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Syria to grant 300,000 Kurds citizenship
29.1.2006
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Syria plans to grant
citizenship to 300,000 Kurds living in the country,
a Kurdish representative revealed to the London
based A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
Shakib Hajou, a representative of the Kurdish
Haderkan tribe from the Al-Hasakah district, said a
43-member delegation representing all the Kurdish
tribes in Syria, met recently with Ba’ath Party
official Muhammad Sa’id Bakhtian, and two other
regional politicians in Damascus.
They discussed restoring citizenship to Kurds at the
earliest possible opportunity.
Bakhtian said an order will be issued within the
next month granting citizenship to about 300,000
Kurds, Hajou said, adding that it was unclear
whether they will be granted gradually or at one
time.
The citizenship idea was mentioned by the Syrian
government last year as part of a "comprehensive
plan" to develop the Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish border
region.
The Media Line’s analysts say a gesture of this kind
from Damascus toward its Kurdish residents could be
a way to appease the international community which
has often criticized Syria over its treatment of
Kurds. Syria is currently under heavy international
pressure regarding the assassination of former
Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri in February
2005. The international commission probing the
killing has implicated senior Syrians in the
incident.
Kurds are a non-Arab ethnic group numbering between
25 and 30 million people, although some put it to
closer to 40 million. They inhabit a mountainous
region known as Kurdistan, spanning northwest Iran,
northeast Iraq, east Turkey, northeast Syria and a
small community in Armenia.
The Kurds constitute a minority in all these
countries and have been oppressed, to varying
degrees, in all areas.
In 2004 a riot during a football game in the Syrian
town Qamishli sparked protests by Kurds across the
country. Dozens were killed by Syrian security
forces, and riots soon spread to neighboring
districts.
Syrian Kurds number less than one million people and
constitute between 8 and 10 percent of the Syrian
population.
Kurds who have been in Syria since the state was
formed are fully recognized citizens. Over the
years, many Kurds infiltrated the country to flee
persecution in Iraq and Turkey. These Kurds are not
registered as citizens, and are called ‘maktoumin,’
or ‘hidden ones.’ They are denied Syrian
citizenship, cannot vote or own property and are
denied passports or internationally recognized
travel documents.
www.themedialine.org
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