On this day, June 24, 1974, the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba\u2019ath Party issued Decision No. 521, officially launching what became known as the \u201cArab Belt\u201d Project\u2014one of the most systematic and discriminatory policies in modern Syrian history. The project aimed to alter the demographic composition of Kurdish-majority areas in the northeast of the country and sever the geographical and cultural continuity between Syrian Kurds and their counterparts in Turkey and Iraq.<\/p>\n
The Arab Belt marked the culmination of escalating marginalization and institutionalized discrimination against Kurdish citizens in Syria. It extended the policy of “Arabization” by forcibly displacing Kurdish populations from their villages and lands, while incentivizing and resettling thousands of Arab families\u2014whose lands were submerged by Lake Assad<\/a>\u2014into newly constructed \u201cModel Villages\u201d established on expropriated Kurdish lands under earlier so-called \u201cAgrarian Reform Laws.\u201d<\/p>\n This project was not an isolated act, but part of a broader framework of repressive policies and practices aimed at suppressing and erasing Kurdish presence in Syria. Foremost among these was the exceptional 1962 Census in al-Hasakah Governorate, which arbitrarily stripped over 120,000 Kurds of their Syrian nationality. Consequently, they and their descendants\u2014ultimately numbering over 500,000\u2014were rendered stateless and deprived of fundamental civil and political rights for decades.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Following the construction of the Tabqa Dam and the formation of Lake Assad, vast swathes of agricultural land inhabited by Arab farmers in the Raqqa countryside were submerged. Instead of responding to this environmental crisis and addressing the displacement of these communities in a just and equitable manner, the Syrian government exploited the situation to implement a demographic engineering plan that dated back to 1965. At that time, authorities proposed creating an \u201cArab Strip\u201d 10\u201315 kilometers deep along the Syrian-Turkish border, running through Kurdish-populated areas of Syria\u2019s Jazira Region \u2014from al-Malikiyah (D\u00earik) to Ras al-Ayn (Ser\u00ea Kaniy\u00ea).<\/p>\n Although the Syrian authorities publicly presented the project as part of an \u201cAgrarian Reform\u201d Initiative, official records and documents from credible human rights reports\u2014particularly Human Rights Watch<\/a>\u2014clearly demonstrate that its true objective was to prevent the formation of a contiguous Kurdish geographical region across borders. This was pursued by displacing Kurdish inhabitants and resettling Arab families in their place, in line with broader policies of denial and marginalization. <\/p>\n The \u201cArab Belt\u201d Project was not the product of a single decision nor an isolated incident\u2014it was the culmination of a long trajectory of systematic discriminatory policies targeting the Kurdish population in Syria. Its roots date back to the 1930s, when successive Syrian governments, driven by narrow nationalist ideologies, promoted plans aimed at displacing Kurds from their regions, based on the belief that Kurdish presence posed a threat to Syria\u2019s Arab identity and unity.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Within this framework, the Syrian government conducted what became known as the \u201cExceptional Census\u201d in 1962 in the northeastern province of al-Hasakah. Under this decree, Kurds had to prove residency in Syria since at least 1945 to retain their citizenship; failure to do so resulted in the revocation of Syrian citizenship and, consequently, the loss of all associated civil and political rights. According to a Human Rights Watch report published on November 26, 2009, titled \u201c<\/em>Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria<\/em><\/a>\u201d<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u2018\u2019The government conducted the census in one day, and failed to give the population sufficient notice or information about the process. As a result, the authorities revoked the citizenship of some 120,000 Kurds, leaving them stateless and facing difficulties of all sorts, from getting jobs to obtaining state services[2]<\/a>. The number of stateless Kurds in Syria has grown since then to reach an estimated 300,000 today, because the children of stateless men are themselves considered stateless\u2019\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the Ba\u2019ath Party\u2019s rise to power in 1963, these repressive policies intensified. The denial of Kurdish identity was further institutionalized under the guise of reinforcing \u201cArab nationalism.\u201d According to Human Rights Watch, the creation of an \u201cArab Belt\u201d aimed at separating Syrian Kurds from their counterparts in Turkey and Iraq was a central element of this strategy:<\/p>\n \u201cThe government developed the plan for the \u2018Arab Belt\u2019 in 1965 and envisaged the creation of a band 15 kilometers deep (about 9 miles) over a distance of 280 kilometers (174 miles) along the Turkish border. The plan also anticipated the deportation of Kurds who were living in villages falling inside this band to areas in Syria\u2019s interior.\u201d[3]<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n By the early 1970s, according to Human Rights Watch, the government began implementing this plan on the ground\u2014but under a different name: the \u201cPlan for Establishing State Model Farms in al-Jazira Province.