Delay in implementing citizenship Decree 49

According to Soparo.com, in following-up of the implementation of Legislative Decree No. 49 of 2011 and the granting of citizenship to the Kurds (or more correctly it should be reinstating the citizenship), the following became clear:

• A day after the decree was issued, civil registration officers told Kurds to come back after ten days;
• More than fifteen days from the issuing of the Decree, Kurds were asked to return after a month, without giving any reason for this delay. The civil registry does not accept requests from Maktoum stateless Kurds.

The President has absolute power and so can withdraw this citizenship at will.

Delay in the naturalization Decree 49 of 2011 was applied in a very different way to the earlier application of the Decree 49 of 2008 relating to the restrictions on the use of land, which was enacted with speed.

Decree 49 is linked to other notorious legislation;

• Decree 49 of 2008, relating to the use of land that has led to the displacement of more than 500,000 Syrian Kurds, who have left the area in search of jobs, and hundreds of young people have migrated abroad;

In addition, another Decree 49 provides for the execution of anyone found guilty of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Legislative Decree No. 49 of 2011 on the granting Syrian Arab citizenship to Ajanib registered in the records of Hasakah:
President of the Republic
based on the provisions of the Constitution issues the following:
Article 1: grants Syrian Arab citizenship to registered Ajanib in Hassakah.
Article 2: The Minister of Interior instructions for implementing this Decree.
Article 3: This Decree shall take effect from the date of its publication in the Official Newspaper.

Damascus

7 April 2011
(Signed) President of the Republic

Decree 49: Dispossession of the Kurdish population?

It is no secret that a special project for the Kurdish issue is behind the Articles of Decree 49 from 2008. This project was promoted by numerous security services and Ba’thist institutions on the grounds that there was a plan to establish Kurdish dominance over the real estate markets, particularly in al-Qamishli. It was additionally alleged that foreign investors were investing their money in wholesale trade and construction projects. As a result these institutions are of the opinion that it is a national duty to resist the supposed Kurdish expansion with further special decrees and statutes in order to stop the economic and social development of the Kurds. Read more

Two more arrests of Kurds in Syria

Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF reports that Jamal Ibrahim Manjah was summoned to the Political Security branch in Hassaka on 19 September 2010. He has resigned from his teaching post in Qamishli. He has been charged with taking part in a five minute silent protest against Decree 49, which had been called for by several Kurdish groups, on 10 September 2010. He has been summoned to the Political Security branch repeatedly, and was arrested on 21 September 2010. His fate and whereabouts are still unknown.

A patrol of one of the security authorities arrested Masoud Sallu from the village of Derona Ighe on the border of Syria and Turkey, between Qamishli and Nusabin. Masoud Sallu is resident in Germany, and had been to visit his family for about a month. He was arrested as he left their home. Read more

Decree 49 – ethnic cleansing of Kurds in Syria

Decree 49 came into Syrian Law on 27 October 2008. It is an element of the plan proposed by Mohammed Talib Hilal to ethnically cleanse the land of the Kurdish nation, and almost two years later, the successful intent of this law is evidenced by the ways on which the authorities have created rules to permanently deprive Kurdish farmers of the use of their land.  This is forcing people to move away because they cannot sustain themselves any longer.

Read more

Ship sinks with asylum seekers onboard – five children and young people die

A report has reached us from Yeliki Media that a ship has sunk carrying asylum seekers from Izmir, Turkey to Greece causing the death of dozens of people, including five children and young people from Deyrik town in the Hassaka region in Kurdistan of Syria.

The children are the sons of Mohsen Khalaf  Jarro:

• Ali Mohsen Khalaf  Jarro, nine years old
• Salah Mohsen Khalaf  Jarro, six years old.

The other three are young people from one family,  the sons of Abdul Rahman Rammo:

• Mohammed, Abdel-Rahman and Diyala aged between 18 and 22 years.

The final number of victims who were on board this ship when it sank is not currently available,  but the number of Kurds from Syria who died in this tragic incident is likely to rise.

These children died escaping from the persecution of Kurds in Syria.  Families are becoming desperate due to an        increased clampdown on all Kurds by the authorities:

• the decline in the construction industry in the Kurdish area as a result of Decree 49;
• the wasted agriculture in the Kurdish area due to a combination of drought from lack of rain and the withholding of water to the area by Turkey;
• the continued policy of denying 400,000 Kurds their rights to citizenship which leaves them stateless;
• stateless people cannot move around the country,  nor can they leave the country legally;
• stateless children are denied the right to education;
• people are being arbitrarily detained without trial.

Kurds are being forced from their ancient homelands.  Many go to the cities, but others try to leave illegally because they have no choice …  and children are dying.

International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS

26 October 2009