Country: Syria

Group: Kurds

Date Finalized: 10/06/2021

Team: Lacey Hurst (lead), Ann Thomas, Amanda Nelson , Nuri Son, Lauren Poklar

There is ample evidence that the Kurds have been subjected to forced displacement in Syria. We rate the data quality a 3/3 due to the number of credible sources available.

            The Kurds make up the largest ethnic minority in Syria with a population of approximately 2.5 million. (Minority Rights, 2021). The 1961 Jazira census stripped approximately 120,000 Kurds of their Syrian citizenship, leaving Syrian Kurds stateless for over 50 years (McGee 2016). In October 2008, the Syrian government issued Decree 49 which evicted most Kurds from the border regions. Kurds were unable to buy, sell, or inherit property under this decree, causing many of them to flee to Damascus (Minority Rights,2021). In 2011, a civil war broke out between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Sunni Muslim-led groups (Hartman et al., 2021). In April 2011, Assad issued an update to Decree 49, granting citizenship to stateless Kurds in north-eastern Syria attempt to lessen their support of the Sunni rebellion (McGee, 2016; Minority Rights, 2021). The decree still left 150,000 Kurds stateless, many of whom fled Syria at the start of the war (McGee, 2016). As of early 2013, most displaced Kurds were in northern Iraq where the Kurdistan Regional government is located (Ferris et al., 2013). In October 2019, Turkish forces launched an assault against American-Allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, forcing 160,000 Syrian Kurds to flee their homes (Laessing & Jalabi, 2019).

Sources

  1. Laessing, U., Jalabi, R. (2019, October 21). Displaced by war, Kurdish families stuck at Syria-Iraq border point. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey-border-idUSKBN1X0211
  2. Ferris, E., Kirisci, K. & Shaikh, S. (2013). Syrian crisis: massive displacement, dire needs and a shortage of solutions. The Brookings Institution. https://www.alnap.org/system/files/content/resource/files/main/syrian-crisismassive-displacement-dire-needs-and-shortage-of-solutions-september-18-2013.pdf
  3. Hartman, A. C., Morse, B. S., & Weber, S. (2021). Violence, displacement, and support for internally displaced persons: evidence from Syria. Journal of Conflict Resolution. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027211011523
  4. Minority Rights Group. Kurds in Syria. Minority Rights Group. (2021, February 6). Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/kurds-5/