Kurds allegedly forced to register as Syrian Arabs to receive citizenship

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Kurdish women dance hand in hand as the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) members celebrate Nowruz at the Jezhnikan Village around Baharka, Iraq, on March 18, 2025.(photo credit: YOUNES MOHAMMAD/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)


Members of Syria’s Kurdish community have been forced to register their ethnicity as ‘Syrian Arab’ at nationality application centers in al-Hasakah this past week, according to a number of Kurdish activists and the non-profit Network of Statelessness Victims in al-Hasakah (NSVH), raising fears that Damascus is not serious about honoring Kurds as an integral part of the Syrian identity.

NSVH recorded the incidents in Qamishli, al-Hasakah, al-Malikiyah, al-Darbasiyah, and al-Jawadiya.
Following outrage over the incident, the Syrian-Kurdish newspaper Hawar News Agency reported on Thursday that Damascus would now allow Kurds to register their citizenship only under “Syrian” without further mentioning their ethnic identity.

Under Article 1 of Decree No. 13 of 2026, Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa promised “Syrian Kurdish citizens are considered an essential and authentic part of the Syrian people, and their cultural and linguistic identity is an inseparable part of Syria’s unified and diverse national identity” and Article 2 promises that authorities will “guarantee Kurdish citizens the right to preserve their heritage, arts, and to develop their mother tongue within the framework of national sovereignty.”

The legislation was introduced following an agreement by Syria and the formerly US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces after serious clashes. The Syrian Arab Army was accused of butchering civilians and causing a humanitarian crisis in Rojova in Damascus’s campaign to centralize power.

NSVH reported that the failure to provide an option to register as Kurdish, which was flagged during field monitoring, has raised serious concerns about Damascus’s compliance with the legislation.

Pro-Kurdish demonstrators take part in a protest in support of Rojava, the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq, January 21, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/KHALID AL-MOUSILY)

A direct infringement on individuals’ right to freely self-identify​

“The inclusion of inaccurate or imposed ethnic classifications contradicts the very purpose of the decree and undermines its central objective – namely, to remedy past injustices rather than reproduce them through new administrative practices. It also constitutes a direct infringement on individuals’ right to freely self-identify with dignity,” the NGO stressed.