South west of Kurdistan - Discrimination and uprising

The discrimination of the Kurdish population within the boundaries of Syria is of an inhuman character. The Kurds have been exposed to murder, forced assimilation and pure racism by the Syrian government. Indeed all evidence suggests that discrimination against the Kurdish population of Syria continues unabated and since Bashar al Assad came to power the Kurds have witnessed an intensification of these suppressive policies.

(19)"We were put in a closed room… sleeping on the floor with lice and mice. Our hair was shaved. They would only open the door to throw in the food then close the door again. [And] during meals they would turn on the water tap and put us under it clothed, then we would be beaten."
Testimony given to AI by Hassan (not his real name), detained for two months following violence in Qamishli, Syria in March 2004

(20) The year 1962 will be remembered as a landmark in Kurdish history when an important event which still today affects a large number of Kurds in Syria took place. This is the Hasaka census of 1962 which saw to that a large section of the Kurdish population in Syria became stateless. The census, that was conducted over one night, deprived approximately 150 000 Kurds of their Syrian citizenship. (21) The census was based on the concerns of the Syrian government about the number of Kurds who they believed had entered the country from Turkey since the end of the Second World War. Many Kurds from Turkey and Iraq had also settled in the Kurdish areas of Syria in the aftermaths of the First World War. They were escaping persecution by the authorities of these two states. The approximate number of Kurds who settled in Syria after the two great wars is believed to be around 25 000, which is much lower than the 150 000 who were stripped of their citizenship. The inhabitants of Hasaka were not warned that the census would be conducted or any indication of its consequences. Those who had their citizenship abolished had their land expropriated by the state and were denied the right to farm land. The land formerly owned by Kurdish peasants was now distributed to Arab Syrians who settled in the Kurdish areas.

(22) Many Kurds who now stood without Syrian citizenship were registered by the Syrian authorities as foreign/alien. As a foreigner you do not have the basic human rights which are included in the citizenship. Children born to parents without citizenship were also registered as foreigners. Foreign Kurds are given a red piece of paper where their status is written. They can not be issued passports.

Up to this day the foreign Kurds and their children are registered as ajnabi. Being a foreigner in Syria has its consequences. (23) They are not allowed to own property, land, and businesses, to receive subsidies or to use state hospitals. They are not allowed to own cars or any other vehicles. Employment in the public sector is prohibited. Occupations such as lawyers, doctors, engineer etc are not granted to foreigners. In these professions they are not even allowed to work in private firms. All political activity is forbidden and the same goes to marriage between a foreigner and a Syrian citizen. Children born into these marriages are defined as maktumiins, which literally translated means "hidden". They are not registered at all and do not exist officially. Today the estimated number of the foreign registered Kurds is 200,000 and a further 100,000 are maktumiin (not registered at all). They are living under inhuman conditions and completely stripped of legal rights.

(24) During a time when the relations between the Syrian government and the government of the Unites Sates worsened significantly the Kurds of Syria were hoping for political changes. When George Bush publicly supported an air strike on Syrian soil by the Israelis 2003, it marked a sudden change of attitude from US towards Assad´s regime. Assad knew for the first time that he would not get away with his atrocities committed against the Kurds. After a tumultuous period with several Kurdish demonstrations many Kurds were arrested and detained by the Syrian secret police, "Mukhaberat".

The Kurdish region in Syria was like a ticking bomb with a very short fuse. Everyone suspected a massive clash between Arabs and Kurds. Assad´s regime was aware of this and according to Kurdish sources Assad was distributing arms to Arab settlers in the Jazira region. (25) On the 12th March an Arab and a Kurdish football team gathered in the Kurdish city of Qamishlo for a game. The Arabs, who had entered the arena with knifes and sticks, began shouting pro Saddam slogans. The Kurds responded by shouting the name of Kurdish leaders and chanting," long live Kurdistan". This was the final spark that ignited a huge fight between the spectators. The Syrian security forces arrived quickly at the scene of events and opened fire at the defenceless Kurdish crowds. (26) Six persons were killed instantly and three young boys were literally tramped to death in the chaos that occurred. The killings in Qamishlo sparked similar riots in other Kurdish cities such as Efrin, Amûdê and Hasaka. Kurds gathered in massive demonstrations and vandalized vehicles and murals of the Syrians former president Hafiz al Assad while chanting slogans such as," long live Kurdistan", "death to the Ba´th regime" etc. The demonstrations even spread to big Syrian cities such as Aleppo and Damascus. Property damage was estimated at hundreds of million dollars.

(27) More than two thousand Kurds were arrested in the weeks following the mass demonstrations in the Kurdish areas. According to Syrian officials the death toll was at 25 persons; however the Kurds estimate the death number being as high as 45, with hundreds more injured. Syrians vice president, Abd al Halim Khaddam, quickly blamed the riots on exploitation from foreign parties. (28) He said, "These unspecified foreign parties were trying to benefit from the incidents". Bashar later claimed that the riots were not caused by national sentiments in the Kurdish areas. The Kurds were portrayed in the Syrian media as if they opposed the Kurdish uprisings. Syrian television showed scenes of crowds erupting into chants of "with our blood and souls we redeem you, oh Bashar." They also interviewed handpicked Kurds who denied being discriminated in Syria and broadcast it proudly on Syrian television.

It is said that the mass demonstrations expressed Kurdish objections to forty years of oppression and discrimination by the Ba´th party in Syria!

Rewend Haco

WeKurd