09-11-2009
By Basam Mustafa
Damascus – As a result of the drought and the 40 years of pressure under the Syrian Baath regime, the Kurdish Al Jazeera region is facing massive immigration. 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture and the Syrian government banned Kurds without an identity from working.
Because of these factors, some describe the Kurdish region of Syria as a hell on earth. Most families are forced to leave and go to the large cities of Syria, but there they face violence and often cannot find a job. Due to the lack of housing, most of them live in tenths. The number of suicides have increased among the Kurds in Syria.
In the last years, because of the poverty rate and drought, more than 160 Kurdish villages in Hasaka became completely deserted. Most of the people went to Damascus, Aleppo en other Syrian cities.
Kurdish politician Mahmud Muhammad of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) says that the government stripped 20% of the Kurdish population of their Syrian citizienship, following a census in 1962. But he added that the new law 49 on 10 September 2008 also paralyzed the economic life in Kurdish regions. “The Al Jazeera region is going to be emptied from its population step by step, but we don’t know exactly how much families left the region.”
Most people that left Hasake province, live now in tents around Damascus. Approximately 100.000 Kurds live in ghetto’s and are obliged to let their children work in gardens. The Syrian Kurds are also without electricity. In these camps Kurdish women are sometimes molested by owners of farms where they work. Sometimes they also start to work as prostitutes.
According to reports, of the 3 million Kurds of Syria, more than 1 million live in Damascus and its vicinity now (Photo: Rudaw).
© Rudaw
Because of these factors, some describe the Kurdish region of Syria as a hell on earth. Most families are forced to leave and go to the large cities of Syria, but there they face violence and often cannot find a job. Due to the lack of housing, most of them live in tenths. The number of suicides have increased among the Kurds in Syria.
In the last years, because of the poverty rate and drought, more than 160 Kurdish villages in Hasaka became completely deserted. Most of the people went to Damascus, Aleppo en other Syrian cities.
Kurdish politician Mahmud Muhammad of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) says that the government stripped 20% of the Kurdish population of their Syrian citizienship, following a census in 1962. But he added that the new law 49 on 10 September 2008 also paralyzed the economic life in Kurdish regions. “The Al Jazeera region is going to be emptied from its population step by step, but we don’t know exactly how much families left the region.”
Most people that left Hasake province, live now in tents around Damascus. Approximately 100.000 Kurds live in ghetto’s and are obliged to let their children work in gardens. The Syrian Kurds are also without electricity. In these camps Kurdish women are sometimes molested by owners of farms where they work. Sometimes they also start to work as prostitutes.
According to reports, of the 3 million Kurds of Syria, more than 1 million live in Damascus and its vicinity now (Photo: Rudaw).
© Rudaw
