The Kurds of Syria

Auteur :

Éditeur : KHRP	Date & Lieu : 1998, London
Préface :	Pages : 90
Traduction :	ISBN : 1 900175 23 1
Langue : Anglais	Format : 145x210 mm
Code FIKP : Br. Eng. Mac. Kur. N°2287	Thème : Général

Présentation

Table des Matières

Introduction

Identité

PDF

FOREWORD

Whenever anyone talks about the Kurds, they usually have in mind those living in Iraq or Turkey, or sometimes those in Iran. The Kurds in Syria are seldom mentioned, even though they easily exceed one million people. From time to time vague reports are heard that they are the victims of state discrimination, yet precisely what that discrimination is, or how it has arisen, is barely known at all. Only one report has appeared in recent years1 which presents a detailed description and critique on the issue of citizenship, but only partially explains why this and other discriminatory practices occur. Kurds have never been particularly popular in Syria and it is easy to dismiss Arab treatment of the Kurdish minority today simply in terms of racial discrimination. To do so, however, would be misleading. A variety of factors have conspired against good relations between Arabs and Kurds. For that reason and also because almost nothing has been published on Syria's Kurds, an account of Arab-
Kurdish relations in Syria during the twentieth century forms a major part of this report.

Consequently, this report on Syria's Kurds, which has been made possible by the generous support of NOVIB (the Netherlands Organisation for International Development Cooperation), has broadly two purposes:
- to describe the situation of Kurds in Syria today and to explain how it has arisen;
- to describe discriminatory violations of human rights in respect of the Kurds in Syria, calling on the government of Syria to account for them.

The report concludes that there is much to be done in calling Syria to account for its treatment of Kurds within its borders.
However, this report is far from exhaustive and should be considered a preliminary investigation. A minority numbering over one million and constituting almost 10 per cent of the country's entire population deserves more substantial research. More importantly, it deserves to be visited by an independent mission which could

(i) interview members of that community in order to verify the true state of affairs;
(ii) collect much more data than is possible at a distance;
(iii) test the truth of the many allegations made by Kurdish exiles;
(iv) learn the policy and thinking of the Syrian government.

David McDowall made several applications for a visa to visit Syria while preparing this report. Unfortunately a visa has not been forthcoming. In failing to admit an independent mission of inquiry Syria forfeits the opportunity credibly to dispose of allegations that might prove false, inaccurate or exaggerated. It also forfeits an essential component of such a mission, to meet with the appropriate government officers to learn the formal policy of Syria towards it Kurds, how this policy has arisen, and what the future might hold. Syria's position regarding its Kurds, therefore, goes unrepresented by default.

It is hoped, therefore, that as part of its response to this report, the Syrian authorities will invite KHRP to visit Syria in order to verify the circumstances of Kurdish community existence on the ground.

Kerim Yildiz
Executive Director
Kurdish Human Rights Project

1 Human Rights Watch, Syria: The Silenced Kurds (Washington and New York, 1996)

Author's acknowledgement

A report of this kind depends upon great generosity with information, because so little is already in the public domain. Most of my informants are Kurdish exiles, almost all of whom wished to remain anonymous. They know who they are, and I am most grateful to all of them. However, I can openly thank Lokman Meho, who kindly made available his study of the Kurds in the Lebanon (listed in the bibliography), and also Omar Sheikhmous, who very kindly provided a background note on the myriad and fractious Kurdish parties of Syria. I am also grateful to Jawad Mela, General Secretary of the Western Kurdistan Association, both for the information he himself provided and also for arranging for me to meet Kurds from Syria. In addition I am most grateful to Laimdota Mazzarins of the International Association for Human Rights of the Kurds (IMK.e.V.), and also to Michael Amitay of the Washington Kurdish Institute, both of whom put me in touch with important contacts. I should like to record my thanks to NOVIB, which funded the Kurdish Human Rights Project for this report, and finally to all the staff at KHRP and in particular to its former Legal Officer. Nathalie Boucly, who very generously undertook to read and comment on those sections dealing with international law and human rights after she had left KHRP's employ. Naturally, I remain responsible for any errors of facts or judgement.

Chapter One
Introduction

Kurds probably constitute between 8 and 10 per cent of the population of modem Syria.1 Given an estimated population of about 15.3 million for the whole country in 1997, Kurds probably numbered between 1.2 and 1.5 million at that time, although some Kurds claim this figure is conservative and that there are 2 million Kurds in Syria.
Kurds are located in three principal areas in northern Syria:

(i) The Kurd Dagh and 'Afrin, a mountainous area in the far north western part of Syria area, on the north-eastern side of the Turkish Hatay (the Sanjaq of Alexandretta), a southern outcrop of the Anatolian plateau.
(ii) In the border area with Turkey around the town of Jarablus, in the north-western extremity of the Jazira (the term al-Jazira (or'island') refers to the northern part of the Mesopotamian plain lying between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, now divided between Syria and Iraq).
(iii) / In the governorate of al-Hasaka, the north-eastern part of the Syrian Jazira, particularly from Ras al 'Ayn through Qamishli to Dayrik in the 'pan handle' of Syria.

These Kurdish communities are distinct from each other. The Kurd Dagh (the Kurdish Mountain) community has inhabited this mountainous region for centuries and is the southern extremity of the larger indigenous Kurdish community in Turkey. The northern Jazira was largely an unsettled desert zone except for Kurdish and Arab pastoralist tribes, which used the area seasonally. Village …

1 Nikolaos van Dam, The Struggle for Power in Syria (London, 1979), p.15.