Beyond citypopulation.de's 242 countries lie a few more states claiming to be countries as well - can you name them? We exclude a delightful list of micronations you might want to have a read of sometime.
I think that was the one I was trying to type, but made it into something like Arbakh ang gave up. A combo of abkazia, karabakh and artsakh..
And askabath kept going through my mind.. (Ashgabat). Anyway, I big mess all I knew for sure there was atleast one place starting with an a on here haha
Quite possibly! Although if you look at the instructions for each quiz, you'll see why each is in each quiz: Answers in Countries 197 to 205 are drawn only from nations listed in citypopulation.de's country list, whereas answers here do not appear in citypopulation.de.
What a pain to see here Somaliland, a country that has been de facto independant since 1993, has managed to conduct cleaner and more democratic elections than 90% of african countries, and has developed a political stable model, when world's attention is focused on the failed state of Somalia, where UN's money only serve corrupted politicians...
Somaliland's model should be adapted to Somalia, not the western one!
Grantma: by whom? According to most of the world, Northern Cyprus is part of the country of Cyprus, which is a different thing, and has been illegally occupied by Turkey. According to the government of Northern Cyprus and of Turkey, it's the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. That's it's official name. Even those (very few) entities that recognize TRNC's legitimacy and sovereignty don't call it simply "Cyprus."
Having visited both Northern Cyprus and the southern Republic of Cyprus, they each function as fully independent countries. Frankly, Northern Cyprus's non-recognition, beyond by Turkey, completely baffles me.
why is Catalonia on this list? If one includes Catalonia then Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Corsica, Flanders and Bavaria - and certainly Kurdistan - should be on it too
As someone from Flanders, it shouldn't be on this list. I can guarantee you that if a referendum is held today that not a lot of people would vote for independence. It wouldn't even be close to 50%. The 2 separatist parties might get 50% in polls, but that's because of immigration problems and also to say a f*ck you to our political system which is beyond broken.
As much as I am supportive of the Catalan independence movement, Catalonia doesn't have anything like the autonomy of any of the others in the list. It also has less autonomy than the constituent parts of the UK, for instance.
It has held a few referenda but never actually declared independence from Spain.
The Parliament of Catalonia passed a declaration of independence on 27 October 2017, following a referendum that produced a 90% vote in favour of independence. The central Spanish government keeps wailing that both were "illegal" - but all votes of independence anywhere have always been "illegal". History is littered with big groups trying to cling onto smaller groups, even when the smaller groups want to leave - USA from Great Britain in 1776, Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, Timor-Leste from Indonesia in 1975 to name but three.
The 'vote' was illegal and unacceptable anywhere in the democratic world. Polling stations were broken into; there were no electoral lists; there were no precautions against multiple voting; the elections were boycotted by over half the electorate. There has been no election ever in Catalonia where independence or parties supporting it have obtained over 50% of the electorate and the only reason there is the slimmest of majorities for independence parties in the regional parliament are the vagaries of the electoral system - they never actually win the popular vote. It was a vote for one side only, akin to elections in the Soviet Union and other dictatorships. The Catalans overwhelmingly supported the current Spanish constitution when it was put to referendum and had input into drawing it up. The Constitution outlines the process by which it could be modified thereby allowing Catalan independence. You giving credibility to them here is shameful
The fact that it was legal or not is not the most important here. Yes, Catalonia tried to take their independance. But they failed, at least for the moment, Spain has taken direct control of the region, Catalonia is not a sovereign country right now. To be continued...
I have a feeling that Catalonia doesn't deserve to be in this quiz considering that all the other countries in this quiz are technically functioning like a real country - with actual government acting independently from the home country - while Catalonia just declared independence and was kicked out before anything... Anyways nice quiz!
Kurdistan has stepped back from declaring independence and Catalonia is no more independent than Scotland either. However Bougainville has voted overwhelmingly for independence and there are votes pending in Chuuk (Truk, FSM) and New Caledonia....
There is a major difference between Scotland and Catalonia. Scotland rejected independence at its most recent referendum. Catalonia voted for independence at its most recent referendum, and followed that up with a declaration of independence by its parliament. It'll be interesting to see how things play out in Bougainville, Chuuk and New Caledonia over the coming period.
As mentioned before, Catalonia voted in a referendum with a 40% turnout that was neither free nor fair with well-documented abuses and that was boycotted by the other side. Pro independence forces have never collectively obtained more than 50% of the vote in any election in Catalonia with at least a 50% turnout. The 'declaration' by the regional government is meaningless, comparing this with other countries' struggles for freedom against oppression is insulting - given that there actually is a legal constitutional way for Catalonia to gain independence. Please delete it from this quiz, along with Kurdistan who have also held back from declaring or seeking independence. Good to see that New Caledonia have rejected independence twice in 2 referenda in 2 years now.
You might include as well Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, which seceded from Ukraine in 2014 (although most say they are Russian puppet-States, which however could apply as a definition also to Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria).
Oh yeah. Catalonia. Should have guessed that. Especially with the thumbnail which I just noticed, duh. I was trying to remember the names of both Spanish exclaves in Africa. That's the only one I missed other than the one in Azerbaijan never heard of that one. I've been by South Ossetia, and spent about a week in Northern Cyprus before. Transnistria I remember as being the only place that wouldn't accept my car's paperwork for entry and so I had to drive around it on my way to Ukraine. (Serbia would later become the only place that accepted the paperwork on the way in but did not accept it on the way out and used this as a pretext to steal my car - I preferred the Transnistrian's approach)
oh wait I have heard of the Azerbaijani one. That's that disputed exclave that's also claimed by Armenia, I think. I knew that was there. Wouldn't have remembered the name, though.
And askabath kept going through my mind.. (Ashgabat). Anyway, I big mess all I knew for sure there was atleast one place starting with an a on here haha
Somaliland's model should be adapted to Somalia, not the western one!
Oh wait Somalia isn't any better...
It has held a few referenda but never actually declared independence from Spain.