174
McGee
and in the Kurdistan Region (KR) of Iraq and Turkey thereafter.11 As such,
analysis will go beyond identifying the presence of the legal bond between the
individual (newly naturalised) citizen and the state, referred to in the title of
this paper as ‘I.D.’ Attention will also be given to the conceptions of ‘identity’
that qualify their enjoyment of citizenship. ‘I.D.’ and ‘identity’ are related
notions of belonging, the first being absolute and limited, while the second is
constructed upon perceived and emotional attachments based on social interaction.12 The two terms are connected in conceptions of state-individual relations, and sometimes provision of I.D. is conditional upon demonstration and/
or appreciation of a strong sentiment of national identity.13
SYRIAN KURDS
(approx 2 milion)
KURDS
(approx 30 milion)
SYRIA
(approx 23 milion)
Bê Watan
(without a state)
ajanib &
maximum
(approx. 300,000;
March 2011)
Bê Nifûs
(without identity card)
Figure 1
11
12
13
Visualization of Kurdish-Syrian-Statelessness Intersections.
Field research was conducted in the Kurdistan Region during June-August 2012, and in
Turkey during February-September 2013. Many of the research participants in these locations had left Syria as a consequence of the conflict that developed following the popular
uprising in March 2011. Due to the dispersed nature of the relevant research subjects and
challenges to identify stateless Kurds within the host community, research relies heavily
on individual narratives to reveal more about a generally under-researched population.
cf. Judith Bulter’s analysis of the sex-gender distinction, referred to in Thomas McGee,
‘Stateless Identity and National I.D.: Kurds of Syria’ (MA thesis, University of Exeter 2012)
66–74.
Examples include integration procedures for immigrants such as an oath of allegiance,
covered by in the Eastern European context by Eva Mrekajova, ‘Naturalization of Stateless
Persons: Solution of Statelessness?’ (MA dissertation, University of Tilburg, 2012) 40.
tilburg law review 19 (2014) 171-181