The Kurds in Syria

Despite their long historical presence and large population, the Kurds do not possess an independent sovereign state. According to the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), a state under international law must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to engage in relations with other states. As the Kurds do not possess a sovereign state that meets these criteria, there is no Kurdish nationality under international law. Instead, Kurds hold the nationality of the states in which they reside.

They mainly live in adjoining regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The Kurdistan region of Iraq is located in the vast Zagros mountains of northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan is the only area with recognized political autonomy, governed by an autonomous regional authority. Despite political fragmentation, the Kurds maintain a distinct ethnic identity, including their own language, Kurdish, which is neither Arabic nor Turkish and belongs to the Indo-Iranian language family, closely related to Persian.

The Kurdish statelessness issue largely traces back to the post–World War I period, Kurds were promised the possibility of a state in postwar agreements, most notably the Treaty of Sèvres (1920). This outcome was shaped by how the victorious powers redrew borders and defined new state territories in the region.

Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million Kurds in Syria, primarily in the north and northeast. They mainly speak Kurdish (Kurmanji) alongside Arabic and are predominantly Sunni Muslim.

Historically, Syrian Kurds faced restrictions on cultural and political expression under the Assad regime, including limitations on Kurdish-language use, and many were rendered stateless following the 1962 Hasakah census, affecting their civil and economic rights.

Following the 2011 outbreak of the Syrian conflict, Kurdish-led factions took control of territory in northern Syria. The YPG/YPJ, which is ideologically influenced by the PKK, partnered with the Sandid Forces of the Shammar Arab tribe to form the main body of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF was a partner force within the broader US-led coalition fighting ISIS. The subsequent authority established in these areas, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).