Talk:Sirte

How many people live there? 178.190.194.225 (talk) 14:30, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
 * ✅ 135,451 (2009). Wareh (talk) 18:21, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
 * P.S. I took that number from the Italian Wikipedia, which didn't cite a source; it now appears from an edit citing a source that the true number may be smaller. Or perhaps there was confusion between city population and something else. Wareh (talk) 14:36, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Sirt, Surt and Sirte
Is there any evidence that Sirt is the English common name of the city, compared to the other variants? From what I've seen from major media announcements regarding the conflict (UK, US and other international ) they seem to predominantly use "Sirte". It's just because there seems a lot of variety in the naming of articles related to Sirt/Surt/Sirte and few I can see have a reasoning for the chosen form, would be good if things could be a bit more standardised. ChiZeroOne (talk) 15:30, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree. Article has been moved to "Sirte". Gryffindor (talk) 09:56, 28 March 2011 (UTC)


 * As a fluent speaker of both Arabic and Libyan Arabic I think that the correct form should be Sirt ( or ) which is indeed more popular (check Sirt vs. Sirte with simial results when searching for news). The addition of the e might come from French afaik. --  R a f y  talk 12:48, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm not so sure about those google comparisons, if you actually look at the results it is bringing up for "Sirt" a large percentage of the ones I've looked at are in fact not related to the Libyan city at all. I suggest if a more specific search is done, for example adding "Libya", then the roles are most certainly reversed.  I also am not sure about the e coming from the French since the First Battle of Sirte is the common name despite it not having a French connection, it is named after the Gulf of Sirte clearly indicating that the name of the city as well is correctly "Sirte" in English. ChiZeroOne (talk) 15:58, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * How are you a fluent speaker of both Libyan Arabic and Aramaic? Face-surprise.svg Magog the Ogre (talk) 17:37, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

"Sirte" is the Italian form of the etymological Greek Syrtis. By the way, just wondering, what on earth does Aramaic have to do with it? Wareh (talk) 18:02, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * His userpage says he's Assyrian and speaks Aramaic, but Assyria is on the opposite side of the Arab world. Magog the Ogre (talk) 18:36, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Oh, ok, interesting. I'm sure there are Aramaic-speaking Syrians who have spent time in Libya... Wareh (talk) 18:40, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I am a native of Iraq but my family had to leave at some point, and Libya was the only visa-free country for Iraqi passport holders. There were at some point thousands of Assyrians there but most have left for Europe.--  R a f y  talk 19:37, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Rename to Sert
A google search for 'Sert, Libya', 'Sirt, Libya' and 'Sirte, Libya' shows that the spelling Sert is much the most common, and also that the original Sirt spelling is in fact much more common than Sirte, despite some of the recent usage in the news. A bad decision to rename the page early on in the previous discussion; most of the discussion came after. I propose that this page be renamed again, to Sert (or if an Arabic speaker says it is fact pronounced differently, perhaps to Sirt). Imc (talk) 07:36, 26 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Most major news outlets use Sirte, plus its use in English is confirmed by the existence of e.g. the Sirte Declaration (which established the African Union) and the Sirte Oil Company. Sirte is therefore the correct name for this article. - TaalVerbeteraar (talk) 12:26, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

Just as a note, I've been taking the liberty of changing all the links to Sirte to this spelling. I've finished with those pages linking to Surt, but someone when back and changed those again, but to Sirt. Help would be appreciated :) 24.19.59.112 (talk) 18:35, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Irc, I have just performed these google searches, and what you say simply isn't true. "Sirte, Libya": 2.7 million hits. "Sert, Libya": 15,700 hits. Enough said.

Also, there is no reference whatsoever that "Sert" is the Berber form of the name. Nor is there any evidence that Berber sees any use at all in Sirte. Berber is a 5% minority language in Libya. There is no evidence that any Berber speakers live anywhere near Sirte. Strictly speaking: You want to claim that "Sert" is the Berber form? Then show a decent reference which says as much. --dab (𒁳) 18:32, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Merger of District 2
Just as a note I have proposed that District 2, Sirte be merged into the Sirte article as it is a stub that isn't all that notable, certainly not notable enough for its own article. Jeancey (talk) 16:36, 1 November 2011 (UTC)


 * It's notable in that it was the last area where Gaddafi's government existed, and where Gaddafi and his forces fought their last stand before attempting their escape. That's how it became quite known across the news-world. --129.130.99.6 (talk) 00:49, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Recent Article on Sirte in the New York Times if Anyone Wants to Use It to Update the Main Article
See: David D. Kirkpatrick, Ben Hubbard, and Eric Schmitt, "ISIS' Grip on Libyan City Gives It a Fallback Option", The New York Times, November 29, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/middleeast/isis-grip-on-libyan-city-gives-it-a-fallback-option.html

Very sorry about the messy formatting, I don't know how to do it properly.

FurnaldHall (talk) 09:48, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Sirte. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20111224002556/http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/10/16/1866950/sirte-libya-gadhafis-hometown.html to http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/10/16/1866950/sirte-libya-gadhafis-hometown.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 13:32, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

'self-proclaimed revolution' is needlessly editorializing and not the subject of the article
The Gaddafi era section begins with the sentence After seizing power in 1969, Gaddafi transformed Sirte into a showcase of his self-proclaimed revolution ...

The 'self-proclaimed revolution' phrase adds nothing factual to the article, and 'seizing power' is of course POV.

If the editors, for whatever reason, do not wish to characterize the beginnings of Gaddafi's 42-year government as a 'revolution', they may of course refer to it as a 'coup'.

'After coming to power in 1969, Gaddafi transformed Sirte into a showcase for Libya. . .' would probably be a more accurate start and certainly makes the article a little bit less of an editorial.

Son of eugene (talk) 05:03, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Birthplace of Gaddafi
The article states "As the birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi", but Gaddafi was born in the district, not the city. Should this be noted/specified? TheManInTheBlackHat  (Talk)  14:43, 11 March 2023 (UTC)