Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria
In March 2004, Syria’s Kurds held large-scale demonstrations, some violent, in a number of towns and villages throughout northern Syria, to protest their treatment by the Syrian authorities—the first time they had held such massive demonstrations in the country. While the protests occurred as an immediate response to the shooting by security forces of Kurdish soccer fans engaged in a fight with Arab supporters of a rival team, they were driven by longsimmering Kurdish grievances about discrimination against their community and repression of their political and cultural rights. The scale of the mobilization alarmed the Syrian authorities, who reacted with lethal force to quell the protests. In the final tally, at least 36 people were killed, most of them Kurds, and over 160 people were injured. The security services detained more than 2,000 Kurds (many were later amnestied), with widespread reports of torture and ill-treatment of the detainees.
The March 2004 events constituted a major turning point in relations between Syria’s Kurds and the authorities. Long marginalized and discriminated against by successive Syrian governments that promoted Arab nationalism, Syria’s Kurds have traditionally been a divided and relatively quiescent group (especially compared to Kurds in Iraq and Turkey). Syria’s Kurds make up an estimated 10 percent of the population and live primarily in the northern and eastern regions of the country.
The protests in 2004, which many Syrian Kurds refer to as their intifada (uprising), as well as developments in Iraqi Kurdistan, gave them increased confidence to push for greater enjoyment of rights and greater autonomy in Syria. This newfound assertiveness worried Syria’s leadership, already nervous about Kurdish autonomy in Iraq and increasingly isolated internationally. The authorities responded by announcing that they would no longer tolerate any Kurdish gathering or political activity. Kurds nevertheless continued to assert themselves by organizing events celebrating their Kurdish identity and protesting anti-Kurdish policies of the government.
Summary / 1
Methodology and Terminology / 8
I. Background / 9
The Kurds in Syria / 9
Historic marginalization / 10
Kurdish political organization / 13
The March 2004 events / 14
Syria’s Multiple Security Services / 16
Penal Code Provisions Commonly Deployed against Kurdish Activists / 16
II. Repression of Public Gatherings since March 2004 / 18
Repression of Demonstrations For Rights / 19
Repression of Cultural Celebrations / 22
Repression of Solidarity Events with Kurds in Iraq and Turkey / 25
Repression of Commemorations / 29
III. Arrests of Kurdish Political Leaders and Activists / 31
Yekiti Party / 31
Kurdish Future Movement / 35
Azadi (Freedom) Party / 37
Kurdish Left Party in Syria / 39
Kurdish Democratic Party KDP-S (al-Party) / 41
PYD (Hezb al-Ittihad al-dimocrati) / 43
IV. Treatment of Detainees / 44
Incommunicado Detention / 44
Torture, Ill-Treatment, Detention Conditions / 45
Trials by Military Court / 49
V. Other Forms of Harassment / 51
VI. Relevant International Standards / 53
Freedom of Expression, Association, and Assembly / 53
Minority Rights / 55
Detention and Trial Standards / 57
VII. Recommendations / 60
To the Government of Syria / 60
With respect to legal reform / 60
With respect to political reforms / 61
With respect to arbitrary arrests and treatment of detainees / 61
With respect to Kurdish rights / 61
To the International Community / 62
VIII. Acknowledgments / 63
Methodology and Terminology
This report is based on interviews conducted in late 2008 and 2009 with 30 Kurdish activists detained since 2004 and subsequently released, 15 relatives of Kurdish activists still in jail, and 3 Kurdish human rights activists. Human Rights Watch’s access to Syria is circumscribed, since Syrian authorities have not replied to our written request to visit the country and conduct research, so some interviews were conducted by a consultant working under our researcher’s supervision, and the remainder were conducted by telephone.
Human Rights Watch also relied on statements issued by human rights groups in Syria, in particular Kurdish human rights groups that have become increasingly active in the past few years, including in documenting and communicating arrests and trials.
Most persons interviewed for this report asked Human Rights Watch not to reveal their names, out of fear that Syrian authorities would retaliate against them. In such cases, Human Rights Watch has not used names but descriptive terms to refer to the source, and initials that do not correspond to the interviewees’ real names.
We were unable to interview Syrian authorities for this report nor are we able to reflect the Syrian government’s views. Syrian authorities have consistently not acceded to Human Rights Watch’s requests to visit Syria and to meet with officials. We sent a letter to the Syrian ministers of justice and interior on October 26, 2009 outlining the findings presented in this report and asking for information and comments. At this writing, Human Rights Watch has received no response.
Some reflection on terminology is necessary. The Syrian authorities changed the name of many Kurdish villages and towns in the 1970s. This report uses the official name of these towns without endorsing the process by which the government changed their names...
Group Denial
Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria
Copyright © 2009 Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-56432-560-1
Cover design by Rafael Jimenez
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