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Rights group calls on Syria to investigate
death of three Kurds in shooting
25.3.2008
By Staff |
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March 25, 2008
New York, -- Syria should open an independent
investigation into a shooting last week that left
three Syrian Kurds dead
and five wounded, an international human rights
group said Monday.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the March
20 shooting occurred in the northeastern Syrian
Kurdish city of Qamishli (Syrian Kurdistan) when
security forces opened fire at dozens of Kurds
celebrating their new year.
Syrian authorities did not comment on the shooting.
"The circumstances of the shootings raise concerns
that state security forces used unnecessary lethal
force in violation of international law," it said.
Human Rights Watch identified the three Kurds killed
as Muhammad Yahya Khalil, Muhammad Zaki Ramadan and
Muhammad Mahmoud Hussein. It said the first two died
instantly while the third died in a hospital later.
On March 20 at about 7:00 p.m., Syrian internal
security forces opened fire on Kurds celebrating the
New Year (“Newroz”) in the largely Kurdish town of
Qamishli in northeastern Syria, eyewitnesses told
Human Rights Watch. The shots killed Muhammad Yahya
Khalil and Muhammad Zaki Ramadan immediately. A
third man, Muhammad Mahmud Hussein, died later from
his wounds. All three were between 18 and 25 years
old. Those wounded include Muhieldin Hajj Jamil `Issa,
Karam Ibrahim Yusif, Muhammad Kheir Khalaf `Issa,
Riad Yussef Sheikhi, and Khalil Sulayman Hussein.
“Syrian officials have to justify why security
forces opened fire at a Kurdish celebration,” said
Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch. “Those responsible for using unnecessary
lethal force should be brought to justice.”
Participants in this year’s festivities told Human
Rights Watch that about 200 people gathered around
6:30 p.m. on a road in the western part of Qamishli.
They lit candles on the side of the road and a
bonfire in the middle, around which some performed a
Kurdish traditional dance. “This was a celebration
of Newroz, not a political demonstration,” one of
the participants told Human Rights Watch.
There have been several incidents involving Kurds in
Syria, the most serious in March 2004 when 25 people
were killed and more than 100 wounded when riots
broke out between Syrian Kurds and Arabs during a
soccer match in Qamishli. Nearly 2,000 Kurds were
rounded up by security forces, though most were
believed to have eventually been released.
Some 10 percent of the Syrian population is Kurdish
but, despite this, they lack any political influence
and the Kurdish language and flag are both banned.
Following a population census in 1962,www.ekurd.net
the Syrian government
stripped some 20 % of the Kurds of their citizenship
in an effort to Arabize the population, claiming
that many of the local Kurds had infiltrated the
country from neighboring Turkey and Iraq.
The effect of the census left the Kurds, whom had
lost their citizenship, stateless, despite the fact
that many of them fulfilled the demands set out by
the Syrian government such as being born in Syria.
Residing in Syria also
meant many lacked the possibility of gaining
citizenship in another country. The Arabization
policy was part of a larger movement that swept the
Middle East during the 1960s and ‘70s that promoted
regional cooperation based on a common cultural
heritage.
Syria's population of 20 million includes 2.5
million people of Kurdish origin, mainly living in
the mainly Kurdish north-east of the country (Syrian
Kurdistan). including 150,000 stateless Kurds
who are mostly refugees from Turkey, Iran and other
countries but may have lived in Syria for years.
Syrian Kurds have become vociferous about their
human rights since the 2003 Iraq war, which has
resulted in their fellow Iraqi Kurds establishing an
autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'.
Information for this report was provided by AP | HRW
org
| Agencies
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise.
Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
More about Kurds in Syria - (Kurdistan-Syria)
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