Syrian Citizenship Disappeared the United Nations helped us to reunite with my husband and complete the reunion papers.” Similarly, Zahra Ramadan testified to STJ that some other families’ marriage documents were rejected in the countries of asylum because they were issued from al-Hasakah, forcing them to send their relatives from al-Hasakah to Damascus in the midst of the conflict to extract papers recognised by European states. Amer Jamil Hameh was born in al-Darbasiyah in 1985. Like other people, he faced obstacles in the country of asylum because of his previous legal status as ajnabi and was separated from his wife for an extended period of time: “When I arrived in Germany, I faced some difficulties following up my papers as a refugee, and even more as an ajnabi. They asked us, all refugees from al-Hasakah, Deir ez-Zur, Idlib, and Raqqa, to extract papers from the Personal Status Department in Damascus specifically. That greatly impeded and delayed the reunion with my fiancée, who later became my wife, since I did not have a registry in the official records there from before 2011.” Hussein Ma’mi was born in al-Hasakah in 1984. Deeply affected by the barriers he was facing as a maktum, he decided to leave for Europe as a refugee: “I smuggled to Kurdistan first then to Germany, it took me, as a stateless, a long time to obtain a one year German residence permit while it took the Syrian citizen only 3 to 4 months to receive a 3 years one.” Once they leave Syria, stateless people have greater difficulty to obtain the Syrian nationality. Indeed, according to Ibrahim Ali Basha, lawyer, the stateless refugees requesting to be reinstalled in their Syrian nationality are ordered to go back to their place of records, that is the Personal Status Records located in al-Hasakah to do so. 16.3. Concerns despite obtaining citizenship Our research shows that obtaining the Syrian nationality does not solve the issues of a lifetime of discrimination. The victims we interviewed pointed out that the Syrian war, that has been ongoing for more than seven years, remains a burden once stateless obtain the citizenship. Zaher Farhan Ali described to Syrians for Truth and Justice the concerns following obtaining the nationality. He was always afraid of being sent to the reserve service within the Syrian army because of the deteriorated security situations in Syria. Suleiman Hussein Amin explained that, in the midst of the war, obtaining the nationality appears as a poisoned chalice: “I desperately wanted to travel abroad. But even when I obtained the Syrian nationality, I could not, because I am wanted to complete the obligatory military service12⁵.” The witness Abu Diar, an alias, alluded that the main challenges he faced after acquiring the Syrian nationality was when attempting to register several of his properties in his own name. The process, including the gathering of documents and witnesses, revealed lengthy and arduous. Yalmaz Lukman Othman testified that although he obtained the Syrian nationality, he still feels as a fourth-class citizen because every administrative formality he conducts the government departments comes along questions on his previous legal status as ajnabi. He added that he thought the Syrian government would compensate him if he acquired the citizenship but he was wrong. Instead, the Syrian government took SYP 150,000 from him in order to provide him with an ID. Shivan Hussein Amin summarized the challenges he faced after acquiring the nationality, adding, “I had ambitions and hopes but they all shattered because of my previous legal status. Now that I have the Syrian citizenship, I am unable to achieve them because of the war.” 125 STJ's field researcher conducted direct interview with him in Qamishli in March 2018. 51