Shafaq News- Damascus
Kurdish residents have been visiting citizenship centers in Syria's Aleppo to complete procedures for obtaining Syrian nationality and identity cards under a January presidential decree, following decades of legal exclusion under the former government.
Bakr Abu Barkal told Shafaq News that his family had been denied citizenship because they were Kurdish, preventing them from obtaining passports, registering property in their names, and completing property and housing transactions. He has reached the fingerprinting stage of the identity card process, which he considers a step toward obtaining official proof of identity and citizenship.
Another applicant interviewed by Shafaq News, Hassan al-Khalil, from Ain al-Arab (Kobani), said he had remained without civil registration or official identity documents until the age of 42. He was forced to leave school in sixth grade after being told he was unregistered, ending his education at an early age, he added.
Speaking to Shafaq News, Abdullah al-Khatib, head of Aleppo's Fourth Civil Affairs Department center, said the application period had been extended to help Kurdish families in camps and remote areas complete their procedures despite transportation and logistical difficulties. He described the decree as a historic step toward addressing a longstanding legal problem that “deprived hundreds of thousands of Syrians of basic rights,” including identification, property ownership, employment, and health care.
The measure will “promote national unity, social cohesion, and equal citizenship.”
Transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 13 on January 16, repealing exceptional measures stemming from a 1962 census in Al-Hasakah province and providing for Syrian citizenship for eligible residents of Kurdish origin, including those without civil registration. The decree also recognizes Kurdish as a national language and designates Nowruz, celebrated on March 21, as an official public holiday.
According to UNHCR, Syrian authorities had received 2,892 family applications covering 10,516 individuals by May 22. On October 12, Syria's General Directorate of Civil Affairs announced an October 18 to 29 period for applicants who missed earlier appointments to complete their citizenship procedures at designated centers, including one in Aleppo.