KURDS DISMISS LATEST SARG GESTURES ON STATELESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000421

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SY
SUBJECT: KURDS DISMISS LATEST SARG GESTURES ON STATELESS
ISSUE


Classified By: CDA Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: According to recent media reports, a
delegation of 43 Kurdish tribal leaders recently met with
high-ranking Syrian officials to discuss the restoration of
citizenship for Syria's 300,000 stateless Kurds. While the
SARG publicly touted the meeting as a further step towards
resolving the issue, Kurdish political activists dismiss the
claim, noting the absence of Kurdish political figures from
the meeting and that this promise had already been made twice
before in 2005 by President Bashar al-Asad.


2. (C) Media reports indicate that a delegation of 43
Kurdish tribal leaders met January 30 with Regional Command
National Security Office head Hisham Ikhtiyar and Ba'th Party
Regional Command Assistant Secretary General Mohammed Sa'id
Bukhaytan. Press reports indicate that President Bashar
al-Asad had intended to meet with the delegation but was
unable to do so due to a scheduling conflict. Media reports
quoted Shakib Hajoub, a representative of the Kurdish
Haderkan tribe, citing a statement by Bukhaytan that "an
order will be issued within the next month granting
citizenship to about 300,000 Kurds" but that it was unclear
whether the citizenship would be granted to all stateless
Kurds immediately or if the process would be gradual.


3. (C) This announcement is another in a series of recent
public statements by the SARG regarding the issue of
stateless Kurds. The topic was mentioned as part of a
package of reforms announced by President Bashar al-Asad
during the Tenth Ba'th Party Congress held in June. During
his November 10 address to the nation, Bashar also discussed
"the census problem", noting that political developments had
delayed any action on the issue but said that the issue would
soon be solved as "an expression of the importance of
national unity in Syria."

4. (C) Kurdish activists, however, reported later that the
tribal leaders present were "angered" and unhappy with the
meeting results. Yekiti Party activist Faisl Badr told
Poloff that, based on conversations with Kurds who were
present at the meeting, the Kurdish tribal leaders were
angered that they had been lured to the Presidential Palace
with promises of seeing Bashar, only to end up meeting with
second-tier Ba'th officials. According to both Badr and
Azadi Party activist Luqman Ois, the SARG officials insisted
that the stateless issue is a social and not/not a political
issue, a stance which is rejected by both parties. Ois added
that Ikhtiar and Bukhaytan described Hassekeh province in
northeastern Syria (a Kurdish stronghold) as being
historically Armenian, Arab, and Assyrian (thus implying no
Kurdish history),and suggested that one condition of
resolving the stateless issue would be to require Kurds to
register in districts other that Hassekeh. (NOTE: As
registrations determine voting location, this step would, in
effect, dilute the voting power of Kurds in any future
elections.) Both Badr and Ois commented that the SARG's
timing was in reaction to international and domestic
pressure, with Ois adding that it was an attempt to divide
the Kurds from the rest of the opposition.


5. (C) COMMENT: Skepticism towards this latest promise of
resolving the Kurdish problem is certainly warranted, given
Bashar's failure to act on earlier promises. SARG officials
have quite a history of picking up one aspect or another of
the Kurdish issue for short-term political gain for PR
purposes, designed for the international community, and then
dropping it after an initial splash of publicity.
SECHE