# Arab Belt project

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Ba'athist ethnic cleansing policy in Syrian Kurdistan

Arab Belt project Date 1973–1976 Type Forced deportations[1] Motive Arab nationalism, Arabization, Ba'athification Perpetrator Ba'athist Syria Organized by Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Syrian Arab Armed Forces Outcome 120,000 Kurds deprived of Syrian citizenship in 1962 Hafez al-Assad orders the launch of Arab Belt program in 1973 Deportation of 140,000 Kurds and replacement with Arab settlers from Raqqa[2] 4,000 Arab families settled in new villages in 1973 Tabqa Dam built by the Syrian government in 1973

The **Arab Belt** ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): الحزام العربي, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Arabic): *al-hizām al-ʿarabī*; [Kurdish](/source/Kurdish_language): که‌مبه‌را عه‌ره‌بی, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Kurdish): *Kembera Erebî*) was a project undertaken by [Ba'athist Syria](/source/Ba'athist_Syria), which aimed to [Arabize](/source/Arabization) the northern areas of the [Al-Hasakah Governorate](/source/Al-Hasakah_Governorate), to the detriment of other [ethnic groups](/source/Ethnic_groups_in_Syria), particularly the [Kurds](/source/Kurds_in_Syria).[3][4]

It primarily involved the expulsion of [Kurds](/source/Kurds) from public land used as pasture, and the settlement of [Arabs](/source/Arabs), in their place. The program was implemented in 1973; deporting around 140,000 Kurds and confiscating their lands around a 180-mile strip. Thousands of Arabs—around 4,000 families who were displaced by the creation of [Euphrates Lake](/source/Euphrates_Lake) in [Raqqa](/source/Raqqa_Governorate)—were then granted these lands to establish settlements.[5][2]

## Background

During [Ottoman](/source/Ottoman_Empire) rule in 1517–1917, the interior of [Upper Mesopotamia](/source/Upper_Mesopotamia) (lands south of the [Baghdad–Berlin railway](/source/Berlin%E2%80%93Baghdad_railway) line, east of the [Euphrates](/source/Euphrates), and west of the [Tigris](/source/Tigris)) was a "no man's land", incorporated [de jure](/source/De_jure) under the [Mosul](/source/Mosul_vilayet), [Aleppo](/source/Aleppo_vilayet), and [Diyarbekir](/source/Diyarbekir_vilayet) Ottoman [vilayets](/source/Vilayet) as well as the [Deir Ez-Zor Sanjak](/source/Zor_Sanjak).[6][7]

Primarily, the region was inhabited by the semi-nomadic Arab tribes of [Shammar](/source/Shammar) and [Tayy](/source/Tayy) (see 1907 map below).[8] However, the northern and eastern fringes, near [Mosul](/source/Mosul) and [Mardin](/source/Mardin), were populated by [Syriac-speaking Aramean and Assyrian](/source/Terms_for_Syriac_Christians) Christians as well as Muslim Arab [Bedouins](/source/Bedouin) of the aforementioned Arab tribes. As John G. Taylor states in 1866: "The northern part of Mesopotamia, in which Nisibin is situated, is peopled by Arabs and Turcomans".[9] Taylor counts the Arabs as a total of 81,000 (souls) in 13500 households (tents). As for the Turcomans, who he comments "are erroneously called Kurds", their population is detailed as 1600 tents mostly centered around [Veyranshehr](/source/Viran%C5%9Fehir). He also provided a table illustrating the ratio of Arabs to Kurds as 2.3:1, see below.

Table of Diyarbakir Vilayet demographics as provided in John G. Taylor's 1861-1866 expeditions book "Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia"

During the 19th century, however, large [Kurdish-speaking](/source/Kurdish_languages) tribal groups both settled in and were deported to areas of northern Syria from eastern [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia) and the northwestern areas of the [Zagros](/source/Zagros_Mountains). The largest of these tribal groups was the powerful [Reshwan tribe](/source/Re%C5%9Fwan_(tribe)), which was initially based in [Adıyaman Province](/source/Ad%C4%B1yaman_Province). Clans from another Anatolian tribe, the [Milli confederation](/source/Milan_(tribe)) mentioned in 1518 onward, moved into the area.[10]

Upon the fall of the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) at the end of [World War I](/source/World_War_I), the [Jazirah](/source/Jazira_region) was divided into three parts, between [Turkey](/source/Turkey), [Syria](/source/Arab_Kingdom_of_Syria), and [Iraq](/source/Mandatory_Iraq). All three new nation-states left the region as a hinterland with little to no government attention or subsidies; even in the 21st century literacy rates and household income exhibit a stark difference between those regions and other regions.

