Zahra Albarazi Therefore, there is a significant void in finding any case law in the country that is related to citizenship issues. 2.1 Minority groups Aside from the specificities of the development of the citizenship regime, Syria has also had a unique and at times strained relationship with certain minority groups. The groups that have been most effected by issues with regards to citizenship are the following. 2.1.1 Kurds Alongside direct discrimination and persecution that Kurds have faced in many areas of their lives in Syria,11 a significant proportion of Syria’s Kurds have also suffered for decades under a tailored policy implemented in the 1960s that formalised their exclusion and rendered them without Syrian nationality. In 1962, the Syrian government conducted a census under Decree No. 93 in the predominantly Kurdish region of Hassaka Governate, which was tailored to the Kurdish population in this region. The reason given by the government for this census was that many non-Syrian Kurds had crossed illegally from Turkey and they needed to determine who the real Syrians were.12 In reality, the census was conducted in the context of sweeping pan-Arab ideology that was taking over the whole region, which was not favourable to other ethnicities.13 The census was significantly flawed for many reasons. For instance, being held for only one day left little time for the community to take part. Many were left without understanding of the process, many could not attend that day, and many were not able to provide the burdensome proof that they were Syrian citizens.14 To highlight the ineffective and arbitrary nature of this census, many members of the same family obtained different statuses. Ultimately as a consequence of this census, two statuses were created for those were not recognized as Syrian. Firstly, Ajanib – which means foreigner in Arabic – was the label for the Kurds who were included in the official registries but did not qualify to sustain their citizenship. Secondly, the Maktumeen, who did not participate in the 1962 census at all and whose files are not available in any registry. Although there are no official statistics, estimates from before the Syrian conflict placed the population of the stateless Kurds at approximately 300,000, which stemmed from the number of 120,000 who were stripped from the nationality under the census.15 Since then, there were no attempts from the ruling party to modify or rectify the situation, up until 2011 when the uprisings began in the country. In an attempt to curb anger from the Northeast of the country, presidential decree in 2011 was ordered that meant that the Ajanib of Hassaka 11 See OHCHR, Persecution and Discrimination against Kurdish Citizens in Syria, access at https://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session12/SY/KIS-KurdsinSyria-eng.pdf. 12 The Ministry of Local Affairs, in response to questions by Human Rights Watch in 1996, stated that ‘At the beginning of 1945, the Kurds began to infiltrate [yatasallaluna] into Hasakeh governorate. They came singly and in groups from neighboring countries, especially Turkey, crossing illegally along the border.’ HRW, 1996, The Silenced Kurds, access at https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm. 13 Refugees International, 2006, Buried Alive: Stateless Kurds in Syria, access at https://www.refworld.org/docid/47a6eba80.html. 14 For more information on this census see Z. Albarazi, The Stateless Syrians, May 2013, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52a983124.htm. 15 Refugees International, Buried Alive: Stateless Kurds in Syria, January 2006, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47a6eba80.html. 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/15 © 2021 Author(s)