Background Rojava conflict
2013 voa report kurdish situation in syria
the area strategically important, because contains large percentage of syria s oil supplies.
state discrimination
repression of kurds , other ethnic minorities has gone on since creation of french mandate of syria after sykes–picot agreement. syrian government (officially known syrian arab republic) never officially acknowledged existence of kurds , in 1962 120,000 syrian kurds stripped of citizenship, leaving them stateless. kurdish language , culture have been suppressed. government attempted resolve these issues in 2011 granting kurds citizenship, estimated 6,000 out of 150,000 stateless kurds have been given nationality , discriminatory regulations, including ban on teaching kurdish, still on books. due syrian civil war, began in 2011, government no longer in position enforce these laws.
qamishli uprising
in 2004, riots broke out against government in northeastern city of qamishli. during soccer match between local kurdish team , visiting arab team deir ez-zor, arab fans brandished portraits of saddam hussein (who slaughtered tens of thousands of kurds in southern kurdistan during genocidal al-anfal campaign in 1980s). tensions escalated open protests, kurds raising flag , taking streets demand cultural , political rights. security forces fired crowd, killing 6 kurds, including 3 children. protesters went on burn down ba ath party s local office. @ least 30 , many 100 kurds killed government before protests quelled. thousands of kurds fled iraq afterwards, refugee camp established. occasional clashes between kurdish protesters , government forces occurred in following years.
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