The 'invisble' Kurds of Syria
The 'invisble' Kurds of Syria
The civil registry in Syria has decided to strip 150 Kurdish people of their identity. A 50 year-old cervical-cancer Kurdish patient wasn’t accepted to the hospital and left to die because she could not provide proof of her identity.
In Syria, as a result of the policies of assimilation, over 300 thousand Kurdish people have been stripped of their identity since 1962.
Syria civil registry has taken a new decision in relation to Kurdish people. The decision is; “Every kind of transcript, paper and documentation is forbidden for 500 families, whose children are abroad.”
Most of these families are Kurdish and come from Hesiça/Syria. In the census in 1962, 150 thousand Kurdish people were stripped of their identity, while there are over 300 thousand Kurdish people without identity now.
The racist laws of Syria make hundred of thousands of Kurdish people live feeling alienated in their own country and prevent them for example from taking advantage of health services.
One of this alienated people was 50 year old Zeyn El Din Mihemed Emin. He was sent to Beyruni Hospital in Damascus because he had been diagnosed with neck cancer. But he wasn’t admitted because he did not have an identity document.
The personnel explained the decision of Syria Prime Minister Muhammed Naci El Itri; “None of Syria hospitals can accept people with no identity.” Following the case, Emin’s family wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and President but invade. The man could not be treated in any other hospital and was left to die. It was also reported that each of Emin’s cure injection costs thousand dollars.
Syria has a total population of 17 million and the Kurds are the second biggest ethnic group with 2 million people, after the Arabs. However their language, culture and economic circumstances are not recognised and getting worse in Southwest Kurdistan day by day.
300 THOUSAND KURDISH PEOPLE WITHOUT IDENTITY
As over 300 thousand Kurdish people were stripped of their identity in 1962 census, 225 thousand of them were stripped also of their citizenship rights and 75 thousand were defined as “foreigners of unknown origins”. The Kurdish people who are not citizens of the country are divided into two main groups. The ones stripped of their identity are given an "orange" card, while the “foreigners” have no card at all. The kurds stripped of their identity following the 1962 census also saw their goods and possession taken from them In the 1960s, the current Ba’ath regime, under the pretext of the “Arab Belt,” internally displaced hundreds of thousands Kurds and distributed their ancestral lands amongst Arabs. This policy continued well into the 1980s. In the wake of such an arbitrary and inhumane policy, The Kurds are largely spread out and their national demographic cohesion has been weakened.
Translator: Berna Ozgencil
In Syria, as a result of the policies of assimilation, over 300 thousand Kurdish people have been stripped of their identity since 1962.
Syria civil registry has taken a new decision in relation to Kurdish people. The decision is; “Every kind of transcript, paper and documentation is forbidden for 500 families, whose children are abroad.”
Most of these families are Kurdish and come from Hesiça/Syria. In the census in 1962, 150 thousand Kurdish people were stripped of their identity, while there are over 300 thousand Kurdish people without identity now.
The racist laws of Syria make hundred of thousands of Kurdish people live feeling alienated in their own country and prevent them for example from taking advantage of health services.
One of this alienated people was 50 year old Zeyn El Din Mihemed Emin. He was sent to Beyruni Hospital in Damascus because he had been diagnosed with neck cancer. But he wasn’t admitted because he did not have an identity document.
The personnel explained the decision of Syria Prime Minister Muhammed Naci El Itri; “None of Syria hospitals can accept people with no identity.” Following the case, Emin’s family wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and President but invade. The man could not be treated in any other hospital and was left to die. It was also reported that each of Emin’s cure injection costs thousand dollars.
Syria has a total population of 17 million and the Kurds are the second biggest ethnic group with 2 million people, after the Arabs. However their language, culture and economic circumstances are not recognised and getting worse in Southwest Kurdistan day by day.
300 THOUSAND KURDISH PEOPLE WITHOUT IDENTITY
As over 300 thousand Kurdish people were stripped of their identity in 1962 census, 225 thousand of them were stripped also of their citizenship rights and 75 thousand were defined as “foreigners of unknown origins”. The Kurdish people who are not citizens of the country are divided into two main groups. The ones stripped of their identity are given an "orange" card, while the “foreigners” have no card at all. The kurds stripped of their identity following the 1962 census also saw their goods and possession taken from them In the 1960s, the current Ba’ath regime, under the pretext of the “Arab Belt,” internally displaced hundreds of thousands Kurds and distributed their ancestral lands amongst Arabs. This policy continued well into the 1980s. In the wake of such an arbitrary and inhumane policy, The Kurds are largely spread out and their national demographic cohesion has been weakened.
Translator: Berna Ozgencil
