Arabic belt
.PNG)
The Arabic Belt ( Arabic الحزام العربي al-hizām al-ʿarabi ) was an Arabization project of the Syrian Ba'ath government in the north of the al-Hasakah governorate to change the ethnic composition of the population in Kurdish areas in favor of the Arabs .
planning
The Ba'ath Party seized power in Syria in 1963 and in 1965 decided to build the 350 km long and 10-15 km wide “Arab Belt” along the Turkish border. This stretched from the Iraqi border in the east to Raʾs al-ʿAin in the west. After a renewed coup within the Ba'ath party, Hafiz al-Assad was able to assert himself as head of state of Syria in 1970 and began implementing the plan in 1973. Shortly before implementation, the project name was officially changed to “Plan for the establishment of state model farms in the Jazīra region ”.
execution
41 Arab villages were built in the process and all Kurdish place names in the area were also Arabicized. Approx. 4,000 Arab families from the provinces of ar-Raqqa and Aleppo , where they had previously lost their homes due to the construction of the Tabqa dam , were resettled to the population of the established villages . These Arabs are known as Machmurin (مغمورين Maġmūrīn, dt. Affected by the flood). In the course of these measures, around 2 million hectares of Kurdish cultivation area were expropriated and given to the newly settled Arabs. According to the original plan, around 140,000 Kurds were also to be deported to the southern desert near Al-Raad. Although the Kurdish farmers were expropriated, they refused to move away and give up their houses. Among these peasants, those declared foreigners were not allowed to own property, repair houses, or build new houses.
| Today's district | Kurdish name | Arabized name | Number of established Arab villages |
|---|---|---|---|
| al-Malikiyah | Dêrik | al-Malikiyah | 8th |
| al-Qamishli | Qamişlo | al-Qamishli | 14th |
| Ra's al-'Ayn | Serê Kaniyê | Raʾs al-ʿAin | 15th |
background
The Kurdish areas affected by the “Arab Belt” are rich in oil deposits and fertile farmland. Approximately 50 to 60 percent of Syrian oil reserves are believed to be in the al-Malikiya district.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria. (PDF; 516 kB) Human Rights Watch, November 2009, accessed August 29, 2013 .
- ^ Syria's Oil Resources Are a Source of Contention for Competing Groups In: New York Times. Retrieved August 29, 2013