In the 1920s, the number of Kurds in the Syrian Jazirah was estimated from 20,000[11] to 25,000[12] people, out of 100,000 inhabitants. In 1927, there were exactly 47 Kurdish-majority villages and towns. By 1929, following Kurdish expulsion from Turkey under [Kemalist](/source/Kemalism) policies and the failure of the [Sheikh Said rebellion](/source/Sheikh_Said_rebellion) (1925) and the [Ararat rebellion](/source/Ararat_rebellion) (1927–1930), these now numbered over 800.[13] Some Kurdish Alevis, fleeing the persecution of the [Turkish army](/source/Turkish_army) during the [Dersim massacre](/source/Dersim_massacre), also settled in Afrin and [Mabeta](/source/Maabatli) in the 1930s.[14] This was all directly supported by the French [High Commissioner of the Levant](/source/High_Commissioner_of_the_Levant) through the [Terrier Plan](/source/Terrier_Plan) in order to increase the profits of the area as well as to "divide and conquer".

Danish writer [C. Niebuhr](/source/Carsten_Niebuhr) who [traveled to Arabia and Upper Mesopotanmia](/source/Danish_Arabia_Expedition_(1761%E2%80%9367)) in 1764 recorded five nomadic Kurdish tribes (Dukurie, Kikie, Schechchanie, Mullie and Aschetie) and six Arab tribes (Tay, Kaab, Baggara, Geheish, Diabat and Sherabeh)[15] in the area around Mardin. According to Niebuhr, the Kurdish tribes were settled near [Mardin](/source/Mardin) in Turkey, and paid the governor of that city for the right to graze their herds in the Syrian Jazira.[16][17]

Thus, due to Ottoman policies and a general trend of sedentary urbanisation of nomadic peoples, the Kurdish tribes gradually settled in villages and cities and are still present in the modern governorate.[18]

Map drawn for [Mark Sykes](/source/Mark_Sykes) in 1907 showing the distribution of Arab and Kurdish tribes in upper Mesopotamia (including Jazira province) with the train tracks to become border separating Turkey (to the north) from Syria (to the south)

## Since World War I

Main articles: [Kurdish immigration into Syria](/source/Kurdish_immigration_into_Syria) and [Terrier Plan](/source/Terrier_Plan)

The demographics of northern Syria saw a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century when the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) conducted ethnic cleansing of its [Armenian](/source/Armenians) and [Assyrian](/source/Assyrian_people) [Christian](/source/Christian) populations and some Kurdish tribes joined in the atrocities committed against them.[19][20][21] Many Assyrians fled to Syria during the genocide and settled mainly in the Jazira area.[22][23][24] During [WWI](/source/WWI) and subsequent years, thousands of Assyrians fled their homes in Anatolia after massacres. After that, massive waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey due to conflict with Kemalist authorities and settled in Syria, where they were granted citizenship by the [French Mandate authorities](/source/French_Mandate_for_Syria_and_the_Lebanon)[25] as part of the [Terrier Plan](/source/Terrier_Plan) aiming at creating a Kurdish belt along the Turkish border.[26] The first wave of Kurds settled in the Jazira province during around 1925 was estimated at 20,000 people.[27] Starting in 1926, the region witnessed another huge immigration wave of Kurds following the failure of the [Sheikh Said rebellion](/source/Sheikh_Said_rebellion) against the [Turkish authorities](/source/Turkey).[28] Tens of thousands of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syria, and as usual, were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities.[25] This large influx of Kurds moved to Syria's Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria.[29] The French official reports show the existence of at most 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929.[30] The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish immigration into Syria, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800.[30] French authorities were not opposed to the streams of Assyrians, Armenians or Kurds who, for various reasons, had left their homes and had found refuge in Syria. The French authorities themselves generally organized the settlement of the refugees. One of the most important of these plans was carried out in Upper Jazira in northeastern Syria where the French built new towns and villages (such as Qamishli) were built with the intention of housing the refugees considered to be “friendly”. This has encouraged the non-Turkish minorities that were under Turkish pressure to leave their ancestral homes and property, they could find refuge and rebuild their lives in relative safety in neighboring Syria.[31] Consequently, the border areas in al-Hasakah Governorate started to have a Kurdish majority, while Arabs remained the majority in river plains and elsewhere.[32]

