Historical Dictionary of the Kurds

SYRIA

Syria: translation

Syria is one of the four Middle Eastern states containing parts of historical Kurdistan. More than a million Kurds live in Syria, many of them descended from grandparents who crossed the frontier to escapeTurkishrepression after the failure of theSheikh Saidrebellion in 1925. As a result, many Kurds in Syria have been denied Syrian citizenship and thus lack the most elementary rights. This lack of citizenship also makes it particularly difficult to estimate their numbers.
Although much larger Kurdish populations exist in Turkey,Iran, andIraq, the Kurds in Syria constitute as much as 9 percent of the total population and thus represent the largest ethnic minority in Syria. They are concentrated in three noncontiguous parts of northern Syria:Kurd Daghand Kobani (Ain al-Arab) in Aleppo province and the northern part of the province of Hasaka. The latter is part ofJazireand is contiguous to Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan in the area theFrenchcalledle Bec de Canard, or the Duck's Beak. Qamishli is the largest city here and is situated just across the Turkish border from the city of Nisibin.
The repressiveBaathist Partyunder Hafez Assad (and since 2000 his son Bashar) has ruled Syria since 1970. Along with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, Syria strongly opposes the establishment of any Kurdish state because it would be a threat to its existing territorial integrity. At times, all four states have worked together to prevent such an eventuality.
Nevertheless, as have the other three states, Syria has also not hesitated to use the Kurds against the other three, Turkey especially.Indeed, for many years Syria gave theKurdistan Workers Party(PKK) what might justifiably be called a strategic alliance. As early as 1979, Syria provided a haven forAbdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK. All through the 1980s and up to October 1998, the Syrians allowed the PKK to maintain military camps on their territory or territory that Syria controlled inLebanon. TheMahsun(Mazlum)KorkmazMilitary Academy in theBekaa Valleywas probably the most famous example. From Syrian territory, the PKK could also raid into Turkey and then retreat to a safehouse. (Over the years, Syria also provided considerable logistical aid to the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties, theKurdistan Democratic PartyKDPand thePatriotic Union of KurdistanPUK, both as a tool against Iraq and as a way to play the Iraqi Kurds off against each other so that they could not form an independent state.)
There were many reasons for Syria's support for the PKK.Waterwas probably the main one, as Turkey controlled the flow of the Euphrates River into Syria. As Turkey'sGuneydogu Anadolu Projesi(GAP), or Southeast Anatolia Project, of harnessing the rivers to the north neared completion, Syria used the PKK as a bargaining tool in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a more favorable guaranteed annual water quota from Turkey. Smoldering animosities concerning the Turkish annexation of Hatay (Alexandretta) province in 1939 also led to the Syrian willingness to support the PKK. Some believe that the PKK kept the lid on Syria's Kurds in return for its Syrian bases. Whatever the reasons, a dialogue of the deaf occurred between Turkey and Syria over the situation for many years. With the collapse of Syria'sSovietmentor and because of Turkey's new strategic understanding withIsrael, however, Turkey finally was able to force Syria to expel Ocalan in October 1998. This then led to Ocalan's capture in February 1999. Since then relations between Turkey and Syria have gradually improved.
After the fall ofSaddam Husseinin 2003 and the rise of theKurdistan Regional Government(KRG) in northern Iraq, the ethnic Kurdish position in Syria has begun to change. In March 2004, Kurdish rioting broke out at a football match in Qamishli. Renewed rioting occurred a year later in Aleppo following the killing of Maas-houq al-Haznawi, an outspoken Kurdish cleric critical of the regime. Within days of becoming the president of the KRG in June 2005,Massoud Barzanidemanded that the Syrian Kurds be granted their rights peacefully. In October 2005, an emboldened domestic opposition consisting of numerous disparate groups issued a Declaration for Democratic National Change. Among many other points, this declaration called for a just democratic solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria, in a manner that guaranteed the complete equality of Syrian Kurdish citizens, with regard to nationality rights, culture, learning the national language, and other constitutional rights. Thus, by 2010, the Syrian Kurds were showing increased signs of national awareness due to the developments in the KRG but remained much less successful in implementing them than do their brethren in Iraq and Turkey.

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  4. syria—[sr]Сирия...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  5. syria—n сирия...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  6. syria—Syria noun Сирия...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  7. syria—сущ. геогр. Syrian Arab Republic Сирия государство в ЮгоЗападной Азии столица Дамаск...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  8. syria—n. Сирия...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  9. syria—сущ. общ. Сирия республика столица Дамаск государственный язык арабский национальная валюта сирийский фунтem Syrian pound Arab Monetary Fund EuroMediterranean Partnersh...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  10. syria—сря...Англо-український словник
  11. syria—n геогр. н. Сиря....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  12. syria—Syriaae fiСирия...Латинский словарь
  13. syria—ae f.Сирия страна между рекой Евфрат Средиземным морем Таврским хретом и Аравией C Mela PM etc. иногда C Su Assyria...Латинско-русский словарь
  14. syria—SyriaSyria ae fСирия...Латинско-русский словарь
  15. syria—Syria Phoenice Syria Coeleprima secunda Syria малоазиатская страна . D. . . pr. . . pr. l. D. сирийский l. D. ....Латинско-русский словарь к источникам римского права
  16. syria—[sr] n геогр....Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  17. syria—Syria [sr] n геогр.i Сирия...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  18. syria—sr n геогр. Сирия...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  19. syria—Сирия...Норвежско-русский словарь
  20. syria—[сирья]...Польсько-український словник
  21. syria—Rzeczownik Syria Сирия...Универсальный польско-русский словарь