Turkish journalists invented a new name for Wirtland

After Bulgarian girl's victory in Miss Wirtland Contest received wide coverage in Bulgarian newspapers and TV, several articles on Wirtland appeared in leading Turkish mass media, such as "Sabah", "Hurriyet", "Aktif Haber", "Milliyet", "Sok", and even CNN Turk. Turkish journalists coined a new word to better represent Wirtland in eastern languages: "Hayalistan". Coverage in Turkey already resulted in increase in new citizens signing up in Wirtland - not only from Turkey but also from such countries as Egypt and Afghanistan. Welcome to Wirtland or Selam, Hayalistan!

P.S. Explanations of the meaning of the word "Hayalistan" will be appreciated - as comments to this post.

Witizens interviewed live on Bulgarian TV

Watch this video of the first TV show on Wirtland, with Witizens interviewed live this morning, February 11, on Bulgaria's leading TV channel bTV. We hope English translation will be available soon. The three representatives of Wirtland who are interviewed in the show are Dimitrinka Karaangova, Ruma, and Romeo Ninov. Watch the show in high resolution video - parts 1 and 2:






You may also visit the website of the Bulgarian bTV channel to watch the Wirtland video and learn more about bTV and its daily show "This Morning", which invited and interviewed the three Witizens.

Your place to post Wirtland's sagas

If you are a patriot of Wirtland and have got something to tell the world, here is the place to post your saga. GotSaga.com became the first Wirtland's partner website, which features Wirtland in its official country list.

GotSaga.com is an international social network which is about sharing experiences, telling stories, and swapping pictures and videos. Now, the new members signing up at GotSaga.com can select Wirtland from its country list, and proudly register themselves as citizens of Wirtland! Members, who sign up as Witizens, are automatically assigned the flag of Wirtland, pretty much the same way as citizens of any real country.

GotSaga follows WitiFriends, a global personals website, as yet another member of the growing family of Wirtland's partner websites.

Miss Wirtland 2009: And the winner is...

Today, January 31, Wirtland is pleased to announce the winners of first Miss Wirtland Beauty Photo Contest. The jury has calculated the individual score of each photo, taking into account the rating (stars), number of visits, and each photo's period of exposure on the site (to equalize photos which were submitted on various dates). Thanks to our jury's objectiveness and diligence, and use of sophisticated IT technologies, we now have the absolute winner. And the winner is... ANELIA!!! Congratulations to Anelia!

We also are pleased to announce two other winners with highest score, who have the title of Vice-Miss: DIMITRINKA and VANESSA !

The organizers wish to thank all the participants of the first contest, and to welcome everybody to our next contests and other new exciting events.

Though Miss Wirtland 2009 Contest is now over, we already have a brand new project to announce: WitiFriends, a global meeting point for Witizens and their friends. It's a personals site registered in Wirtland, which helps people to find friends or someone special, and also to spread the word about Wirtland. WitiFriends offers all basic services free, and is available in 12 languages of the world!

Reflecting growing interest to Wirtland in Bulgaria, the nation's leading TV channel bTV organized a live show on February 11, and invited several Witizens, including Dimitrinka Karaangova, Vice Miss Wirtland. The video of Dimitrinka and other representatives of Wirtland being interviewed on Bulgarian TV can be viewed here. Following up to wide coverage in Bulgaria, leading newspapers in neighboring Turkey and Turkish CNN also featured articles on Wirtland, or Hayalistan, as they nicknamed it (click here for more detail on coverage in Turkey). Come back to read the latest updates.

>> More feedback: Sabah newspaper (in Turkish)

>> More feedback: Milliyet newspaper (in Turkish)

>> More feedback: http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_698245679 (in English)

>> More feedback: http://tinyurl.com/cocjlc (in Bulgarian)

>> More feedback: Trud newspaper (in Bulgarian)

>> More feedback: article in PCWorld (in Bulgarian)
>> More feedback: article in ComputerWorld (in Bulgarian)
>> More feedback: http://news.ibox.bg/news/id_946532930 (in Bulgarian)

Wirtland is reaching out to Turkish and Bulgarian audience

Today Wirtland took two additional steps to better reach out to Turkish and Bulgarian audiences:

• The Turkish version of Citizenship Application Form is now available.

