Group Denial
Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria
Description:... "Kurds make up an estimated 10 percent of Syria's population. Long marginalized and discriminated against by successive Syrian governments, the Kurds held massive demonstrations in 2004 to protest their treatment. Since then, the Syrian authorities have imposed a harsh policy of increased repression against the country's Kurdish minority, particularly for any displays of political or cultural activism. This report documents the government's recent crackdown on Kurds, highlighting efforts to ban demonstrations for Kurdish minority rights, cultural celebrations, and commemorative events, as well as the detention of leading Kurdish political activists and their ill-treatment in custody. The report also highlights the lack of due process in the prosecutions of these activists. It is based on interviews with 30 Kurdish activists detained since 2005 and subsequently released, as well as 15 relatives of Kurdish activists still in jail. Five years after the protests of 2004, the report urges Syria to address the underlying grievances of its Kurdish minority, rather than try to repress manifestations of those grievances. Democratic and human rights reforms in Syria that improve the situation for Kurds and non-Kurds alike would go a long way toward alleviating the tension between the Kurds and the Syrian state"--P. [4] of cover.
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