\u201d \u201cModel State Agricultural Villages\u201d were established in Kurdish-majority areas, designed to house Arab families who had been forcibly displaced from lands submerged by the construction of the Euphrates Dam. The Kurdish land on which these villages were built was confiscated under the pretense of agrarian reform or because their owners had been rendered stateless as a result of the 1962 Census.<\/p>\n In 1975, approximately 4,000 Arab families were resettled in 41 model villages in the heart of Kurdish regions. Prior to the resettlement, a so-called \u201cFlooding Committee\u201d (Lajnat al-Ghamr<\/em>) was formed to persuade Arab tribal families affected by the dam to leave their lands and move to expropriated Kurdish lands. Local authorities and security agencies in al-Hasakah<\/a> were instructed to pave the way for the plan’s implementation, and for over a year, state-organized delegations were sent to showcase the new areas to be inhabited\u2014despite moral and religious objections voiced by some Arab communities at the time.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n Although the Syrian government officially halted the project in 1976, it never reversed its consequences. The model villages remained in place, the confiscated lands were not returned to their rightful Kurdish owners, and the infrastructure built to support the project was left intact. In this way, the \u201cArab Belt\u201d endures as a living symbol of the structural discrimination faced by Kurds in Syria for decades.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is worth recognizing that many of the Arab families relocated to the so-called \u201cModel Villages\u201d were not willing participants in this discriminatory project, but rather victims of political manipulation. Forcibly displaced from their original lands\u2014flooded by the Tabqa Dam\u2014these families were inserted into a plan driven by narrow nationalist agendas. Testimonies from members of these communities reflect deep moral resistance. Some refused to bury their dead in the new villages, declined to build mosques without the consent of the original landowners, or rejected performing the Hajj pilgrimage using income generated from the confiscated Kurdish lands. These testimonies reveal a profound ethical stance that challenges the imposed narrative and \u00a0deserves both recognition and documentation.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n The harm caused by the \u201cArab Belt\u201d project extended far beyond violations of property rights. It deeply fractured the social fabric of the region, institutionalized ethnic division, and sowed seeds of mistrust and hostility among communities that had coexisted for decades in Syria\u2019s al-Jazira Region. The project also exacerbated the sense of marginalization among Kurdish Syrians and deepened the rift between the state and a significant segment of its citizens.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The long-lasting effects of this project cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader pattern of structural discrimination that Kurds in Syria have endured for decades\u2014ranging from revocation of citizenship and prohibition of Kurdish language education, to the suppression of cultural expression and systematic political exclusion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to its evident political objectives and devastating consequences\u2014particularly on the social fabric\u2014the \u201cArab Belt\u201d Project also represents a flagrant violation of Syrian domestic law. The 1973 Syrian Constitution, under which the majority of this project was implemented, explicitly states in Article 15: \u201cPrivate ownership shall not be expropriated except for the public interest and in return for fair compensation.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Neither of these conditions was met in the execution of the project, which did not serve a legitimate public benefit, but rather facilitated demographic engineering to the advantage of one group at the expense of another, based solely on ethnic identity.<\/p>\n Moreover, the project blatantly violates the principle of equality before the law, as enshrined in Article 25 of the same constitution. It also contravenes Article 771 of the Syrian Civil Code (Legislative Decree No. 84 of 1949), which asserts that: \u201cNo one shall be deprived of their property except in cases prescribed by law, and with fair compensation.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n These violations are not limited to domestic law; they also constitute serious breaches of fundamental principles of International Human Rights Law (IHRL). The project stands in contradiction to key international instruments, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as conventions concerning the rights of indigenous peoples and the prohibition of racial discrimination.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As we mark 51 years since the launch of this discriminatory project, we at Synergy Association for Victims<\/a> emphasize that justice is not achieved by the mere passage of time, but through recognition, reparation, and accountability. Although the Arab Belt Project was officially suspended in 1976, its consequences remain deeply entrenched to this day\u2014 evident in the continued existence of \u201cModel Villages\u201d on confiscated lands, the lasting suffering of Kurdish communities, and the displacement of Arab families who were relocated under coercive political agendas.