In 1939, [French mandate](/source/Mandate_for_Syria_and_the_Lebanon) authorities reported the following population numbers for the different ethnic and religious groups in al-Hasakah governorate.[33]

District Arab Kurd Christian Armenian Yezidi Assyrian Hasakah city centre 7133 360 5700 500 Tel Tamer 8767 Ras al-Ayn 2283 1025 2263 Shaddadi 2610 6 Tel Brak 4509 905 200 Qamishli city centre 7990 5892 14,140 3500 720 Amuda 11,260 1500 720 Derbasiyeh 3011 7899 2382 425 Shager Bazar 380 3810 3 Ain Diwar 3608 900 Derik (later renamed al-Malikiyah) 44 1685 1204 Mustafiyya 344 959 50 Derouna Agha 570 5097 27 Tel Koger (later renamed Al-Yaarubiyah) 165

The population of the governorate reached 155,643 in 1949, including about 60,000 Kurds.[32] These continuous waves swelled the number of Kurds in the area who represented 37% of the Al-Hasakah province population in a 1939 French authorities census.[33] In 1953, French geographers Fevret and Gibert estimated that out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of this area, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), semi-sedentary and nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians.[34]

‹ The [template](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Template) *[Historical populations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Historical_populations)* is being [considered for merging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Templates_for_discussion/Log/2026_June_24#Template:Infobox_demographics). ›

Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1931 44,153 — 1933 64,886 +47.0% 1935 94,596 +45.8% 1937 98,144 +3.8% 1938 103,514 +5.5% 1939 106,052 +2.5% 1940 126,508 +19.3% 1942 136,107 +7.6% 1943 146,001 +7.3% 1946 151,137 +3.5% 1950 159,300 +5.4% 1953 232,104 +45.7% 1960 351,661 +51.5% 1970 468,506 +33.2% 1981 669,756 +43.0% 2004 1,275,118 +90.4% 2011 1,512,000 +18.6%

### Censuses of 1943 and 1953

Syrian censuses of 1943[35] and 1953[36] in Al-Jazira province (today's Al-Hasakah governorate) Religious group Population (1943) Percentage (1943) Population (1953) Percentage (1953) Muslims Sunni Muslims 99,665 68.26% 171,058 73.70% Other Muslims 437 0.30% 503 0.22% Christians Syriac Orthodox & Syriac Catholic 31,764 21.76% 42,626 18.37% Armenians 9,788 6.70% 12,535 5.40% Other churches 944 0.65% 1,283 0.55% Total Christians 42,496 29.11% 56,444 24.32% Jews 1,938 1.33% 2,350 1.01% Yazidis 1,475 1.01% 1,749 0.75% TOTAL Al-Jazira province 146,001 100.0% 232,104 100.0%

Among the Sunni Muslims, mostly Kurds and Arabs, there were about 1,500 [Circassians](/source/Circassian_diaspora) in 1938.[37]

As a result, to the Kurdish immigration to this area of Syria, the population of these areas became more heterogeneous.[38] Moreover, irregular Kurds volunteered in the French mandate together with other ethnic or religious minorities, including Armenian and Kurdish irregulars[39]

