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Syria's Kurds Register for Citizenship After Decades of Marginalisation
The decree restores nationality to an estimated 150,000 unregistered Syrians and adds Kurdish language rights after years of statelessness, officials and activists said.
- Since last week, unregistered Kurds have been flocking to registration centres across Syria to apply for citizenship, following Syrian President Ahmed's January decree granting nationality to the stateless minority.
- Around 20 percent of Kurds were stripped of nationality in a controversial 1962 census in Hasakeh, leaving roughly 150,000 people without legal status or voting and property rights.
- Firas Ahmad, 49, described being stateless as "good as dead," while Galya Kalash said, "We suffered greatly," noting her five children could not complete education without official documents.
- Calling citizenship "the most important compensation," Abdallah told AFP that authorities will keep registration centres open for one month, with possible extensions.
- Integration of the Kurdish administration includes appointing senior military leader Sipan Hamo as assistant defence minister in March, though Ali Mussa urged authorities to provide "flexibility" for residents outside Syria.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Syrian Kurds register for citizenship after decades marginalised
In a packed hall in Qamishli's sports stadium in northeast Syria, Firas Ahmad is one of dozens of Kurds waiting to apply for citizenship after many in the minority were barred from doing so for decades. Since last week, "unregistered" Kurds, who have been stateless since a controversial 1962 census, have been flocking to registration centres across Syria to apply for citizenship, based on the interior ministry's instructions. "A person without c…
ABC FOX Montana
Syria's Kurds register for citizenship after decades of marginalisation
In a packed hall in Qamishli's sports stadium in northeast Syria, Firas Ahmad is one of dozens of Kurds waiting to apply for citizenship after many in the minority were barred from doing so for decades.
Qamishli: In a crowded court in Qamishli, north-east Syria, Fras Ahmed, with dozens of Kurds with personal documents and photographs, waits for his turn to apply for Syrian citizenship, the right from which tens of thousands have been denied for decades.
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