Special Decree 13. A step to close a 64-year-old file
The repercussions of Decree No. 13 on granting citizenship to those who are not registered with the Kurdish component continue, amid increasing demands from those who are not registered from other components that they should be included in the same treatment, after decades of deprivation that began with the 1962 census.
One Day Count
Lawyer Ahmed Ismail Sabri confirms to "Syrian News" that the census, which was conducted under the legislative decree issued by former Syrian President Nazem al-Qudsi under No. 39 of 1962, for only one day in Al-Hasakah province, led to the stripping of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, whether they are Kurds, Arabs, or other components.
Sabri added that the waves of migration to Syria during that period prompted the authorities to take hasty measures, dividing the population into three categories: citizens, foreigners in al-Hasakah who were granted red cards, and those whose names were not included in the official records, pointing to many cases of citizens of the Arab component who are still unregistered to this day.
Ghosts without nationality
Sabri believes that what happened in the 1962 census represents a clear violation of international human rights conventions, as depriving a person of his nationality means depriving him of his most basic civil rights, as those who are unregistered are deprived of work, employment, ownership, and political rights, and are not entitled to obtain a driver's license, a family book, register their children in the Department of Populations, or confirm marriage contracts.
Sabri points out that the only document they hold is an "identification certificate" issued by the mukhtar, which does not include a number or address, which makes them legally non-existent, and therefore deprived of most basic rights.
Sabri describes the reality of the undocumented as living as "stateless ghosts", who cannot obtain an ID card or passport, which prevents them from traveling or moving, and they face great difficulties in enrolling in schools and universities, and they often obtain unofficial certificates or are deprived of them altogether.
Inheritance of a Closed Record
On the economic level, they are deprived of employment in the public and private sectors, and they cannot register real estate, cars or any property in their names, according to lawyer Sabri.
He points to four main difficulties facing the "muted" people, the first of which is the difficulty of obtaining health care in public hospitals, the second is the impossibility of confirming marriage contracts, which leads to the inheritance of the status of the "mute" through generations, the third is the inability to open bank accounts, register telephone lines, or conduct legal transactions, and the fourth difficulty is the lack of benefit from government aid.
Sabri stresses that they are subjected to security harassment at checkpoints and airports because they do not have official documents, and that their attempts to reform their situation through the judiciary often end in failure.
Pressure Sheet
Yasser Abd al-Razzaq al-Aboud, who is unregistered with his family in the village of Tal Brak, recounts that the former regime used the citizenship file as a pressure card on his family because of its support for the revolution, stressing that tens of thousands of Arabs in al-Hasakah are still unregistered, and Shibl Muhammad Idan says that 7 entire families in his village have been living in the same situation for decades, despite submitting dozens of applications and lawsuits that were rejected.
Shibl Mohammed Idan from the village of Dardara, who lives with his family without any official documents even though they are originally from the area, says that workers at the citizenship centers have made it clear to them that Decree 13 is only for the Kurds, raising fears that they will continue to be deprived.
Towards closing this file
The Director of Civil Status in Al-Hasakah, Aziz Al-Muhamaid, confirms in his interview with "Syrian News" that Decree No. 13 issued by President Ahmed Al-Shara is directed exclusively to those who are registered from the Kurdish component, and therefore those who are registered from the other components are not covered by it at the moment, but at the same time stresses that the state will not ignore the situation of these people, and that their file will be among the priorities of the next stage with the aim of ending the suffering that lasted for decades, which the former regime used as a pressure card by questioning their Syria They claim to come from outside the border, even though they do not have any document to prove this.
Al-Muhammed points to the contradictions practiced by the former regime, as it forced some of the unregistered – from various components – to perform compulsory military service, despite considering them "non-Syrians", indicating that some families were living in a state of legal division, where some of their members held nationality while others remained unregistered, reflecting the extent of the chaos that accompanied that stage.
Al-Muhamid Maktoumi calls on the registration of the other components to be patient until the Civil Status Directorate returns to its full work, so that it can study their files and submit them to the central authorities in Damascus, explaining that the processing of this file must be done by the same mechanism with which the conditions of the Kurdish component were treated, whether by amending Decree 13 to include all Syrians, or by issuing a new decree, stressing that both options are applicable and in line with the directions of the new leadership and its keenness on fairness Its citizens.
Accelerated pace
The Director of Civil Status in Al-Hasakah confirms that the implementation of Decree 13 is proceeding at an accelerated pace in the five centers that have been opened in the governorate, including Al-Hasakah, Qamishli, Al-Derbasiyah, Al-Malikiyah and Al-Jawadiya, explaining that the deadline for submitting naturalization applications, which is 30 days, has officially ended after an intensive work period during which the applications were received continuously and sent successively to the General Directorate of Civil Status in Damascus to be included in the central network.
Al-Muhaimeed pointed out that the final number of applicants has not yet been announced, as the competent committees in the General Administration are still working to complete the computerized entry of the data collected during the registration period, stressing that determining the exact number of beneficiaries will depend on the completion of this process, which may take some time before an official announcement is issued.
Extra Lead Time
Following the expiration of the basic registration deadline on May 6, 2026, the Director of Civil Status in Syria, Abdullah Abdullah, announced the extension of the deadline for receiving applications for naturalization and restoration of citizenship for Kurdish citizens from the categories of unregistered and foreigners in Al-Hasakah for an additional fifteen days, in response to the great turnout witnessed by registration centers during the past period.
The receiving and organizing committees are concentrated in 3 main centers, namely Al-Hasakah, Qamishli, and Al-Jawadiah, while the legal process continues completely free of charge within the five centers open in the governorate, with the aim of easing the burden of travel and mobility for citizens.
The decision allows the guardian to submit applications on behalf of children residing outside the country, with an official indication that they are abroad, ensuring that expatriates are not deprived of their right to regain their nationality and to complete the procedures later in Damascus through the competent committees.