21 October 2010
Civata Xortan internet site published the results of its research on the most followed 171 Kurdish sites in the 4 parts of Kurdistan
The most extensive research until today made on the reading rates of Kurdish internet sites, has been published. According to the research, Peyamner news agency in South Kurdistan is the mostly read Kurdish news site, while ANF is the most followed news agency in North Kurdistan.
Civata Xortan internet site has published the results of its research on the most followed 171 Kurdish sites in four parts of Kurdistan and world. The research draws the attention as the most comprehensive research on the read rates and reader profile of Kurdish internet sites.
125 THOUSAND KURDISH READERS IN INTERNET ENVIRONMENT
Alexa’s data was referred in the research, which determined internet sites in accordance with their daily functionality and highest ratings. According to the research, the reader rate of 171 Kurdish internet sites is 125 thousand followers, which means 4 million people in a month. The result at the same time shows that the number of readers of Kurdish internet sites is quite lowly. As example for that, Civata Xortan points out that the read rate of a most followed Arabic internet site in Syria reaches 125 thousand. The readers of the most followed internet sites in Turkey are between 400 thousand-500 thousand.
South Kurdistan, which is under an autonomic governance compared with all four sides of Kurdistan and uses Kurdish as the course-language, is seen as the part with the highest rates of Kurdish internet site followers. While the Northern part has the highest population of Kurdish people, East Kurdistan is listed as second, South as third and Southwest Kurdistan as forth in the list of population density. However, the rate of following Kurdish in internet environment is not progressing parallel with the population density.
WHY LOW FOLLOW RATES IN THICKLY POPULATED REGIONS
According to the research; of a million population in North Kurdistan, 1250 people follow Kurdish internet sites, while this number is seen as 300 in East Kurdistan, 1800 in Southwest Kurdistan and 25.500 in South Kurdistan. It is possible to see the paradox in the reading rates when East Kurdistan’ Kurdish population of almost 10 million is compared with 2 million Kurdish population in Southwest Kurdistan, but it seems more comprehensible when the ban and filtrations of Iran regime on Kurdish internet sites are considered. And the low rates in North can be expressed as a result of the banns on Kurdish language and the heavy assimilation policies. So, rather than the population density, the circumstances of people in their living spaces determine the rates on internet following.
83 PERCENT OF READERS FOLLOW 11 PAGES
The results of the research show that 83 percent of Kurdish internet readers follow 11 pages and other 160 pages share the 17 percent of internet users amongst each other. While 10 of the most followed 11 internet sites are from South Kurdistan, a page is classified as from North Kurdistan.
The most followed Kurdish internet sites are listed as follows; Peyamner, Awêne and PUKmedia in South Kurdistan, Fırat News Agency (ANF) in North, RojhelatTimes in East Kurdistan and Gemyakurda in Southwest Kurdistan. And in general, Peyamner is the most read internet site and followed by Awêne, PUKmedia, Sbey and ANF.
POLITICAL PAGES ARE READ BY ELDERS, NOT YOUTH
Considering the most followed 50 pages, 95 percent of readers prefer pages with political news, while their average of age is recorded as over 25. When the internet works of political parties are regarded, PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) pages are followed in north the most, while followers in South Kurdistan read about 4-5 separate parties. In other words, 95 percent of readers of political party and organization pages follow 10 internet pages.
CHILDREN CAN’T FIND PLACE IN KURDISH MEDIA
On the other hand, according to a research made by MpFS in Germany; 60 percent of children between 6-13 ages use internet and 60 percent of this rate access internet at least once a week. Considering that at least 1 million Kurdish people live in Europe, this result is a data of big importance. But however, the lack of Kurdish internet sites for children appears as one of the main problems. On his research, Civata Xorta records that the number of children using internet is increasing day by day, adding that children still cannot find a place in Kurdish media.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
ANF / NEWS DESK
ANF NEWS AGENCY
