sus for the province of Jazira , a predominantly Kurdish province, which resulted in 120,000 Kurds being categorized as aliens. Their identity cards were taken away thus depriving them of their basic rights - including ownership of property, government employment, the ability to register for school, travel abroad, receive state aid, or even go to a hospital. The Syrian government openly engaged in a campaign of incitement against the Kurds with slogans such as Save Arabism in Jazira! Fight the Kurdish threat! Accusations of their being “Zionist agents” were also leveled against them. The discovery of oil in the Kurdish areas of Syria motivated the Syrians to increase their intimidation of the Kurds prompting many to flee. With the area now ethnically cleansed the Syrians gave the land over to Arabs settlers.
At that same time the Iraqi dictator, Abdul Karim Qasim, was waging a war against the Kurdish Peshmergas, led by Mustafa Barzani (aided by Israel) who was seeking autonomy for the Kurds in northern Iraq . The Baathist government, in 1965, decided to create an Arab cordon in the Kurdish areas and clear the border area (the Jazira region) with Turkey . The implementation of the Arab cordon only began in 1973 under the rule of Syrian dictator Hafez Assad. The Syrian regime then brought Arab-Bedouins in and resettled them in Kurdish areas. Simultaneously, they deported about 140,000 Kurds from their lands to the Southern desert of Al-Raad .
Saddam Hussein’s defeat in 2003, by U.S. and coalition forces, and the creation of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq infused Syrian Kurds with new energy. They demanded autonomy for their distinct people and culture. In March 2004, following an incident at a football game in the Kurdish city of Qamishli and subsequent protests that broke out throughout the Kurdish areas of Northern Syria, “harassment of Syrian Kurds increased further as a result of the demonstrations.” Syrian authorities proceeded to react with lethal force, killing at least 36 people, injuring over 160, and detaining more than 2,000, amidst widespread reports of torture and ill- treatment of detainees. Most detainees were eventually released, including 312 who were freed under an amnesty announced by President Bashar Assad on March 30, 2005.
The discriminatory law - Decree 49 - implemented on 10/09/2008 by the Assad regime makes it a requirement for a license to be obtained for building, renting, selling, and buying property in the Kurdish areas - but licenses are not given to Kurds. This policy is forcing Kurds to move out of their area into the cities. The Syrian regime in Damascus has provided strips of land to Arabs while pushing Kurds out of their indigenous areas. The Syrian government policy seeks to “break up Kurdish geographical and cultural cohesion.”
Ever since the 1963 Baathist takeover (The Baath Party was founded by Michel Aflaq-a Christian, as secular nationalist and socialist party with such catchwords as Arab unity, freedom from colonialism, and secularism. The Arabic word means “renaissance), a state-of-emergency has existed in Syria . While ostensibly the reason was to counter alleged threats from Israel , the state-of-emergency has been used to make arbitrary arrests, imprison political activists indefinitely without trial, ban political parties, and divert all resources to the military while controlling economic activities.
A U.S. Institute for Peace April 2009 Special Report summarized the situation of the Kurds in Syria as follows: “Kurds in Syria have been denied basic social, cultural, and political rights, in many cases stemming from the Syrian state’s refusal to grant Kurds citizenship. Kurdish political opposition in Syria is fractured. Though some join Kurds in other countries in calling for the emergence of a separate Kurdish state, many Kurds reject separatism and have generally been committed to peaceful democratic struggle. Democratic reforms in Syria that improve the human rights situation for Kurds and non-Kurds could go a long way to alleviate the tensio