• It is now possible to follow Wirtland in your own language. The first "localized" Twitter feed (click here) is in Bulgarian language, as Bulgarian-speaking people are a considerable part of Wirtland's population. It is still a Beta version, and comments from Bulgarian experts are welcome. (The main Wirtland's Twitter page is http://twitter.com/wirtland.) The Bulgarian version of  "The Times of Wirtland" is also available: link. 

New articles on Wirtland published in the USA

During last week two new articles about Wirtland have appeared in the U.S. printed and electronic media.

"Do you ever feel like you just want to get away? Well, how about going to a country where you don’t need money and you can make your own rules and you can be one of the most important people. Sound too good to be true? Well, this country does exist (on the Internet) and it’s called Wirtland", - writes "Maryland Daily Record" (Baltimore, Maryland) on January 23, 2009. "This is a fascinating concept", concludes Larry Fiorino, author of the article "Wanna get away? Try a virtual trip to Wirtland", who is founder and chief executive of G.1440, a Baltimore-based e-solutions firm. Click here for full text of article.

"Internet Evolution" on January 21, 2009, published article "Wirtland Evolves as First Country in Cyberspace". "Don't ask about a business model; there doesn't seem to be one. Luengo [press attache of Wirtland who was interviewed by the author] maintains that Wirtland is not a commercial project supported by investors. The mission is loftier and more romantic". The author of the article Deborah Nason is a freelance writer based in Connecticut.

Wirtland extends greetings to President Barack H. Obama

January 20, 2009 - Wirtland sent yesterday an official letter congratulating the new US President Barack Obama, on behalf of the people of the first internet-based country.

“Honorable Mr. President,
You symbolize the hope for positive changes of the American people, and also of a major part of mankind. Please accept warmest congratulations and best wishes of success from the citizens of Wirtland, the world's first internet-based sovereign country,“ the Address read.

In the letter, signed by chancellor of Wirtland, it is also emphasized that among many features that make President Obama’s presidency unique, there is also an unprecedented use of modern internet technologies in his electoral campaign. Chancellor of Wirtland expressed his belief in US President’s understanding of the concept and perspectives of the internet-based country, which transcends national borders without breaching or lessening the sovereignty of any countries.

True to the principles of consensus of the first web-based country, the official congratulation letter was written based on contributions from Witiziens.

Updates of Wirtland's websites

A whole range of brand-new features have appeared on the websites of Wirtland after the New Year holidays.

A new section "Projects" has been added to Wirtland website. It will display logos with links to main independent projects being developed in Wirtland, including those which are in beta testing stage - such as Virtual Duty-Free and Wirtland Medical Centre.

Witizens of Wirtland Network has got its own built-in automatic translation tool. The tool from Applied Language Solutions offers instant translation to 10 languages: German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean. The current version of translation software changes the layout of translated pages, making it more simplified. The work is underway to ensure seamless integration of this translation utility into the Witizens website.

Facebook users can now become 'fans' of Wirtland by visiting this new page. Also, Facebook users may now follow the news of "The Times of Wirtland" (link), and updates of Witizens' Network (link). These are additions to the existing "Witizens on Facebook" Group.

Twitter users are now welcome to follow all Wirtland updates at twitter.com/wirtland.

Wirtland starts virtual Medical Centre, offers employment

Wirtland Medical Centre (WIMEC) is a new project which aims to offer versatile medical consultation services over the internet. The WIMEC's services will be available to everyone through Skype. Doctors give professional consultations to patients worldwide, earning consultancy fees which they choose themselves. If you are a certified doctor, and you want to offer your services for WIMEC, click here. WIMEC is not a commercial project. Wirtland will not charge doctors any fee for listing at WIMEC.

>> More feedback: http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=107764 (in Bulgarian)

Bulgaria To Recognize Wirtland

Bulgaria may become the world's first nation to officially recognize Wirtland. On December 22th Bulgarian daily newspaper "Telegraph" quoted Mr. Dragovest Goranov, Spokesman of Foreign Ministry of Bulgaria, who discussed the possibility of recognition of Wirtland with correspondent.

"More than 180 people have joined Wirtland already, about half of them being our compatriots", - Bulgarian newspaper points out. Official recognition of internet-based worlds is becoming less unusual now, after Sweden was followed by other nations in recognizing Second Life in 2007. The interest of Bulgarians to Wirtland started after a television show at Bulgarian Nova Television. "Telegraph" dedicated a full page's article to Wirtland on December 6th. The Bulgarian daily also showed interest in supporting the Miss Wirtland Photo Contest, which started recently. This comes naturally as majority of the beauty contest's participants are from Bulgaria.

