Syrian Kurdistan (Western Kurdistan) - This part of Kurdistan, also known as Western Kurdistan, encompasses a thin slice at the top of Syria, and provides a home for 2-4 million Kurds, depending on different estimates, because accurate figures of minorities are not made available by the Syrian government. Kurds are believed to form about 10% to 20% of the overall Syrian population, making them the largest minority ethnic group in the country, although numbers of Iraqi refugees which have fled their country since the 2003 US-led Iraqi invasion, are reaching similar heights nowadays. According to the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, an organisation which claims to represent Syrian Kurds, they would like an autonomous federal region for themselves in Syria, not full independence, but they also campaign for overall democracy in the authoritarian single-party state which has been under Emergency Law since 1963. According to Human Rights Watch, the Kurdish language is banned in Syria - it is illegal to speak it or print it - and children cannot be named Kurdish names. Nobody can start a business with a Kurdish name - adult Kurds must change their names to do so - and Kurds are banned from building their own schools. If Syrian Kurds could speak openly, it is believed that they would ask for full independence.
The Kurdish Question:
Kurdistan (Greater Kurdistan)
- Iranian Kurdistan (Eastern Kurdistan)
- Iraqi Kurdistan (Southern Kurdistan)
- Syrian Kurdistan (Western Kurdistan)
- Turkish Kurdistan (Northern Kurdistan) |