<\/p>\n Amid Syria\u2019s current political transitions and the emerging discourse on transitional justice, property restitution must be a central pillar of any political process aimed at sustainable peace and stability. Restoring rights, acknowledging violations, and compensating victims are not only legal obligations\u2014they are essential prerequisites towards genuine reconciliation and rebuilding confidence between citizens and the state.<\/p>\n With this understanding, Synergy Association for Victims puts forward the following recommendations: <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n At Synergy Association for Victims<\/em><\/strong>, as we commemorate one of the most unjust and darkest chapters in modern Syrian history, we reaffirm that justice is NO<\/strong> distant memory to be forgotten with time\u2014It is an evergreen<\/strong> pledge \u2014both moral and legal\u2014that must never fade.<\/p>\n True transitional justice in Syria can only be fulfilled when the truth is openly acknowledged, when those harmed receive the reparations they deserve, and when a future rooted in dignity and rights is built.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n There can be no justice without reparation, and no reparation without acknowledgment.<\/p>\n For a Syria where every son and daughter stands equal, recognition, accountability, and restitution are the foundations upon which peace must rise..<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n June 24, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n Synergy Association for Victims<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Jordi Tejel, Syria’s Kurds: History, Politics and Society (New York: Routledge, 2009); Harriet Montgomery, The Kurds of Syria: An Existence Denied (Berlin: EZKS, 2005); and Gary Gambill, \u201cThe Kurdish Reawakening in Syria,\u201d Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, vol. 6, no. 4, April 2004.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Human Rights Watch, Syria \u2013 The Silenced Kurds, vol. 8, no. 4(E), October 1996,\u00a0www.hrw.org\/reports\/1996\/Syria.htm<\/a>;<\/p>\n Refugees International, \u201cBuried Alive: Stateless Kurds in Syria,\u201d February 13, 2006,\u00a0http:\/\/www.refugeesinternational.org\/policy\/in-depth-report\/buried-alive-stateless-kurds-syria<\/a><\/p>\n Radwan Ziadeh, United States Institute of Peace, \u201cThe Kurds in Syria: Fueling Separatist Movements in the Region?\u201d April 2009, pp. 3-4; and Montgomery, The Kurds of Syria,<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> For further reading, see the report \u201cGroup Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria<\/a>\u201d, published by Human Rights Watch on November 26, 2009. Read the full report here: https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2009\/11\/26\/group-denial\/repression-kurdish-political-and-cultural-rights-syria<\/a>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> See: Abdul-Samad Dawood, The Arab Belt in al-Jazira \u2013 Syria, Qamishli, Syria: Published by the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, 2nd edition, 2015, p. 53.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> For further reading, see the report: \u201cDeprivation of Existence: The Use of Disguised Legalization as a Policy to Seize Property by Successive Governments of Syria<\/a>\u201d, published by Syrians for Truth and Justice on October 9, 2020. Read the full report here: https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/deprivation-of-existence-the-use-of-disguised-legalization-as-a-policy-to-seize-property-by-successive-governments-of-syria\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On this day, June 24, 1974, the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba\u2019ath Party issued Decision No. 521, officially launching what became known as the \u201cArab Belt\u201d Project\u2014one of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[231,228,54,223,40,50],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","category-news","tag-arab-belt","tag-equity-and-justice-for-all","tag-kurdish-language","tag-new-syria","tag-rights-of-victims","tag-seizure-of-property","post_format-post-format-link"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
<\/h4>\n
Project Background: When Law Betrays Justice and Becomes a Tool of Discrimination and Exclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n\u201cModel Villages\u201d were established as part of what came to be known as \u201cstate farms,\u201d constructed on land confiscated from Kurds and other local residents\u2014either under the guise of agrarian reform or due to the fact that the rightful owners had been stripped of their citizenship during the exceptional 1962 Census. In 1975, nearly 4,000 Arab families were resettled in 41 such Model Villages, while Kurdish families were prevented from returning to their lands \u2014 a blatant violation of the principles of equality and property rights.<\/p>\n<\/h4>\n
Historical and Political Context: A Prolonged Legacy of Denial<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Impact on Identity and Social Cohesion<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Violation of the Syrian Constitution and International Law<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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At the Heart of Transitional Justice: Restitution as a Cornerstone for the Future<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Towards a Syria Founded on Memory, Not Forgetting<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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