalist agenda. Needless to say, we shouldn't give the appearance of taking a side in such questions. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 16:25, 26 May 2020 (UTC) (edited 17:19, 26 May 2020 (UTC))[reply]
                  • I don't believe we are (or giving the appearance of) taking sides by using the adjective "Turkmen" to describe things related to the country. Most countries have ethnic minorities, but we don't avoid using the terms like "Latvian" or "Finnish" for fear of excluding their minority populations. I don't think the government's actions are relevant to how we use of the term to describe things related to the state. Number 57 16:49, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
                    • There's no state-directed effort to privilege ethnic Finns or Latvians over minorities in those countries, as there has been in Turkmenistan.[3] I don't see what could be more relevant to things related to the state. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 17:59, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
                      • In Latvia there has a been a great deal of controversy over the treatment of the ethnic Russian population, and Russian is now being phased out in educational institutions. But anyway, as we're clearly not going to agree and there doesn't seem to be any consensus emerging, I've asked for more input from WP:E&R. Number 57 18:08, 26 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Sources

  1. ^ Edgar, Adrienne Lynn (2004). Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan. Princeton University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-691-11775-1.
  2. ^ Kumar, Suneel (2005). "Ethnic Heterogeneity, Nation-Formation and Treatment of Minorities in Turkmenistan". India Quarterly. 61 (3): 192–214. ISSN 0974-9284. JSTOR 45073379.
  3. ^ Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015). Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7656-3202-9.

Agree with IJBall and King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠. Given the issues raised above with each of the adjective versions, go with 2017 Turkmenistan presidential election Newystats (talk) 03:15, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  • No-one has explained any issues with "Turkmenistani" other than the fact that "Turkmen" is more common. If these pages get moved to the non-adjectival form, I am concerned it will have serious repercussions for future discussions as editors will be able point to this and claim that we don't need to comply with the naming guideline. Number 57 11:53, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    I question the extent to which that part of the guideline actually has community support. It appears to have been added to WP:AT in November 2006 with no discussion, moved to WP:NCGAL in September 2009, and then adjusted (by you) in February 2019 to fix the misnomer "demonym". All the while, the US and UK pages have never followed this guideline, and in fact an older version of this guideline cites next United Kingdom general election as an example right after the line saying the demonym [sic] should be used, suggesting that the adjectival form was never meant to apply universally and it can be overridden by common sense and common usage. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 13:33, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
We had a major discussion on reformatting the guideline in 2018. No-one raised any issues with the use of the demonym/adjectival form. I'm pretty sure someone would have raised it by now if there was an issue. The reasons cited (which I strongly disagree with on both counts) for the American and British articles not following the format are that "the term American is ambiguous" and "British is not NPOV because it excludes Northern Ireland". And it's got to a stage where they've been at incorrect titles for so long that any RM will fail just on the basis of resistance to change.
In this specific case, I can't see how common sense or common usage override the term "Turkmen". It's just going to create another infuriating inconsistency in our article naming that will probably end up being corrected in a few years (just like we had to put up with "Taiwan" rather than "Taiwanese" for three years after a similar RM). Number 57 14:02, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
And no one pointed out that there was a problem with "United States presidential election" or "United Kingdom general election"; I'm pretty sure someone would have raised it in the discussion if they believed the adjective should be used for all countries without exception. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 14:08, 4 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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