Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/George Malek-Yonan


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. King of &hearts;   &diams;   &clubs;  &spades; 00:58, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

George Malek-Yonan

 * – ( View AfD View log )

No RS provided, the article fails WP:ATHLETE. Farhikht (talk) 17:12, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

I am declining the nomination of George Malek-Yonan for deletion, because of the following concern: The articles make credible assertion of importance and/or significance. Thank you. Zayya 00:50, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep the article as it meets the standard of notability. His contributions both as an athlete and political figure in the Assyrian community in Iran are verifiable and beyond dispute.  The article needs more citations and of course there are numerous articles, newspaper clippings and photos that can be referenced. Most are in Farsi/Persian but are nevertheless available. Zayya 07:53, 9 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Iran-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 01:51, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sportspeople-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 01:51, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 01:51, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

 Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Ron Ritzman (talk) 00:02, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.

*Keep *Comment George Malek-Yonan is a living legend in the Assyrian community. During the late Shah's time, Malek-Yonan singlehandedly secured a seat in the Iranian Parliament for the Assyrians. This resulted in giving Assyrians of Iran a voice and becoming a legally accepted minority to date. Within the Iranian sports scene, Malek-Yonan made tremendous achievements and held a number or records. He was the last athlete to holds the title of "Champion of Champions" in Iran. He has received nearly 50 Gold and Silver medals in various events. I agree that the article needs updating and more citations but I disagree that it should be deleted at this time. He was involved with the Sports Federation in Iran for many years after he stopped competing. I think it would be a mistake to delete this article. Zayya 09:28, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete fails WP:ATHLETE. also as per WP:NOTRESUME. LibStar (talk) 01:30, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * you cannot !vote twice. LibStar (talk) 10:52, 16 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Delete: per nom, no proof of notability. Spada II ♪♫ (talk) 12:17, 16 March 2011 (UTC)


 *  Delete  - The problem is that the assertions of notability are vague. As a lawyer, he worked at the US embassy during the hostage crisis.  That's not a strong claim of notability, and it doesn't appear that that is why the article was created.  The claim for politician is more strongly asserted as securing a seat for Assyrians but is unclear what that means.  In any case, I can find no English language sources explaining George Malek-Yonan's involvement.  The claim for athlete is also strongly asserted with 47 medals.  But there is no indication what exactly those medals are for, and what competitions he participated in.  For me, this fails verifiability.  If there are Farsi/Persian language sources, they should be brought forward. I can't read them, but I'm sure we can find an editor who could review them. -- Whpq (talk) 16:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Weak Keep - I'm assuming the sources are substantial and are reliable as they are offline. With that assumption, he would appear to meet general notability. -- Whpq (talk) 13:41, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment Malek-Yonan's political significance for the Assyrian nation is undeniable. Since you are not familiar with what it means to become a legally recognized Christian minority nation within an Islamic country, I will attempt to explain this in a nutshell. The Assyrians have not had a formal country since the fall of the Assyrian Empire. we're talking 2,000+ years! Iran was the first country to give Assyrians the designation of a recognized nation through the efforts of one man, namely George Malek-Yonan.  His plan and the execution of the plan, achieved this recognition and security for the Assyrians of Iran.  Without this seat in Parliament, the Assyrian identity in Iran would remain virtually invisible.  To draw a parallel that you may better understand, the case of the Assyrians in Iran is similar to that of the American Indians or the Australian Aborigines.  With a seat in Parliament, Assyrians were given equal rights under the law.  I am sure that some of you non-Assyrian editors cannot fully grasp the significance of issues pertaining to the survival of Assyrians in the Middle-East.  Articles like this, are enormously helpful in that regard.  I am compiling documentation regarding this and Malek-Yonan's years of being a Champion athlete in Iran.  I do read and write Farsi/Persian and will provide translations.  However, this may take some time.  When creating an article suddenly becomes a race against the clock, it is counter productive.  As for what all his medals are for and which competitions he participated in, they can all be easily supplied.  I am in contact with the family for that.  However, his records are a part of Iran's permanent historical archives and I am sure any Farsi speaking editor can help with compiling this information as well.  But I will gladly add all that, however, not with such a time restraint.  Zayya 18:44, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment - This need not be a race against the clock. You may want to userfy the article so that the work isn't lost while you research sources. -- Whpq (talk) 18:55, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep. His achievements are notable enough but more references are needed. Without references this article will be deleted.  Nipson anomhmata   (Talk) 21:28, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * What exactly are his achievements? Can you tell me based on any reliable sources?  verifiability is a fundamental policy and at this point in time, the article fails that policy.  The claims of notable achievements need to be backed up with sources and I (and other editors) have found none so far.  There may be some in non-English sources, but none have been brought forward. -- Whpq (talk) 22:54, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment - As I stated above, I am in the process of gathering all the sources. Please be patient.  What is the exigency in deleting the article?  There are thousands of articles with less information than this one.  Whpq seems to have started a good number of articles that need completion.  I suppose every one of those can be tagged for deletion but that would be counter productive.  Instead hopefully other editors will pitch in to add to those stub articles.  In this case we are dealing with materials that are not on the net rather in publications in Farsi and in archives.  So as I said before, please be patient and all will be verifiable. Zayya 01:44, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Reply - My comment was a reply to Nipsonanomhmata who is advocating keep without stating what sources lead him to believe that it should be kept. As for the articles that I've started that need completion, hey aren't germane to this discussion.  This is a collaborative effort that everybody shares in article development, however if you care to point out any deficiencies in sourcing, I'll look into improving them. -- Whpq (talk) 02:18, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I have added some references and hope that others will do likewise.  Nipson anomhmata   (Talk) 11:09, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The references are problematic. Assyrian world simply copied the material from Rosie Malek-Yonan's web site which you lalso used as a source, but it does not represent an independent reliable source except for confirming basic non-controverisaL facts about Rosie Malek-Yonan who is not the subject of this article.  The other sources, aside from Zinda are all used to confirm facts about Rosie Malek-Yonan, which does nothing to verify facts about her father.  And with respect to the Zinda magazine article, the one paragraph about her father looks suspiciously similar to the material from Rosie Malek-Yonan's web site as well. -- Whpq (talk) 15:11, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry. I don't speak Parsi or Farsi and I can't contribute any more than I have.  Nipson anomhmata   (Talk) 16:00, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment I have now in a short time been able to find a few magazine clippings with photos and description of George Malek-Yonan's athletic achievements. There will be much more to follow.  In the meantime, can someone please advise if I should just reference these, or upload the photo plus blurb which is in Farsi.  I can provide a translation and I'm sure another Farsi speaking/reading editors can verify the translation.  This is a publication so I'm not sure about copyright. Thank you.Zayya 20:21, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * You just need to reference the title of the article, the page numbers, the name of the publication, the issue (if there is one) and date. It would be good if you can do it in both Farsi and English (if you can).  Nipson anomhmata   (Talk) 22:01, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you, that is helpful. Much appreciate it.Zayya 22:09, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment I have now added what I believe to be a sufficient amount of references to the article and will continue to add more. There are a lot of books, magazines and articles to comb through and translate into English. But perhaps this will be sufficient for the moment to save the article. In the meantime, I would very much appreciate help from other editors who can better arrange the references if the format is incorrect.Zayya 08:59, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Excellent references. Well done. Definitely a keeper. He easily qualifies for General Notability. Moreover, he qualified for the 1948 Olympic Games.  Nipson anomhmata   (Talk) 11:13, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep. Notable individual in the Iranian-Assyrian community. Kurdo777 (talk) 19:37, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.