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{{Neutrality|date=November 2020}}
{{about|the Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria|the AANES, often called Rojava|Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|}}
[[File:Kurdish languages map.svg|thumb|Location of [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]]-speaking communities in the [[Middle East]] (''[[Le Monde diplomatique]]'', 2007)]]
'''Syrian Kurdistan''' or '''Western Kurdistan''' ({{lang-ku|Rojavayê Kurdistanê}}), often shortened to '''Rojava''', is regarded by
== History ==▼
▲== History of the term ==
[[File:Cedid Atlas (Middle East) 1803.jpg|thumb|right|1803 [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Cedid Atlas]], showing the Ottoman interpretation of Kurdistan in blue (incorporating very little of modern [[Syria]]).]]
Although
References to Syrian territory being part of Kurdistan became more widespread among Syrian Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s,{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|pp=93–95}} a development fueled by the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK), which was based in Syria after [[Hafez al-Assad]] had given it [[safe haven]] after the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état]]. The PKK presence strengthened Kurdish nationalism in Syria, where local Kurdish parties had previously lacked "a clear political project" related to a Kurdish identity, partially due to political repression by the Syrian government.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=93}} Despite the role of the PKK in encouraging aspirations toward an independent Kurdistan, the [[Democratic Union Party (Syria)|Democratic Union Party]] (PYD) (the Syrian successor of the PKK){{sfnp|Allsopp|van Wilgenburg|2019|p=28}} and the PKK no longer aspire to an independent Kurdish state.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=123}} Today they call for the removal of state borders in general, as the two parties, along with the rest of the [[Kurdistan Communities Union]], believe that there is no need for the creation of a separate Kurdish state, as their [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalist]] project would allow for the removal of the borders that divide Kurdistan through indirect means.<ref name="kaya"/>
== Extent ==
[[File:Rojava_february_2014.png|thumb|200px|The [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria]] in 2014, referred to as 'Syrian Kurdistan' by the [[Kurdish Project]]<ref>{{cite news| url = https://thekurdishproject.org/kurdistan-map/syrian-kurdistan/| title = Syria (Rojava or Western Kurdistan) |author = The Kurdish Project| work = | date = | access-date = 8 November 2020}}</ref>]]
Syrian Kurdistan, like the rest of Kurdistan, is not clearly defined, and its extent is subject to varying interpretations.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=95}} Following the [[partition of the Ottoman Empire]] and the establishment of the Republic of [[Turkey]] in 1923, the Ottoman Kurdish population was divided between its successor states Turkey, the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]], and [[Mandatory Iraq]]. Syrian Kurdistan is adjacent to [[Turkish Kurdistan]] in the north and [[Iraqi Kurdistan]] in the east.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gunter|first=Michael M.|title=The Kurds: A Modern History|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|year=2016|isbn=978-1-558766150|location=Princeton|pages=88|language=en}}</ref> Depending on their different interpretations, most ethnographic maps show two or three separate Kurdish-majority regions along the [[Syria-Turkey border]].
[[File:Rojavaye Kurdistane welat ku wkp.png|thumb|200px|[[Irredentist]] [[Kurdish nationalist]] view of Western Kurdistan, espoused in particular by the [[Kurdish National Council]]<ref name="zamanalwsl" />]]
The most generous portrayals of Syrian Kurdistan are those of [[Kurdish nationalist]]s, who have produced maps that show what they consider to be Syrian Kurdistan. This is usually a narrow strip along the [[Syria-Turkey border]] that thickens toward the east. Two maps by ''Ekurd Daily'' from 2012 and 2013 included all of northern Syria, including the entire [[al-Hasakah Governorate]], the north of [[Deir ez-Zor Governorate]], northern [[Raqqa Governorate]], and northern [[Aleppo Governorate]], as well as the areas of the [[Idlib Governorate]] bordering Turkey's [[Hatay Province]], in 'Western Kurdistan'.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/10/syriakurd637.htm| title = Kurdish autonomy in Syria troubling for rebels, Turkey | work = Ekurd Daily| date = 7 October 2012| access-date = 14 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/3/syriakurd757.htm| title = Syrian Kurdistan: The Kurds Are for the Kurds |author = Jonathan Spyer| work = Ekurd Daily| date = 9 March 2013| access-date = 12 September 2020}}</ref> By 2013, Syrian Kurdistan had become synonymous with PYD-ruled areas, regardless of ethnic majorities. For the most part, the term was used to refer to the "non-contiguous Kurdish-populated areas" in the region.