November 26, 2009
NEW YORK, — Syrian authorities should end
their "unlawful and unjustified" practices of
attacking Kurdish gatherings and detaining Kurdish
activists, Human Rights Watch said in a report
released on Thursday.
The report, entitled "Group Denial: Repression of
Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria,"
documents what HRW says are efforts by the
authorities to "ban and disperse" Kurdish gatherings
and "the detention of leading Kurdish political
activists and their ill-treatment in custody."
"At a time when other countries in the region, from
Iraq to Turkey, are improving the treatment of their
Kurdish minority,www.ekurd.netSyria
remains resistant to change," said Sarah Leah
Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"In fact, Syria has been especially hostile to any
Kurdish political or cultural expression."
Kurds represent around nine percent of Syria's
20-million population.
Living mainly in the north, near the border with
Turkey and Iraq, Syria's Kurds are demanding
recognition of their language, culture and political
rights but deny they are seeking secession.
The New York-based HRW said the repression of Kurds
in Syria "has greatly intensified following
large-scale Kurdish demonstrations in March 2004."
Since 2005, it said, "Syrian security forces have
repressed at least 14 Kurdish political and cultural
public gatherings, overwhelmingly peaceful, and
often resorted to violence to disperse the crowds."
Aside from political meetings in support of Kurds'
minority rights, the security forces have also
disrupted gatherings to celebrate Nowruz, the
Kurdish New Year, and other cultural celebrations,
the rights group charged.
"In at least two instances, the security services
fired on the crowds and caused deaths."
The report also documented the arrests and trials of
at least 15 prominent Syrian Kurdish political
leaders since 2005.
In the most recent example, the Damascus Criminal
Court on November 15 sentenced three leading members
of the Kurdish Azadi Party to three years in jail
for "weakening national sentiment" and "inciting
sectarian or racial strife or provoking conflict
between sects and various members of the nation."
Of 30 former Kurdish detainees interviewed by the
group, 12 said they had been tortured by the
security forces.
"Most of those detained are referred to military
courts, where they can be convicted of vaguely
defined, overbroad 'security charges'," the report
said.
Whitson urged better understanding by the
authorities of Kurdish grievances.
"The Syrian government sees threats everywhere, even
in village New Year celebrations," she said.
"If the government wants better relations with its
Kurdish minority, it should address their legitimate
grievances instead of trying to silence them."
HRW also urged the European Union and the United
States, to voice "their strong disapproval of
Syria's treatment of its Kurdish minority and to
emphasise that further progress in their relations
with Damascus will depend on concrete improvements
in Syria's human rights situation."
"Ignoring the treatment of Kurds in Syria will not
make the problem go away," Whitson said.
"The international community has played an important
role in improving the treatment of Kurds in Iraq and
Turkey, and it needs to do the same for Syria's
Kurds."
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
AFP
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