Zahra Albarazi To add to this, the conflict in Syria since 2011 has negatively impacted the country’s fragile citizenship regime. Firstly, it has transformed the situation of individuals already experiencing protracted statelessness such as Kurds and Palestinians. Most problematic is that many of the internally displaced persons and refugees have had – for a whole host of reasons – difficulty in accessing or keeping their nationality. This report hopes to explore how the citizenship regime was established, to highlight some of the main flaws in the legislation, and to present some of the main populations that are affected by these flaws. 2. Historical background The establishment of modern Turkey and the partition of the former Ottoman Empire, under the Treaty of Lausanne and other post-World War I treaties, was the start of the application of nationality laws across the Middle East3. At this time, the formally labelled “Ottoman subjects” began to acquire the nationalities of the newly formed political states. Therefore, the Ottoman subjects – residing in what was known as the Federation of the Autonomous States of Syria – were subject to the first Syrian nationality law of 30/08/1924. This took place after the French High Commissioner created a note concerning the establishment of nationality.4 After this came the declaration of independence from France in 1946 and thereafter Act No. 98 of 21/05/1951. Although this was developed by Syrian lawyers, it was heavily based on the French nationality code. Notably, during that period, the French code relied solely on patrilineal filiation. Over the next decade, there would be several amendments and changes to the nationality law, which reflected the tumultuous political situation of the country. There were several coups that took place during this time,5 and often changes would be made to the nationality law by a new ruling party to reflect their unique politics. This would start off with the nationality law promulgated by Legislative Decree No. 21 of 24/02/1953, amended by Act No. 492 of 16/02/1957. Then, in 1958, a group of Syrian and Egyptian lawyers prepared Act No. 82 of 23/06/1958 which was adopted under the United Arab Republic (a merger between the two countries), signed by Gamal Abdul Nasser himself.6 Here, unlike many other countries in the region, the French Mandate legislation on nationality was repealed. This republic – that joined Syria and Egypt – was one of the most significant attempts at materializing the pan-Arab ideology7. In this law, Article (2) stipulates: The following shall be considered nationals of the United Arab Republic: (A) Anyone born to a father holding the nationality of the United Arab Republic. (B) Anyone born in the United Arab Republic to a mother holding the nationality of the republic and a father of unknown nationality or without one. 3 Ministry of Defense - Syria- French mandate over Syria, 1923 Treaty. French High Commissioner issued resolution 2825-bis (i.e. 2825[2]). 5 Carleton, Alford. “The Syrian Coups D'État.” Middle East Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, 1950, pp. 1–11, access at: www.jstor.org/stable/4322135. 6 For more information on the United Arab Republic see T. R. L. “The Meaning of the United Arab Republic.” The World Today, vol. 14, no. 3, 1958, pp. 93–101, access at: www.jstor.org/stable/40393828. 7 A political movement and belief system that promotes the idea that all Arabs should unite to form one country or state. 4 2 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/15 © 2021 Author(s)