Bulgarian language is becoming increasingly popular in Wirtland. Some of the citizens' forums are now bi-lingual, as, for instance the recently-started "Cooking Book". Participants share the recipes of favourite dishes, and are working to create Wirtland's national food. Other popular ethnic group in the first web-based country is Argentinean, which also organized several meeting points. Importantly, the ethnic groups are not isolated. They actively interact between each other, overriding the language barriers with ease. A new intercultural dialogue project is underway thanks to witizens from the USA. Wirtland Citizenship Application forms are already available in English, Spanish, Bulgarian, and Portuguese. Chinese and Russian forms will be released soon.

Wirtland warmly greets the interest from Bulgarian people and government, and hopes for building mutually beneficial relations with Sofia.

Miss Wirtland Beauty Contest

To celebrate the holiday season Wirtland started to collect entry photos for "MISS WIRTLAND" Beauty Contest. If you are a lady Witizen and want to participate in Miss Wirtland, you may submit your photograph(s) to the Contest - click here. If you have not yet signed up at Witizens Network, the admission procedure is free and simple. Please rename the photos which you want to submit for competition, adding MISS to the title of photo. For instance, if you have "picture_1", it must become "MISS_picture_1". Don't be shy, let's have some fun! If you want to rate photos, come visit the album anytime. Thank you for rating and participating.
>> More feedback: http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=107689 (in Bulgarian)

First Big Newspaper Article On Wirtland Is Published

The first big newspaper article about Wirtland has recently been published. The article by Milko Levitcharov appeared in Bulgarian daily "Telegraph" on December 6, 2008. We have recently received the scan of the article from one of Witizens. Bulgaria became the first country to cover Wirtland both in printed media and on national television. This coverage led to large-scale influx of new citizens from Bulgaria. Bulgarian became the third language, in which the Witizenship Application Form is available (after English and Spanish).

Click on the image to view the article (if you read Bulgarian). The article is illustrated with the Wirtland Residence Permit, Wirtland's postage stamp, and other images. We hope the author or someone of Bulgarian Witizens will translate the article to English, or make a short summary, to make the article available for a broader audience.

>> More feedback: http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=107579 (in Bulgarian)
>> More feedback: http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=107689 (in Bulgarian)

Your Free Wirtland Residence Permit: How To Apply

Wirtland does not use commercial advertising campaigns to actively recruit new citizens, but its citizenship is free and open to everyone over 18 years of age. When you sign up at Witizens of Wirtland Network, you are offered two options: sign up as a "tourist", or apply for citizenship. Those who wish to apply soon receive one-page application form, which should be filled in and returned electronically.

That's about it. You receive your personalized Residence Permit. It is an electronic document. It bears the name of the owner and is suitable printing and framing. Alternatively, the document's central yellow-coloured part, also known as the yellow card, may be cut out. It fits any standard passport's page.

The Residence Permit gives you all the rights of a Witizen, including:

• the right to vote and be elected for public positions;
• the right to register a corporation or a representative office of a corporation, a non-profit organization, an association, a political party, or other legal entity in Wirtland;
• possibility to receive a passport and an identification card;
• possibility to register a marriage and receive a marriage certificate;
• the right of nomination for national awards of Wirtland;
• possibility to contribute to this newspaper.

Issuance of a residence permit and processing of the application are completely free of charge. If you wish to receive a printed passport or a plastic identification card, they can be issued after 3-5 months from the date of issuance of your residence permit. Owner of a Wirtland passport or ID card can use them as a legitimate identification document in most cases.

Wirtland's First Press Release Hits Google News

Wirtland's first press release entitled "Wirtland offers citizenship, declares sovereignty with no territorial claims", distributed on November 22, is now featured in Google News.

Recently the Press Section was added to the Wirtland's website. In the Press Section the journalists and other media representatives are now able to view and download the latest press materials, including Wirtland's press releases in PDF format, and high-resolution images. The Press Section will also monitor the international coverage and re-post selected articles.

The Legal Aspects of Wirtland

A new section "Legal Aspects" with questions and answers about legitimacy of Wirtland has been recently added to Wirtland's website. You can also read the text below.
You are welcome to post your opinion here, or in the special discussion forum at:
http://witizens.ning.com/forum/topics/legal-aspects-of-wirtland. Questions & opinions are welcome.

