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As a minority having been denied rights by the government throughout history, the Kurds have opposed Arab nationalist regimes in Syria for centuries<ref name=":2" />. Oppression of the Kurds already began with the end of the [[World War I|First World War]], when the Syrian government disenfranchised many Kurds in modern Syria, separating the Kurds into three separate states <ref name=":1" />. Following the end of the French Mandate in Syria in 1946, a census called Decree no. 93 stripped more than 120.000 Syrian Kurds of their Syrian citizenship, leaving them stateless. Now rendered ''ajanib'' (foreigners in Arabic), they could not vote, own land or any other kind of property, work for the government or marry legally (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/11/26/group-denial/repression-kurdish-political-and-cultural-rights-syria|title=Group Denial {{!}} Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria|last=Avenue|first=Human Rights Watch {{!}} 350 Fifth|last2=York|first2=34th Floor {{!}} New|date=2009-11-26|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en|access-date=2020-04-25|last3=t 1.212.290.4700|first3=NY 10118-3299 USA {{!}}}}</ref>). Furthermore, stateless Kurds have no passports, disabling them to travel, are not admitted to public hospitals and can not apply for food subsidies (<ref name=":3" />) According to several researchers and organizations, the number of stateless Syrian Kurds has increased since 1962 to over 300.000 stateless Kurds, because all children of stateless Kurdish fathers inherit the same status (<ref name=":3" />; <ref name=":1" />). |
As a minority having been denied rights by the government throughout history, the Kurds have opposed Arab nationalist regimes in Syria for centuries<ref name=":2" />. Oppression of the Kurds already began with the end of the [[World War I|First World War]], when the Syrian government disenfranchised many Kurds in modern Syria, separating the Kurds into three separate states <ref name=":1" />. Following the end of the French Mandate in Syria in 1946, a census called Decree no. 93 stripped more than 120.000 Syrian Kurds of their Syrian citizenship, leaving them stateless. Now rendered ''ajanib'' (foreigners in Arabic), they could not vote, own land or any other kind of property, work for the government or marry legally (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/11/26/group-denial/repression-kurdish-political-and-cultural-rights-syria|title=Group Denial {{!}} Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria|last=Avenue|first=Human Rights Watch {{!}} 350 Fifth|last2=York|first2=34th Floor {{!}} New|date=2009-11-26|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en|access-date=2020-04-25|last3=t 1.212.290.4700|first3=NY 10118-3299 USA {{!}}}}</ref>). Furthermore, stateless Kurds have no passports, disabling them to travel, are not admitted to public hospitals and can not apply for food subsidies (<ref name=":3" />) According to several researchers and organizations, the number of stateless Syrian Kurds has increased since 1962 to over 300.000 stateless Kurds, because all children of stateless Kurdish fathers inherit the same status (<ref name=":3" />; <ref name=":1" />). |
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Following Decree 93, the status of Kurds was further reduced when the creation of an Arab Belt under the government of the pan-Arab [[Ba'ath Party|Ba'ath party]] in 1963 expropriated Kurds from their lands on Turkish- and Iraqi borders (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Alslopp|first=Harriet|title=The Kurds of Syria. Political parties and identity in the Middle East|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2015|isbn=978 1 78453 393 9|location=London, England|pages=}}</ref>). Up until the Syrian civil war, several regulations and decrees put in place discriminated the Kurds further. Kurdish history in schoolbooks was erased from 1967 onwards, children with Kurdish first names were not registered when decree No.122 was put in place in 1992, and cultural material in the Kurdish language like books and videos were banned in 2000 under resolution 768 (<ref name=":1" />). According to several scholars, these and other measures showed the state’s hostility towards the Kurds (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":4" />). |
Following Decree 93, the status of Kurds was further reduced when the creation of an Arab Belt under the government of the pan-Arab [[Ba'ath Party|Ba'ath party]] in 1963 expropriated Kurds from their lands on Turkish- and Iraqi borders (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Alslopp|first=Harriet|title=The Kurds of Syria. Political parties and identity in the Middle East|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2015|isbn=978 1 78453 393 9|location=London, England|pages=}}</ref>). Up until the Syrian civil war, several regulations and decrees put in place discriminated the Kurds further. Kurdish history in schoolbooks was erased from 1967 onwards, children with Kurdish first names were not registered when decree No.122 was put in place in 1992, and cultural material in the Kurdish language like books and videos were banned in 2000 under resolution 768 (<ref name=":1" />). According to several scholars, these and other measures showed the state’s hostility towards the Kurds (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":4" />). |
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=== Emerging political parties === |
=== Emerging political parties === |
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It was in this post-independence period that Syrian Kurdish political parties emerged, advocating for democracy in Syria and a free and united Kurdistan ( |
It was in this post-independence period that Syrian Kurdish political parties emerged, advocating for democracy in Syria and a free and united Kurdistan (<ref name=":4" />). However, the first Kurdish political party, ''Partiya Demokrat a Kurd li Suriye'' was soon crushed when Kurdish areas became Arabized by the Ba’ath party in the 1960s. Seizing power in a coup, [[Hafez al-Assad|Hafiz al-Assad]] (the former president of Syria) made Syria a one-party state in 1970 and made Arab unity its ultimate goal <ref name=":4" />. In this way, pursuing Arab nationalism legitimized the oppression of the Syrian Kurds, unless they assimilated themselves to the Arab identity of Syria (<ref name=":1" />; <ref name=":4" />). Therefore, ever since the end of the French Mandate, the Kurds and Kurdish identity has been seen as a threat by the Syrian state and until after the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011, little has been done to halt the state’s discriminatory treatment of Kurds in Syria (<ref name=":1" />, <ref name=":4" />). Scholars argue that the discrimination is seen by the majority of the Kurds as a threat to their national and ethnic identity, providing the main reason for establishing Syrian Kurdish political parties (<ref name=":1" />, <ref name=":4" />). |
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=== Kurdish politics during the civil war === |
=== Kurdish politics during the civil war === |
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Revision as of 13:54, 27 April 2020
Kurds in the Syrian civil war
The Syrian Civil War created a lot of instability in the region, providing opportunities for Kurdish actors to take control of parts of northern Syria. A result of this has been the creation of Kurdistana Rojava (West Kurdistan), an autonomous Kurdish zone within Syria[1]. This new autonomous government, albeit fragile, has become an important aspect in Syrian geopolitics and for many Kurds[1]. However, the road towards Kurdish inclusion and equality in Syria as well as solving Kurdish issues has been arduous and is continuing still.
