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Over 19,000 Syrian Kurds Deprived of Citizenship, 46,000 Remain Stateless

Kurdish members of the Self-Defense Forces stand near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Syrian city of al-Derbasiyah. Reuters file photo
Kurdish members of the Self-Defense Forces stand near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Syrian city of al-Derbasiyah. Reuters file photo
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Over 19,000 Syrian Kurds Deprived of Citizenship, 46,000 Remain Stateless

Kurdish members of the Self-Defense Forces stand near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Syrian city of al-Derbasiyah. Reuters file photo
Kurdish members of the Self-Defense Forces stand near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Syrian city of al-Derbasiyah. Reuters file photo

Syrians for Truth and Justice, a non-governmental group, has revealed that tens of thousands of Kurds are still deprived of Syrian citizenship.

The group’s remarks were supported by an extensive report published to commemorate the 56th anniversary on the “Exceptional Census”, in the city of Hasakah, northeast of Syria.

On August 23, 1963, Republican Legislative Decree No. 93 was issued ordering that a census be carried out in the northeast Hasakah governorate, home to the highest concentration of Kurds in Syria. That is why the census was called the “Exceptional Census”, also currently known as the “Hasakah Census 1962”.

This was based on ethnic discrimination against Kurdish rights in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Syrians for Truth and Justice is an independent organization whose members include Syrian human rights defenders, advocates and academics of different backgrounds and nationalities.

A report titled “Lost Syrian Citizenship: How the 1962 census destroyed the lives and identity of the Syrian Kurds” will be published in Geneva on January 18 during the 39th session of the Human Rights Council.

Up until 2011, the number of persons categorized as foreign in Hasakah amounted to 346,242 registered individuals.

By the end of May 2018, 326,489 obtained Syrian citizenship, said Syrians for Truth and Justice Director Bassam Al-Ahmed.

Some 19,753 Kurds are still unable to gain citizenship, he added.

After the outbreak of the anti-regime uprising in 2011, which called for sweeping reforms in the country, the ruling Bashar Al-Assad regime issued Legislative Decree No. 49 on April 7 within the same year which stipulates granting citizenship to those registered as foreign nationals residing in Hasakah.

The issue of unregistered individuals peaked in Hasakah at the beginning of 2011, reaching more than 171,300 individuals, according to the report.

Some 50,400 stateless individuals were able to land citizenship after managing registration as foreigners first, Ahmed added.

However, he pointed to the fact that over 41,000 cases have not been corrected and are still deprived of citizenship.

“There are still 5,000 people who did not check in with local registry authorities to correct their legal status, and are likely to be outside the country,” he added.

In total, approximately 46,000 Syrian Kurds are unregistered and without any citizenship rights.

According to the organization's researchers, the census destroyed the lives of Kurdish citizens, and that successive Syrian governments have adopted ethnic and racial discrimination policies against them.

“We wanted to honestly convey the suffering of thousands of Kurds deprived of their most basic rights, where many of them are still deprived of citizenship and all their political, social and economic rights,” researchers added.

For decades, Kurds registered as foreign residents or remained stateless.

Among restrictions they faced was being denied the right to register marriages and births, to obtain passports and travel documents and the right to work in state institutions.

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Israeli Raids Displaced Tens of Thousands in the West Bank. Now Few Places to Shelter Remain 

Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
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Israeli Raids Displaced Tens of Thousands in the West Bank. Now Few Places to Shelter Remain 

Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 
Boys sit by during the funeral of 18-year-old Palestinian Malik Hattab who was killed the previous day after succumbing to injuries sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jalazun camp for Palestinian refugees north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, at the camp on April 15, 2025. (AFP) 

For weeks, the family had been on the move. Israeli troops had forced them from home during a military operation that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. After finding shelter in a wedding hall, they were told to leave again.

"We don’t know where we’ll go," said the family's 52-year-old matriarch, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. She buried her face in her hands.

