Syrian Kurds Forced to Register as Arabs

One more reason to curb your enthusiasm for Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and the new regime in Damascus. In Syria Kurds who want to become full-fledged citizens must now register as “Syrian Arabs.” More on this forced Arabization can be found here: “Kurds allegedly forced to register as Syrian Arabs to receive citizenship, NGO claims,” by Danielle Greyman-Kennard, Jerusalem Post, April 9, 2026:

Members of Syria’s Kurdish community have been forced to register their ethnicity as ‘Syrian Arab’ at nationality application centers in al-Hasakah this past week, according to a number of Kurdish activists and the non-profit Network of Statelessness Victims in al-Hasakah (NSVH), raising fears that Damascus is not serious about honoring Kurds as an integral part of the Syrian identity.

NSVH recorded the incidents in Qamishli, al-Hasakah, al-Malikiyah, al-Darbasiyah, and al-Jawadiya.
Following outrage over the incident, the Syrian-Kurdish newspaper Hawar News Agency reported on Thursday that Damascus would now allow Kurds to register their citizenship only under “Syrian” without further mentioning their ethnic identity.

Under Article 1 of Decree No. 13 of 2026, Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa promised “Syrian Kurdish citizens are considered an essential and authentic part of the Syrian people, and their cultural and linguistic identity is an inseparable part of Syria’s unified and diverse national identity” and Article 2 promises that authorities will “guarantee Kurdish citizens the right to preserve their heritage, arts, and to develop their mother tongue within the framework of national sovereignty.”

Al-Sharaa has broken that promise. Not only are Kurds in Syria not considered to be an “essential and authentic part of the Syrian people,” but they are now being forced to declare themselves to be Arabs if they wish to have benefits of Syrian citizenship. There is no option for the Kurds to declare themselves to be Kurdish.

Now the Kurds are left to decide: will they now identify as Arabs, as the Syrian state now insists that they do in order to be considered Syrian citizens, or will they refuse to do so, and remain bereft of the benefits of citizenship? Al-Sharaa has been courting Donald Trump, who has been taken in by the jihadist in Damascus, praising him as a “very strong leader,” a “tough guy,” and a “rough guy” who is “doing a phenomenal job” stabilizing the country. Trump is too kind. Al-Sharaa is an oppressor of the non-Arab minorities in Syria — the Druze and the Kurds — and hope to force them to discard their true identify in order to be recognized as citizens.

As the late Anwar Sheikh wrote in Islam: The Arab Imperialism, Islam is a vehicle for Arab supremacism. Muslims must ideally read the Qur’an in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed to Muhammad, an Arab, through the Angel Gabriel. Muslims should say their five canonical prayers in Arabic each day while facing toward Mecca, in western Arabia. Muslims should, if financially able, make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives, in order to walk seven times widdershins around the Magic Wonderstone. Muslims often assume false Arab identities, taking Arab names, and even claiming Arab descent. In Pakistan, for example, many people adopt the appellation “Sayyid,” which means they are claiming direct patrilineal descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and son-in-law Ali. While Islam is a universalist religion, Arabs clearly have pride of place. That is why the Syrian law providing citizenship only to those who declare themselves to be Arab makes sense. And it explains why the Kurds are now facing an attempt by the Arabs in Damascus to deprive them of their true identity.