Kurds in Syria
Kurdistan, centered on the Zagros mountain range on the borders of present-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, is the homeland of the Kurds. Estimates are that there are around 30 million Kurds around the world, mainly dispersed in the Middle East. Approximately 1 million live in Syria and are viewed as a minority by the ruling elite because they are "a group of people, differentiated from others in the same society by race, nationality, religion, or language, who both think of themselves as a differentiated group and are of thought by others as a differentiated group with negative connotations.” Most Kurds live in the region of Rojava in Western Kurdistan, with Qamishli as the largest Kurdish city in Syria and considered as the de facto capital of Western Kurdistan[2]. Many of the Kurds living in Syria have a Turkish background because of their exodus from Turkey during the Kurdish uprisings in this country in 1925[2]. Because of their Turkish origin, many Kurds in northern Syria were deprived of the right to vote when the French mandate began in 1920. Even so, Kurds in Syria have positioned themselves differently from region to region. Kurds in Afrin and Damascus supported the French, while the Kurdish tribes in the Jazirah and Jarabulus region cooperated with Turkish troops loyal to Mustafa Kemal[3]. Even though a sense of a Kurdish national identity developed slowly during the French mandate, prominent leaders of the Syrian Kurds like the Bedir Khan brothers furthered the cause of Kurdish nationalism[2].
Oppression by the Syrian government
As a minority having been denied rights by the government throughout history, the Kurds have opposed Arab nationalist regimes in Syria for centuries[3]. Oppression of the Kurds already began with the end of the First World War, when the Syrian government disenfranchised many Kurds in modern Syria, separating the Kurds into three separate states [2]. Following the end of the French Mandate in Syria in 1946, a census called Decree no. 93 stripped more than 120.000 Syrian Kurds of their Syrian citizenship, leaving them stateless. Now rendered ajanib (foreigners in Arabic), they could not vote, own land or any other kind of property, work for the government or marry legally ([2]; [4]). Furthermore, stateless Kurds have no passports, disabling them to travel, are not admitted to public hospitals and can not apply for food subsidies ([4]) According to several researchers and organizations, the number of stateless Syrian Kurds has increased since 1962 to over 300.000 stateless Kurds, because all children of stateless Kurdish fathers inherit the same status ([4]; [2]).
Following Decree 93, the status of Kurds was further reduced when the creation of an Arab Belt under the government of the pan-Arab Ba'ath party in 1963 expropriated Kurds from their lands on Turkish- and Iraqi borders ([2]; [5]). Up until the Syrian civil war, several regulations and decrees put in place discriminated the Kurds further. Kurdish history in schoolbooks was erased from 1967 onwards, children with Kurdish first names were not registered when decree No.122 was put in place in 1992, and cultural material in the Kurdish language like books and videos were banned in 2000 under resolution 768 ([2]). According to several scholars, these and other measures showed the state’s hostility towards the Kurds ([2]; [5]).
Emerging political parties
It was in this post-independence period that Syrian Kurdish political parties emerged, advocating for democracy in Syria and a free and united Kurdistan ([5]). However, the first Kurdish political party, Partiya Demokrat a Kurd li Suriye was soon crushed when Kurdish areas became Arabized by the Ba’ath party in the 1960s. Seizing power in a coup, Hafiz al-Assad (the former president of Syria) made Syria a one-party state in 1970 and made Arab unity its ultimate goal [5]. In this way, pursuing Arab nationalism legitimized the oppression of the Syrian Kurds, unless they assimilated themselves to the Arab identity of Syria ([2]; [5]). Therefore, ever since the end of the French Mandate, the Kurds and Kurdish identity has been seen as a threat by the Syrian state and until after the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011, little has been done to halt the state’s discriminatory treatment of Kurds in Syria ([2], [5]). Scholars argue that the discrimination is seen by the majority of the Kurds as a threat to their national and ethnic identity, providing the main reason for establishing Syrian Kurdish political parties ([2], [5]).
Kurdish politics during the civil war
wwar with a policy of not actively supporting or opposing the government or the opposition. Syrian Kurdish armed forces have been involved in minor engagements with both government and opposition forces to obtain / maintain this autonomy.
Practicing sectarianism
- ^ a b Rowe, Paul (2019). Routledge handbook of minorities in the Middle East. New York, United States: Routledge. p. 257. ISBN 9781138649040.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gunter, Michael M., (2014). Out of nowhere : the Kurds of Syria in peace and war. London: Hurst & Co. ISBN 978-1-84904-531-5. OCLC 980561226.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Romano & Gurses, David & Mehmet (2014). Conflict, democratization and the Kurds in the Middle East. New York, United States: Palgrave macmillan. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-349-48887-2.
- ^ a b c Avenue, Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth; York, 34th Floor | New; t 1.212.290.4700, NY 10118-3299 USA | (2009-11-26). "Group Denial | Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f g Alslopp, Harriet (2015). The Kurds of Syria. Political parties and identity in the Middle East. London, England: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978 1 78453 393 9.