Why is UN recognition not required?
Recognition by United Nations Organization or by other states is important for every sovereign country, but it is not a necessary prerequisite for its existence. The Article 3 of Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (which is considered as major part of customary international law), states:
“The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.” [1]

Why Wirtland considers itself sovereign?
According to the above-mentioned Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, to have sovereignty, a state must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and it must have the capacity to enter into diplomatic relations (Article 1).
Wirtland meets three out of four of these criteria. It has permanent citizens, who receive passports and may register any legal act with the Wirtland’s authority. Wirtland has government and may engage into relations with other entities. The only basic difference between Wirtland and a traditional state is absence of a defined territory. However, many of so-called self-proclaimed states, which meet all four of the Montevideo Convention’s conditions, still are not considered sovereign subjects of international law. This makes the Montevideo Convention’s requirements questionable, and strengthens the position of such states and their right of sovereignty.
The fast development of global communication and especially Internet leads to considerable changes in the present understanding of sovereignty. The today’s international lawyers specifically emphasize this tendency, doubting the Montevideo Convention’s set of criteria. In his paper “The Acquisition of Sovereignty by Quasi-States” professor Noel Cox points out: “Yet, this [Montevideo Convention’s] definition is increasingly meaningless. The notions of sovereignty and statehood are not easily defined or explained…. With the growth in both the (horizontal) extent and (vertical) reach of international agreements, treaties, conventions and codes, national independence is becoming less relevant. This tendency is becoming more noticeable in the modern commercial environment, and especially the internet”.[2]

Absence of its own land: an advantage?

As the traditional self-proclaimed state typically forms by way of separation from another state, the territorial question is always the main source of dispute. Wirtland’s sovereignty is not based on any kind of separatism. It does not claim any land, which belongs to other entity, therefore there is no intrinsic conflict in the Wirtland’s concept of sovereignty. Therefore, we see absence of own land rather as an advantage. It allows for unclouded relations between Wirtland and other nations of the world.

Are there any similar cases, precedents in international law?
Yes. Order of Malta is widely recognized as a sovereign entity, though it has no sovereign territory. Order of Malta has diplomatic relations with 101 states, and its claimed sovereignty is also expressed in the issuance of passports, license plates, stamps, and coins. [3]

Conclusion
The political existence of Wirtland is completely legal. Though political existence of Wirtland does not depend on recognition of other states, it welcomes all the efforts towards building peaceful relations with all the world’s states and international organizations. Wirtland encourages other states to treat the documents issued by Wirtland, including passports, as regular genuine documents.

--------
[1] See http://www.cosmopolitikos.com/Documents/Montevideo%20(1933).pdf
[2] Noel Cox, Auckland University of Technology, “The Acquisition of Sovereignty by Quasi-States: The case of the Order of Malta”, first published (2002) 6(1&2) Mountbatten Journal of Legal Studies, 26-47
[3] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_malta

"WL" Domain For Virtual Land

November 2, 2008 - Wirtland formally applied for its own country's internet top level domain (TLD) to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, IANA. It is the first time that a virtual country applies for its own country domain. Wirtland applied for authorisation of ".wl" domain. Once granted, all sites in Wirtland will have domain names that will be ending with ".wl" (such as www.Wirtland.wl). Wirtland currently uses domain www.Wirtland.com. IANA allocates and maintains unique codes and numbering systems that are used in the technical standards (“protocols”) that drive the Internet.
>> More feedback (in Dutch): http://www.veldmuis.com/?p=148

Witizens' Social Network

Witizens (citizens of Wirtland) who wish to communicate between themselves, now have a new tool - a social network. This network is now available at http://witizens.ning.com/.
Members can post photos, video, musical content, use online chat, form groups, make their own blogs.

Witizenship is not required for signing up in the network.

Breaking News: The First Marriage Registered in Wirtland

On October 6, 2008, the first marriage was registered in Wirtland. The ceremony was conducted by means of a Skype video conference. The newly weds received a printed Marriage Certificate of Wirtland # 001, and a special wedding gift from the Government - free airline tickets. The newly weds' real location is Spain and Ukraine. The couple chose not to disclose their names for this press release. They had initially met online, and have already met twice in real life. They are both residents of Wirtland, and have recently applied for Wirtland's citizenship (a.k.a. witizenship). More information on this romantic story will follow soon.
-W!-

Being A Foreign Tourist In Your Hometown?