<ref name="Icarus"/> A 2015 map by [[Kurdish National Council]] (KNC) member Nori Brimo was published which largely mirrored the ''Ekurd Daily'''s maps, but also included the Hatay Province, thus giving this version of Western Kurdistan access to the [[Mediterranean]]. These maps include the large swaths of Arab-majority areas in between the major Kurdish regions.<ref name="zamanalwsl">{{cite news| url = https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/article/9073/| title = Map of proposed Syrian Kurdistan provoke questions |author = Mohamed Al Hussein| work = zamanalwsl| date = 21 February 2020| access-date = 12 September 2020}}</ref>
[[File:Maunsell's map Northern Syria.jpg|thumb|left|1910 British ethnographic map of ethnic distribution in Syria]]
==Demographic history and its effects on government policy==
[[File:Kurdish-inhabited area by CIA (1992).jpg|right|thumb|200px|1992 CIA map of Kurdish-inhabited areas]]
[[Kurdish people|Kurds]] are the largest ethnic minority in [[Syria]], and make up between 5 and 16 percent of the Syrian population as of 2011—between 1.6 and 2.5 million people, although these figures don't include [[Arabisation|Arabized]] Kurds.<ref name="Balanche">{{cite book |title=Sectarianism in Syria's Civil War |author=Fabrice Balance |edition=Online |date=2018 |publisher=[[ The Washington Institute for Near East Policy]] |location=Washington, DC |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/SyriaAtlasCOMPLETE.pdf |accessdate=25 June 2019}} In this atlas, French geographer Balanche suggests that "As of 2010, Syria’s population was roughly 65% Sunni Arab, 15% Kurdish, 10% Alawite, 5% Christian, 3% Druze, 1% Ismaili, and 1% Twelver Shia." (page 13) "The number of Kurds in Syria is often underestimated by analysts, who tend to cap them at 10% of the population. In fact, they are closer to 15%."(page 16) The 2018 breakdown is 1% Sunni Arab, 16% Kurdish, 13% Alawite, 3% Christian, 4% Druze, 1% Ismaili, 1% Twelver Shia, 1% Turkmen (page 22) Balanche also refers to his ''Atlas du ProcheOrient Arabe'' (Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2011), p. 36."</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jv2jHT_GRe0C|title=Syria|last=Darke|first=Diana|date=2010-01-01|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn=978-1-84162-314-6|language=en}}</ref><ref name="BBC-Who_are_the_Kurds">{{cite web|title=Who are the Kurds?|edition=Online |date=31 October 2017 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440 |accessdate=25 November 2017}} Kurds make up between 7% and 10% of Syria's population.</ref><ref name="SBS">{{cite web|title=Who are Syria's minority groups?|edition=Online |date=11 September 2015 |publisher=[[Special Broadcasting Service]] |url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/11/who-are-syrias-minority-groups |accessdate=25 November 2017}} Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, constituting around 10 per cent of the population - around 2 million of the pre-conflict population of around 22 million.</ref><ref name="Sahipkiran">{{cite web |title=Kurdish Population in Syria |edition=Online |date=5 August 2014 |url=http://sahipkiran.org/2014/08/05/kurdish-population-in-syria/ |accessdate=25 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022130115/http://sahipkiran.org/2014/08/05/kurdish-population-in-syria/ |archive-date=22 October 2018 |url-status=dead }} Various proportions are predicted for Kurds. For example McDowall[8] and O’shea[9] predict 8%, Bruinessen predicts 8.5%,[10] Chailand predicts 10%[11]. Vanly, Kurdish writer, stated that Kurds must be at least 7% of Syrian population</ref><ref name="CIAonline">{{cite book |title=World Factbook |edition=Online |date=2019 |publisher=US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |location=Langley, Virginia |issn=1553-8133 |url= https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ |accessdate=25 June 2019}} CIA estimates are {{as of|lc=y|2019|06}} "Ethnic groups: Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)"</ref> The Kurdish population in Syria is relatively small in comparison to the Kurdish populations in nearby countries, such as [[Turkey]] (14.4–16 million), [[Iran]] (7.9 million), and [[Iraq]] (4.7–6.2 million).<ref name=CIAonline /> The majority of Syrian Kurds speak [[Kurmanji]], a Kurdish dialect spoken in Turkey and northeastern Iraq and Iran.<ref name=Tejel1>{{cite book|last=Tejel|first=Jordi|title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4f54qsU618C|isbn=0-203-89211-9|page=8|}}</ref> Many of Syria's Kurds live in [[Aleppo]] and [[Damascus]], which are not considered part of Kurdistan.
