Syria: Assad Grants Kurds Syrian Nationality

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree granting up to 150,000 Kurds living in eastern Syria citizenship.  Many Kurds are currently registered as foreigners due to previous census results.  Kurdish leader Habib Ibrahim said that the decree would not stop Kurdish Syrians from pressing for more civil rights and democratic reforms: “Our cause is democracy for the whole of Syria. Citizenship is the right of every Syrian. It is not a favour. It is not the right of anyone to grant.”  Assad has also released 48 Kurdish prisoners that had been sitting in jail for over a year and has recently met with Kurdish regional leaders.  Kurds in Syria regularly complain of state discrimination against their communities.

Update/Background: In the October 1962 census, about 20% of the Kurdish population of Syria was stripped of its status as Syrian citizens, which at the time numbered about 120,000 Kurds.  These Kurds were registered as “foreigners” by the Syrian state.  According to POMED’s sources, the estimated number of Syrian Kurds without citizenship may number as high as 200-250,000.  Without citizenship, political rights and freedom of movement are greatly restricted.  ”Foreign” Kurds carry red identity cards that prevent them from leaving the country as they cannot apply for passports.  The government also tramples on their ownership rights and actively prevents Kurds from participating in the public sector as well as restricts cultural rights to speak Kurdish freely and openly and observe Kurdish cultural holidays and events.