Plight of Kurds in Syria
Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad has taken several positions during
his career, only to take them back later. When Assad took power in the
summer of 2000, Kurds hoped that he would be more modern and liberal
than his authoritarian father. They hoped he would make changes in Syria
's economic and political system and would recognize the benefit of an
autonomous Kurdistan .
But such hopes have been dashed. The younger Assad is just as
disinterested in helping the Kurds as his father was. He has made public
promises to return land and citizenship to Kurds, whom were stripped of
their citizenship and their land taken from them due to the Arabization
laws in Syria . These promises have yet to come to light. Time and
again, he has manufactured a pretext to stall the implementation of
changes to the Kurdish issues. He uses excuses that change cannot occur
overnight, but yet changes occurred overnight in the constitution that
aloud him to become president at such an early age.
Regrettably, Syria is stubbornly pursuing a military solution against
the Kurds and has intensified repression, encouraged by an apparent
international complacency. This will further aggravate tension and
escalate violence in the region. A political solution, which satisfies
the legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish people alone, can bring to an
end the Kurdish conflict. This is the reason why we urge the United
States to pay to Kurds the same admirable role, which has helped to heal
the pain in Iraq .
Human rights violations still occur on a daily basis to the Kurdish
population. These violations threaten the very livelihood of the Kurdish
race. The Kurds living in Syria are not recognized as a minority, some
not even as Syrian
citizens. Their cultural and civil rights are withheld from them. The
political parties and organizations of the Syrian Kurds are forbidden in
Syria . In 1963 the Syrian Baath Party published a 12-point plan, aimed
at wiping out the
cultural identity of the Kurds. The plan provided for the establishment
of the Arabization Policy that replaced the Kurdish population with
Arabs loyal to and armed by the regime and forcibly resettled them on
Kurdish land. Since
1967, the campaign of Arabization has replaced the Kurdish names of
cities, streets, buildings etc… with Arab names, Kurdish publications
are forbidden, Kurdish language media are not allowed and it banned the
teaching of Kurdish in schools. Since 1992, children have not been able
to be registered with Kurdish names. Whoever professes himself a Kurd in
Syria , or demands cultural and political rights for Kurds, is
persecuted, imprisoned and mistreated, some of whom include women and
children who were jailed for speaking their minds. Today 225,000 Kurds
in Syria are designated as "foreigners" and 25,000 are categorized as
"unregistered."
The terrible situation that the Kurds are in and the hardships they
suffer are not only against international laws but contrary to the
principles of the Human Rights Declaration.
This initiative is timely and in the interest of peace in our region. We
therefore, ask the US Congress and Senate to pass a resolution to stop
Syria from implementing the following policies:
- Stop the Arabization policy of Kurdish regions within Syria .
- Stop mass arrests, torture, and killing of Kurds within Syria .
- Stop the promoting of hate between Arabs and Kurds.
- Stop the arrests of political, human rights, and reform activists in
Syria .
- Stop all Human Rights violations against all minorities.
And to support the implementation of the following:
- The recognition of Kurdish identity and culture, specifically
education in the Kurdish language, and human rights.
- To preserve language, education, media, and culture of the Kurdish
people.
- Self-government should be exercised in accordance with human rights
norms.
- The restitution of lands, territories and sites confiscated, occupied,
used or damaged without the consent of the rightful owners
- Allow the Kurds to establish and maintain the political, economic,
legal, cultural and social institutions of their own choice.
- Make all Kurds Citizens of Syria and give them access to national as
well as traditional health services.
- Within their territories, Kurdish peoples should be entitled to the
fullest possible self-government.
- Positions in the central administration (particularly army, police,
judiciary, and intelligence services) must be accessible to the Kurdish
people without any discrimination. Attention should be paid to the
recruitment of
Kurdish people into these positions and eliminating systemic barriers
against their employment.
For the reasons listed above we urge you to do all that you can to
provide urgent aid to the Syrian Kurds to put a stop to these human
rights violations and to support our efforts of self-determination. We
also urge the US government to consider implementing an amendment to the
US Congressional punitive Law against Syria by adding the Kurdish issue.
In these endeavors we look to the support and understanding of our
friends.
____________
Sherkoh Abbas
Kurdish Human and National Rights for Syrian Kurds and Democracy for all
Syrians
P. O. Box 80175
Rochester Hills, MI 48308
USA
Sherkoh@gmail.com
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