It is estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century an unknown number of Kurds lived in the [[Kurd-Dagh]] region; 16,000 Kurds lived in the [[Jarabulus]] region; and an unknown number lived in the [[Al-Jazira province|Jazira province]], where they were likely the majority.<ref name=Tejel2>{{cite book|last=Jordi Tejel |first=translated from the French by Emily Welle|title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society|url=https://archive.org/details/syriaskurdshisto00teje |url-access=limited |year=2009|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-203-89211-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/syriaskurdshisto00teje/page/n24 10]|edition=1. publ. |author2=Welle, Jane}}</ref> In the 1920s after the failed [[Kurdish rebellions]] in [[Single-party period of the Republic of Turkey|Kemalist Turkey]], there was a large migration of Kurds to Syria's Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria.<ref name=McDowell>{{cite book|last=McDowell|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds |year=2005|publisher=Tauris|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=1-85043-416-6|pages=469|edition=3. revised and upd. ed., repr.}}</ref> According to [[Stefan Sperl]], these Kurdish newcomers constituted no more than 10% of the Kurdish population of Jazira at the time. All were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities, who recognized their agricultural skills.<ref name=Kreyenbroek1>{{cite book|last=Kreyenbroek|first=Philip G.|title=The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-415-07265-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147 147]|author2=Sperl, Stefan|url=https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147}}</ref> French official reports show the existence of 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929.<ref name=tejel3 /> The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish migration to Syria, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800.<ref name=tejel3>{{cite book|last=Tejel|first=Jordi|title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society|year=2009 |publisher=Routledge|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lh9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT250|isbn=0-203-89211-9|page=144|}}</ref> Sperl's estimation contradicts the estimates of the French geographers Fevret and Gibert,<ref name="fevret">{{cite journal|last=Fevret|first=Maurice |author2=Gibert, André |year=1953|title=La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique |journal=Revue de géographie de Lyon|issue=28|pages=1–15|language=French|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294|accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> who estimated that in 1953 out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of Jazira, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians.<ref name=fevret />
Even though Kurds have a long history in Syria, the [[Syrian government]] has used the fact that many Kurds fled to Syria during the 1920s to claim that Kurds are not indigenous to the country and to justify its discriminatory policies against them.<ref name=Yildiz1>{{cite book|last=Yildiz|first=Kerim|title=The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Pluto Press, in association with Kurdish Human Rights Project|location=London [etc.]|isbn=0-7453-2499-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild/page/n29 25]|edition=1. publ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgKE_-HtfoAC&pg=PA475&dq=kurds+in+Syria&hl=en&ei=7QYITeCsLM2hOorEueMO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=kurds%20in%20Syria&f=false |title=A Companion to the History of the Middle East|author=Youssef M. Choueiri|edition=Hardcover|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2005|isbn=1-4051-0681-6|page=475}}</ref> Many [[Arabic]]-speaking Kurds are classified as Arabs by the [[Arab nationalist]] [[Syrian government]].<ref>https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/rojavas-sustainability-and-the-pkks-regional-strategy</ref>
[[File:Syria Ethno-religious composition..jpg|thumb|left|200px|1976 ethnic composition map of Syria (Kurdish-inhabited areas are shaded in pink)]]
==
The term Syrian Kurdistan is often used in the context of [[Kurdish nationalism]], which makes it a controversial concept among proponents of [[Syrian nationalism|Syrian]] and [[Arab nationalism]].<ref name=":0" />{{Better source needed|date=October 2020}}<!-- who is the author of the book? Mustapha Hamza isn't, I was explained --> Extremist Kurdish nationalists have used the concept of Syrian Kurdistan to portray [[Arabs]] in [[Upper Mesopotamia]] as foreign "settler herds", sometimes using the relatively small 1970s migration involved in the [[Arab Belt]] (similar to the government's use of the 1920s Kurdish migration) as justification, thus contributing to regional ethnic tensions. A book review by PhD candidate Mustapha Hamza of ''The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth'' argued that the "Syrian 'Kurdish issue' can only be resolved within the framework of a purely Syrian national solution, outside the inventions of 'West Kurdistan', and in a way that sets Syrian Kurds within the context of belonging to Syrian society and its institutionalized state form as the Syrian Arab Republic", an [[Arab nationalist]] stance common among Syria's Arab citizens.<ref name=":0">Hamza Mustapha, 2018 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.31430/almuntaqa.1.3.0111.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A46c7429c40b6fc8dd5021b2dffe56bde Review: The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth]</ref><!-- who is the author of the book? Mustapha Hamza isn't, I was explained -->{{Better source needed|date=October 2020}}{{notelist}}
==References==
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{{Syrian Civil War}}
[[Category:Arab irredentism]]
[[Category:Eastern Mediterranean]]
[[Category:Geography of Kurdistan]]
[[Category:Geography of Syria]]
[[Category:Kurdistan]]
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