Life In 19x19

Judging by the recent European Women's Championship, it appears that Kyrgyzstan are applying for membership of the EGF.
Somewhat surprising perhaps, since they are in Asia and could presumably join the AGF.

Because of links with Russia (ex USSR)?

Well... for starters, it wouldn't be the first one. South Africa, for instance, has observer status (like Greece, so it's not a physical issue). Azerbaijan used to be a member, and I'm not sure about the implication of Morocco. You might argue that Georgia is European, but Kazakhstan certainly isn't and neither is Israel (which has long been a member of several European organization; Eurovision keeps raising its hand to volunteer).

Then, if you mix the CIA world factbook and Wiki, it mostly has links to Russia, both via landline communications and by plane; even though it has no air links with the EU, it's still closer to it than, say, the Nihon Kiin's HQ. A Kyrgyz can reach an event in Russia, I'd say, faster and easier than one in Eastern Asia. And I'm not even going to try to figure out how visas would work.

Take care.

I doubt it is evidence of Kyrgyzstan having plans to join EGF. This is mainly because observer status is granted by the executive and Kyrgyzstan has yet to be granted.

Btw Australia competes in Eurovision, probably making it a European country (continent?) too

If I remember correctly, South Africa wanted to actually join the EGF, but they were only allowed observer status. I imagine that it is possible that Kazakhstan wanted to join because of the connection to Russia, but perhaps they just wanted to play in the PGETC. They have yet to submit a single tournament result to the EGF. I suppose you can reasonably argue that if Kazakhstan is a member then why shouldn't Kyrgyzstan be one, although it does rather stretch things out somewhat.

Israel generally joins the European federations because of politics, enough said really.
Morocco has observer status, perhaps because of the same reasons as South Africa. Gone are the days when the Moroccan federation basically lived in Paris.

Javaness2 wrote:Morocco has observer status, perhaps because of the same reasons as South Africa. Gone are the days when the Moroccan federation basically lived in Paris.

I don't think Morocco has observer status, but South Africa has observer status. "Observer" status is meant to be a candidateship for membership if you check the constitution, but it is easy to forget this and grant observer status instead as a form of partnership. That is what happened with South Africa. I was at the agm when South Africa's candidacy was discussed but you may plausibly interpret this differently.

Oh, indeed you are correct. Morroco is just listed under "other countries" at https://www.eurogofed.org/members/

BTW, why is Greece observer and not actually member?

From EGF Constitution

Article 2.2 Admission to membership and observer status:
2.2.1 Any Go organization in a country that does not already have a member organization of the EGF may
be admitted to Observer status of the EGF by the Executive Committee, provided this organization
meets the conditions in article 2.2.2.
2.2.2 An Observer organization may later apply for membership. The Executive Committee may propose
admission of this organization to the General Meeting, but only if this organization has regulations,
which provide:
• clear rules about that country's representation in the international tournaments where player
selection is needed;
• admission on reasonable terms of every player wanting to join the (proposed) member, even if
they may already be a member of another Go organization;
• a procedure for handling internal conflicts;
• the possibility of appeal to the EGF Appeals Commission, if a problem cannot be resolved
internally.
2.2.3 For admission, a simple majority of the General Meeting is sufficient.

I've added Kyrgyzstan now in the "Other Country" section.
I've heard they will also join the pandanet team championship!
https://eurogofed.org/members/