Kurdish farmers in Deyrik pressured to pledge not to reclaim their land from the Syrian State

Some Kurdish farmers have been forced to sign blank papers which will be used to stop them reclaiming their land when the license granted to them expires.

On 17 July 2010, Political Security branch in Deyrik forced some of the peasants from the village of Pastasous to sign papers accepting that when they have finished their licenses they no longer have the right to benefit from the land they have cultivated for decades, and that they return the land to the State, and will not to use or cultivate it again.

It is also stated in these undertakings that they pledged full consent without being subject to any threat or force, and that they were in full physical and mental health at the time of signing.

Farmers were threatened that if they did not sign, they would be accused of belonging to a banned secret organisation, their children would not be able to work as officials, and their children will face restrictions in their education at schools and universities.

The peasants who were summoned a long time ago are being investigated on the basis that they are accused of holding political preferences, and of belonging to Kurdish political parties, and whether family members belong to Kurdistan Workers’ Party - PKK, or have any ties with the Democratic Union Party – PYD, and the institutions of Western Kurdistan Confederation.

The Directorate of Agriculture Reform in Hassaka issued Resolution No. 2707, on 17 March 2010, which removed of the names of 381 Kurdish peasants, all from Deyrik, from the tables of users under the pretext of lack of access to legal authorization in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 41 / 2004, as amended by Decree 49 of 2008.

The updated list includes more than 580 peasants living in the Deyrik region, and according to the Directorate of Agriculture Reform in Hassaka,  the number of farmers whose land will be converted to so-called “State Property in Hassaka province will rise to  9000.

The Syrian Baathist regime and authorities are putting in place security policies and projects to deal Kurdish people by blurring and denying them their Kurdish identity. These racist projects are aimed at the wiping out  the existence of a whole people, by taking their land which will lead to starvation, through intimidation at home so that they can achieve their goals by changing the demographic reality of the Kurdish region. This has been continuing since Mohammed Talib Hilal gave instructions for this in the early 1960s

Media Institute for Western Kurdistan – Deyrik

27 July 2010

Previous report:

http://supportkurds.org/news/land-rights-of-kurdish-peasants-removed-in-syria/

Re: Decree 49 http://supportkurds.org/reports/human-rights-issues-concerning-kurds-in-syria-6-may-2010