A friend of mine often tells me about that special feeling she gets when traveling abroad. She enjoys being a foreigner. She enjoys her relaxed tourist’s outfits. She likes being different from the busy crowd, when she gazes around or asks directions. According to her, you don’t necessarily need to buy an airplane ticket to enjoy this. Just put on your shorts, get a backpack and a big photo camera – and treat yourself for a day-off. We did this a couple times, even pretending we are foreigners in our hometown. It’s a lot of fun. You have the right to ask questions to everybody, to behave silly, to ignore local rules, you may even refuse to understand the local language if you want. Well, what can you do? You’re a foreigner, after all!

The only problem is your ID. But not any more. With an identity card from Wirtland you become a legal foreign visitor in any country, including your own. It is not a fake document, since there is no incorrect information in it. It bears your real name, and certifies that you are resident of Wirtland. There is nothing wrong about it. Wirtland may be not (yet) recognized by some countries, but this is not your problem. The name “Wirtland” may be just as unfamiliar to a local authority as any other small and faraway country’s name. Wirtland’s ID card will make people scratch the backs of their heads, but it won’t get you in trouble.

So, what are you waiting for? Register for a free residence permit at Wirtland’s website, email your photo and claim for your ID card. And a second ID is always helpful in many situations.

G.Gatsby (Gatsby @ wirtland.com)

New W-Sign To Symbolize Wirtland

One of Wirtland's younger fans suggested this hand gesture - W sign - to symbolize Wirtland informally. W sign may be used as a friendly or celebratory gesture, by one or two persons. If used by two persons, they unite hands with two V-signs into one W, same way as doing a "high five". With this easy salute you can always show your W-identity, or just greet your friends.

-W!-

The First Postage Stamp

Though a postage stamp is not especially necessary in a virtual land, it is a traditional attribute of any country. And we could not resist this beautiful design of the first Wirtland's postage stamp proposed by Descartes, who says the cranes and other migrant birds are a universal symbol of freedom. Besides, it is a really unique gift for philatelists. The denomination of stamp is 10 ICU (International Currency Units, linked to gold price). The crane featured on the first stamp is red-crowned crane or Japanese crane (Grus japonesis).

Wirtland is a cybercountry and not a member of World Post Union, so our stamps are so-called Cinderella stamps. Such stamps cannot be used as postage and are only for collectors. Wirtland stamps are hand-painted by professional artist in watercolor. As they are hand-made, the price is rather high. The price of 10 ICU stamp is same as 10 ICU gold coin. The series of postage stamps will be continued.

Now you can also order the special edition Wirtland Postage Mug. This collector's mug features the classic Crane stamp image, and was released to commemorate the second anniversary of Wirtland on August 14, 2010.

Wirtland Introduces Flag

On August 20 Wirtland introduced its flag. The flag was drafted by Anonimo Veneziano, resident of Wirtland. The flag consists of yellow circle on the dark blue rectangle, over a white background. The blue rectangle symbolizes a computer screen - entrance to virtual world. The yellow circle symbolizes there is no sundown in Wirtland. Some critics say the blue rectangle resembles of “Black Square”, a picture by Kazimir Malevich. We don’t mind this interpretation at all.

This flag is a draft. Suggestions, creative ideas, other artwork are more then welcome. -W!-

Wirtland, the world’s first virtual country, is starting its primary news and opinion blog here

Wirtland ['v¡rtlənd] is the first virtual country (www.wirtland.com).

Wirtland claims to be the youngest country in the world and was founded on August 14, 2008. An extract from Wirtland's Statute follows:

"While the boundaries of sovereign states are becoming symbolic in Europe, in other world's regions sovereignty is being increasingly challenged, and separatism sometimes leads to bloodshed and terrorism. While these trends are contrasting, they both suggest for a serious rethinking of the notion of self-identification in a changing world. However, there are few options left for an individual, if he is not taking an active part in political life. We believe people should be offered a broader choice.

Wirtland is the newest alternative for people's self-identification. Most importantly, Wirtland is a democratic, friendly, and peaceful alternative.

How influential is Wirtland and when Wirtland will become a real country? It completely depends on the Wirtlanders and their will to contribute to development of this country(just like in any other democratic community). Our aim is to offer an appropriate structure, a working mechanism - hopefully an attractive one - to allow for free discussions and all kinds of activities of our citizens and other interested people.

Who can apply for becoming a Wirtlander? Everyone".