Syrian Citizenship Disappeared able to register except me. They all continued their way to Aleppo to study at University but I returned home disappointed. Imagine how such a situation can create aversion in one’s soul.” Dlo Mohammed, an alias, was born in Ras al-Ein/ Sari Kani in 1993. She states to be maktumah and her legal status has not changed despite the issuance of Decree No. 49. She graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences from Tishreen University in Latakia city in 2016 but received no diploma: “All our life, my extended family, of 30 to 40 individuals, and I have lived with no rights at all, no identity card or any other documents. When I finished the secondary education, some of my friends and relatives advised me not to complete my study, arguing it would worthless since I would be granted no university diploma. But my father always supported us and wanted us to get university degrees, believing we would become citizens one day. He has endured all kinds of misery for that.”72 Najwa al-Mohammed, an alias, was born in al-Hasakah city in 1991. She was forced to endure the consequences of the census and became ajnabiyah. Until she managed to acquire the Syrian nationality in 2011, her status heavily impacted her, especially with regards to her education: “I was not entitled to complete my education. Therefore, I didn’t study further than the secondary stage. Plus, we were unable to enroll in schools since we did not extract the Individual Civil Registry Record from the Personal Status Department or from the Mukhtar of our neighborhood. So, I used to move from one grade to another without receiving any certificates. When it came to university, 72 STJ’s field researcher conducted direct interview with her in mid July 2018 in Ras al-Ein/Sari Kani. they requested an exception from the Ministry of Higher Education, who refused to grant it to me. My father was encouraging me to study, saying he would make many attempts to help me gain my intermediate degree, but I always felt I my efforts were pointless. I finally managed to obtain my intermediate certificate after an exception given by the Ministry of Education, but was not able to obtain my high school certificate. My dream to study at university did not come true. I still remember students gazing at me in contempt whenever one of the school’s employees called me: «hey, ajnabiya!»”73 Haytham Haji Hasan, a press photographer, was born in Ras al-Ein/Sari Kani in 1979. He is married with three children and is ajnabi. He acquired the Syrian nationality with the issuance of the Decree No. 49, after having faced decades of obstacles, especially in the field of education: “We went through hell. When I completed my intermediate education, I tried to obtain the Individual Civil Registry Record, which requested an approval paper from the State Security, who in turn asked us to be informers and report the news of our neighbours. A while later, unlike the maktumeen who could obtain nothing, I managed to get the Individual Civil Registry Record in addition to the family Civil Registry Record.”74 Haytham realised that despite him studying hard, he would get no diploma, and it started raising tensions between his father and him: “My father always asked me to complete my education but I refused because I had already understood that my future was doomed. Some fami73 The interview was conducted via the Internet in late July 2018, with the field researcher of STJ who is in Qamishli city. 74 The field researcher of STJ conducted direct interview with him in Qamishli city in March 2018. 25