The grandmother is one of more than 1,500 displaced people in and around the northern city of Tulkarem who are being pushed from schools, youth centers and other venues because the people who run them need them back. It was not clear how many displaced in other areas like Jenin face the same pressure.

Many say they have nowhere else to go. Israeli forces destroyed some homes.

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has little to offer. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest aid provider in the occupied territories, struggles to meet greater needs in the Gaza Strip while facing Israeli restrictions on its operations.

Approximately 40,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in January and February in the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel says the operations are needed to stamp out militancy as violence by all sides has surged since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza.

Fears of long-term displacement Israel's raids have emptied out and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and nearby Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars.

Israel says troops will stay in some camps for a year.

People with means are living with relatives or renting apartments, while the impoverished have sought refuge in public buildings. Now that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has ended, many are being told to leave.

"This is a big problem for us, as the schools cannot be used for the displaced because there are students in them, and at the same time, we have a shortage of financial resources," said Abdallah Kmeil, the governor of Tulkarem.

He said the Palestinian Authority is looking for empty homes to rent to families and plans to bring prefabricated containers for some 20,000 displaced. But it’s unclear when they will arrive.

Seven minutes to pack

The matriarch said Israeli troops gave the family seven minutes to pack when they evicted them from the Nur Shams camp in early February. They left with backpacks and a white flag to signal they weren't a threat.

Shelters were overcrowded. People slept on floor mats with little privacy, and dozens at times shared a few toilets and a shower.

The family tried to return home when soldiers allowed people to go back and get their belongings. Days later, they were forced to leave again, and soldiers warned that their house would be burned if they didn’t, the woman said.

The family found a charity center that doubles as a wedding hall in a nearby town. Now, with the onset of wedding season, they have had to leave.

When the family feels homesick, they walk to a hilltop overlooking Nur Shams.

Palestinians sheltering in and around Tulkarem say they feel abandoned. Much of the aid they were receiving, such as food and clothes, came from the community during Ramadan, a time of increased charity. Now that has dried up.

Israel's crackdown in the West Bank has also left tens of thousands unemployed. They can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages, making it harder to rent scarce places to stay.

Iman Basher used to work on a Palestinian farm near her house in Nur Shams. Since fleeing, the day's walk there is too far to travel, she said. The 64-year-old was among dozens of people recently forced from another wedding hall. She now sleeps on a mat in another packed building.

Basher said soldiers raiding her house stole about $2,000, money she had been saving for more than a decade for her children’s education.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the army prohibits the theft or wanton destruction of civilian property and holds soldiers accountable for what it called "exceptional" violations. The army said gunmen fight and plant explosives in residential areas, and soldiers sometimes occupy homes to combat them.

‘The scale of the displacement is beyond us’

Aid groups said some displaced people are living in unfinished buildings, without proper clothes, hygiene, bedding or access to healthcare.

"It’s hard to find where the need is ... The scale of the displacement is beyond us," said Nicholas Papachrysostomou, emergency coordinator in the northern West Bank for Doctors Without Borders.

The charity's mobile clinics provide primary healthcare, but there’s a shortage of medicine and it’s hard to get supplies because of Israeli restrictions and financial constraints by the West Bank's health ministry, he said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, plans to disburse $265 a month to about 30,000 of the most vulnerable displaced people, but there is enough money for only three months, said Hanadi Jaber Abu Taqa, head of UNRWA in the northern West Bank.

The agency's money mostly goes to Gaza. Just over 12% of the funds it seeks from donors for this year will be allocated to the West Bank.

Portable housing for the many displaced would only be a temporary fix. Some Palestinians said they wouldn't accept it, worrying it would feel like giving up their right to return home.

Isam Sadooq had been helping 60 displaced people staying at a youth center in Tulkarem. Last month, he was told, by the people who run the center, that they should consider evacuating so children can resume sports.

"If we cannot find them another place to live, what will be their fate?" he said. "They will find themselves in the street, and this is something we do not accept."