The Kurds of Syria
David McDowall
KHRP
The Syrian claim
'Syrian society is distinguished from all other societies in the world by its tolerance and lack of bigotry.... The phenomenon of racial discrimination is unknown in our history and totally alien to our society.'
(Syrian Government statement)
The Syrian reality
Syria discriminates against its Kurdish minority:
- it is ethnically exclusive, its constitution being based solely on Arab identity even though 15 per cent of the country is non-Arab
- it withholds citizenship from up to 200,000 Kurds who have lived all their lives inside Syria
- it forbids the teaching of the Kurdish language, even privately
- it forbids the production of Kurdish language publications
- it discriminates against Kurds in education and employment opportunities
The Kurds of Syria
- provides an account of Kurdish-Arab relations in Syria during the twentieth century
- describes the current situation of the approximately 1.5 million Kurds of Syria
- describes Syria's discriminatory practices
- explains how these violate international law and in some cases its own domestic law
- recommends the steps necessary for Syria to conform with international law and norms
- With an appendix on the Kurds in Lebanon
This report is produced by the Kurdish Human Rights Project thanks to a generous grant from NOVIB (Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation)
David McDowall is a writer and specialist in Middle East affairs with a particular interest in minorities. He is the author of A Modern History of the Kurds (IB Tauris, 1996)
Contents
Foreword / i
Author's Acknowledgement / iii
Map 1: Distribution of the Kurds / iv
Map 2: Sketch map of northern Syria / v
Chapter One: Introduction / 1
Chapter Two: Kurds and Arabs: differing aspirations, 1900 -1946
(a) Damascus and the politics of notables / 5
(b) The Jazira, 1920-1946 / 9
Chapter Three: Syrian independence and the triumph of Arab nationalism / 15
Chapter Four: Dealing with the Jazira / 21
Chapter Five: Confining the Kurds of Afrin / 29
Chapter Six: Human, civil and political rights / 33
Chapter Seven: Discrimination against the Kurdish people
(a) The Constitution and International Law / 35
(b) The State of Emergency / 37
(c) The Citizenship Issue
(i) Resident foreigners / 38
(ii) Unregistered foreigners / 41
(iii) Syrian practice and international law / 41
(d) The Suppression of cultural identity
(i) Suppression of the language 47
(ii) Suppression of place names 48
(iii) Refusal to register children with Kurdish names / 49
(iv) Prohibition of businesses with non-Arabic names / 50
(v) Prohibition of books and other materials in Kurdish / 50
(vi) Celebration of Nawruz / 50
Chapter Eight: Employment Opportunities
(a) / Government service
(i) Compulsory and voluntary military service / 53
(ii) Public sector employment / 55
(b) Private sector employment / 56
Chapter Nine: Political activity
(a) The legitimate forum / 57
(b) Liberalisation / 59
(c) Kurdish political parties / 59
Chapter Ten: The PKK / 65
Chapter Eleven: Syria, the Kurds and regional relations / 69
Chapter Twelve: Internal security: Syria and its Kurds / 71
Chapter Thirteen: Conclusion / 75
Chapter Fourteen: Recommendations / 77
Appendix: / The Kurds in Lebanon / 79
Bibliography / 87
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 acknowledgementA 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
IntroductionKurds 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.
David McDowall
The Kurds of Syria
KHRP
Kurdish Human Rights Project
The Kurds of Syria
David McDowall
Kurdish Human Rights Project
December 1998
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KHRP gratefully acknowledges the financial support of NOVIB
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Development Cooperation), without which this report
could not have been produced.
Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP)
The Kurdish Human Rights Project is an independent non-political
project founded and based in Britain. The KHRP is a registered
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persons within the Kurdish areas, irrespective of race, religion, sex,
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both Kurdish and non-Kurdish people.
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International Development Cooperation)
Novib strives for sustainable development by supporting initiatives of
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together with its partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America; by
providing better information to the Dutch public; and by promoting
the interests of the poor in northern decision-making bodies.
This report has been commissioned and is published by KHRP as a
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ISBN: 1 900175 23 1
Published by the Kurdish Human Rights Project, London.
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