Christians living under Kurdish rule in northern Syria have been subjected to harsh conditions as people have been arrested and schools closed writes Al-Hal.
The L’Orient-Le Jour newspaper has published a report on the situation for Christians in the northeastern regions of Syria, which is controlled by Kurdish forces. Religious minorities — especially Assyrians — live under sustained pressure exerted by the Kurdish forces and their allies, starting with the closure of schools and even arrests and being thrown in prison.
The report describes how Syrian Kurds have exploited their war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to expand in eastern Syria and establish a de-facto self-ruled area, in the face of the regime, to whom they are linked with contradictory relations. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are majority Kurdish and backed by Washington, have been able to take control of the game with the aim of establishing an independent Greater Rojava along the Syrian-Turkish border.
However, the severity of the tension among religious minorities and the de-facto authorities has recently intensified, especially in the al-Jazira region — and especially after the issuing of a number of decisions this summer, which various churches considered void, especially those concerned with the administration of private schools. Since then, the de-facto authorities have targeted their Assyrian rivals.
Last August, the de-facto authorities closed a number of educational institutions, before locals and religious leaders expressed their indignation and their refusal to comply with these laws and decisions. After they took over about one hundred government schools to impose their ideological curricula, the Kurds had hoped for success in bending to their will the Christian schools in Qamishli, al-Darbasiya and al-Malakiya. The Syriac Union Party, which is part of a Kurdish alliance, headed by the Democratic Union Party, which Ankara considered to be the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, was sent to impose its teachers and curricula on the Christian schools, which accept children of all religions. Bishop of the Syriac Catholic Church in Hasakeh, Benham Hindou, announced, “From now on, they don't want us to accept Kurdish children in our schools, saying that they will go to their own schools. The latest decree says that any citizen in the areas under their rule will be subject to a fine of one million Syrian pounds and a prison sentence of three months if they send their child to a school which follows the government curriculum. However we refuse to submit to their orders and will continue to resist Kurdish rule. They want to steal our land, our language, and our culture. In short, they want to expel us!”