11/18/2005

Prematurely gray and appearing much older than his stated age of 43, “Mohammed” told Refugees International about the life of Kurds without effective nationality in Syria. The situation came about in part as the result of a one-day census in the northwestern province of Hasakeh in 1962 when more than 120,000 individuals lost their citizenship. The population facing the consequences of this action has more than doubled in the last three decades.

“What I want to say is not political or against the regime. It is about our daily experience and suffering. It begins with the simple things: not to be able to register my children’s names on my identification card, to be treated as a foreigner, to be denied medical treatment. If someone needs to travel out of Syria for treatment and they cannot because they are stateless, maybe they die in Syria.”

“In our early school days, we felt there was a difference between us and the other students. I remember that when I was in the 9th class, before attending final exams, the school administrator told me, ‘You are not allowed to sit for the exam because you are foreigner and Maktoumeen.’ They sent a message to Ministry of Education and got a response only 18 days before exam. I took the test, but I got a low score because I didn’t know if I would be able to attend the exam and was not able to prepare properly. And when they had a type of military class at school, the Maktoumeen were told to go out of the classroom. When I finished my studies and wanted to go to university, it took four months to get people to go with me and help arrange this, but my friends went there directly.”

“From the beginning of our days at university we knew we would not have an office or be able to practice a profession such as law. But we wanted to show we could be useful members of society if we were ever given identity cards. It pained us inside to know we would not do the work we were preparing for. I knew what would be in my future, but we hoped that maybe in some years they would give us identity and we would not want to work in agriculture or other labor jobs. We thought we would be able to work by our lessons.”

He said that if the students traveled away from the university and arrived back in Aleppo late at night, they had to register with security before entering their accommodations again. It meant being interrogated well into the early morning hours. To avoid this, they spent the night outside in a garden, or a park, or by waking friends up to stay in their homes.

“After finishing university, the painful life began. We saw our classmates and friends get jobs and buy houses, according to their lessons. We have to look for work, any job, to begin our life. As a result of our suffering, we wanted to ask for our rights. In many countries, even the animals have identification or a family card, at least a family tree. But people here do not treat stateless persons even as well as Europeans treat their animals.”

“We are dying alive. We are dead in our life. Now I am 43 years old. I see all my friends who studied with me -- doctors, lawyers, engineers, officers, or others who have identity or nationality go outside of country and bring money back. I, my wife, and children work in a shop, moving heavy appliances. We live on about SYP 6,000 ($120) a month. The rent costs SYP 2,000 ($40) and utilities run about SYP 500 ($10). If we live a humane life, that is not enough for more than six or seven days. We arrange our life as we have money—maybe twice a month we buy meat.”

Mohammed says that his mother is from the Turkish side of the border. Before 1972 she went there twice illegally to visit her only brother and came back. At that time they did not monitor the border as closely as they do now. Since that time she has not visited the country. Unbeknownst to her, her brother has since died. Mohammed says, “We couldn't tell her about her brother's death because she cannot go over there to mourn him. Even now she has hopes to visit him one day.”

He explained, "I am a Doctor of Lessons and Laws. I know that any person who lives five years in Syria without going out has the right to a Syrian nationality. If they applied the law, many problems would be solved. But the problem is political, not related to the law. When they apply the law, there will be no problem of foreigners. If they applied the nationality law, I would have had nationality since I became an adult. Instead it is like I am buried alive.”