Syrian Citizenship Disappeared 13. Statelessness in numbers, from 1962 to date: On 13 July 2011, the official Syrian media outlet published statements of the Assistant Minister of Interior for Civil Affairs, Brigadier General Hasan Jalali. According to him, the Civil Registry Offices had received 37 904 applications to date, each application covering the entire family of the applicants.54 He added that 21 993 identity cards had been delivered , and noted that the Civil Registry offices in Qamishli, al-Malikiyah/Derek and Ad Darbasiyah were all overcrowded with people applying for citizenship. Jalali described the new facilitations and services initiated as a result of the completion of the automation of the civil registration and records project, one of the biggest and most important IT projects in Syria that aims at storing civil registers of all Syrian citizens, listed in the civil records since the 1922 statistics.55 On 14 August 2011, the published new statements by Jalali, revealing that 41 706 applications had been received to date, and 36 498 identity cards delivered, pointing out that each application covers the entire family of the applicants.56 54 Al-Hasakah province has 16 Civil Registry Offices, which are affiliated to the central directorate of al-Hasakah, which in turn follows the Civil Affairs Agency, headed by the Assistant Minister of the Interior for civil affairs. For more info see: “The Organizational structure of the Civil Registry Directorate”, Civil Affairs Agency of the Syrian Ministry of Interior, Thursday, 12 October 2007. http://www.civilaffairmoi.gov.sy/site/arabic/ index.php?node=5518&cat=14768& (Last visit: 11 August 2018). According to a study published by the Arab League, the average Syrian family (rural or urban) consists of (5.0) persons; about (208530) individuals applied for the Syrian nationality as of August 2011, only four months after the issuance of Decree No. 49 of 2011, in April. Read: a study entitled “Family Health Survey in the Syrian Arab Republic 2009”. See: http://www.cbssyr. sy/family%20health/Syria%20Survey%20Principal%20Report%20For%20Syrians.pdf (Last visit: 6 August 2018). 55 Ministry of Interior: “increased numbers of nationalization applications by ajanib al-Hasakah”, 13 July 2011, see: http://www.ortas.gov.sy/index.php?p=21&id=76397 (Last visit: 6 August 2018) 56 The Syrian Parliament publications, issue 28, The Syrian Parliament, Sunday, 4 August 2011. See: http:// On 21 September 2011, the official Syrian media outlet published new statements by Jalali, announcing that more than 104 000 Kurds had applied for citizenship while 60 000 Kurds had received identity cards.57 On 29 December 2011, Al-Thawra official newspaper quoted Jalali and disclosed that 105 152 applications for naturalisation and 67 540 for identity cards had been received, and the number of people who received the identity cards 67 525. 58 A well-informed source within the Directorate of Civil Affairs in al-Hasakah, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, gave STJ an exclusive interview, in early August 2018, and provided numbers and facts concerning the maktumeen and ajanib issues: “The services of the Personal Status Directorate in al-Hasakah covers the whole province, and its records and documents are central and archived at the beginning and mid of each year. There are 16 Civil Registry offices throughout the province. They are affiliated to the Central Directorate, which in turn follows the Civil Affairs Agency in the Ministry of Interior which is directly linked to the Minister of Interior through the Assistant Minister of the Interior for civil affairs, who leads the Civil Affairs Agency”. Regarding the stateless Kurds numbers, 346 242 of them were registered as ajanib al-Hasakah as of the beginning of 2011. After the issuance of the 2011 Decree No. 49, the Directorate parliament.gov.sy/arabic/eindex.php?node=55112&cat=906&nid=906&print=1 (Last visit: 6 August 2018). 57 Directorate of Civil Affairs: “Equipping Headquarters for the Registry of Governors residing in Damascus”, Aksalseer, Wednesday 21 September 2011, see: http://www. aksalseer.com/?page=view_news&id=4ca77a3f414d7f48af12bc16ae15c092 (Last visit: 6 August 2018). 58 Assuming that each application covered five family members (the average members of a Syrian family according to independent studies, mentioned above), the number of individuals included in all applications is (105 152), while (525 760) others submitted individually. “105 152 naturalization applications and 67 525 given identity cards… Regularizing the nationalized’ conscription status” al-Thawra newspaper, Thursday, 29 December 2011 http://thawra.sy/_print_veiw.asp?FileName=32599405720111229004034 (Last visit: 6 August 2018). 19