## After WWII

The Syrian government believed that there was a new wave of Kurdish infiltrating into al-Hasakeh governorate in 1945. Syrian government documents indicate the immigrants "came singly and in groups from neighboring countries, especially Turkey, crossing illegally along the border from Ras al'Ain to al-Malikiyya. Gradually and illegally, they settled down in the region along the border in major population centers such as Dirbasiyya, Amuda and Malikiyya." As usual, many of these Kurds were able to register themselves illegally in the Syrian civil registers. They were also able to obtain Syrian identity cards through a variety of means, with the help of their relatives and members if their tribes. They did so with the intent of settling down and acquiring property, especially after the issue of the Agrarian Reform Law No. 161 during the period of [Egyptian-Syrian unification](/source/United_Arab_Republic) in 1958–1961, a [socialist](/source/Socialism) measure aimed at setting a maximum limit on agricultural land ownership. Official figures available in 1961 showed that in a mere seven-year period, between 1954 and 1961, the population of al-Hasakah governorate had increased from 240,000 to 305,000, an increase of 27 per cent which could not possibly be explained merely by natural increase.[40]

## 1962 Census

The government claimed that Kurds from Turkey were "illegally infiltrating" the Jezireh in order to "destroy its Arab character". On 23 August 1962, the government decreed (decree no. 93) an extraordinary census of [al-Jazira Province](/source/Al-Jazira_Province).[41] If a person was not able to produce a document that proved they lived in Syrian before 1940, they were deemed illegal immigrants, mainly from Turkey.[42] As part of this census on the 5 October 1962, 120,000 Kurds in the province were deprived of their Syrian citizenship.[43] The Syrian Government later admitted mistakes were made during the census, but didn't reinstate citizenry.[42]

The census indicated the real population was probably closer to 340,000. Although these figures may have been exaggerated, they were credible given the actual circumstances. From being lawless and virtually empty prior to 1914, the Jazira had proved to be astonishingly fertile once order was imposed by the French mandate and farming undertaken by the largely Kurdish population.... A strong suspicion that many migrants were entering Syria was inevitable. In Turkey the rapid mechanisation of farming had created huge unemployment and massive labour migration from the 1950s onwards. The fertile but not yet cultivated lands of northern Jazira must have been a strong enticement and the affected frontier was too long feasibly to police it.[40]

A decision was made by the Ba'athist government in 1965 to build the 350 km long and 10–15 km wide Arab belt along the [Syria–Turkey border](/source/Syria%E2%80%93Turkey_border). The planned belt stretched from the [Iraqi border](/source/Iraq%E2%80%93Syria_border) in the east to [Ras al-Ayn](/source/Ras_al-Ayn) in the west.[4]

## Arab Settlements

After another [coup](/source/1970_Syrian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat) within the Baath party, [Hafez al-Assad](/source/Hafez_al-Assad) emerged as the head of Ba'athist Syria in 1970. While the proposals in the Hilal report had officially been accepted by the Ba'athist government as early as 1965,[*[further explanation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)*] it was [Hafez al-Assad](/source/Hafez_al-Assad) who ordered the implementation of the Arab Belt programme in 1973.[44][45] The project's name was changed by the Assad government to "*Plan to establish model state farms in the Jazira region*"*.*[46][47] By the end of the programme, around 140,000 Kurds living in 332 villages were displaced from their homes by the Syrian government; and tens of thousands of Arabs - mostly from the [Raqqa region](/source/Raqqa_Governorate)- established settlements in the confiscated lands. The area of the project was a strip of land - almost 15 km in breadth - that extended over 375 km in length; across the north-eastern boundary-regions of Syria with [Turkey](/source/Turkey) and [Iraq](/source/Iraq).[2][5]

Fifteen state farms of the Pilot Project were built on lands expropriated in the *barriya* (which means wild area in [Arabic](/source/Arabic) ); a zone of pasture and dry farming. Most of its land belonged to members of the Hleissat, a formerly semi-nomadic Arab tribe that settled near Raqqa in the 1940s. Each state farm constituted a model village where farm labourers were paid and governed by a "council of production".[48]

Villages were built to house 4,000 Arab families coming from the land that was to be submerged following the completion of the [Tabqa Dam](/source/Tabqa_Dam) and the filling of [Euphrates Lake](/source/Euphrates_Lake).[4] The Arabs were provided with weapons and divided between more than 50 so-called model farms in the Jazira Region and to the north of [Raqqa](/source/Raqqa).[4] Twelve villages were built around [Qamishli](/source/Qamishli) and [Al-Malakiyah](/source/Al-Malikiyah) and sixteen around [Ras al Ayn](/source/Ras_al-Ayn).[49] Kurdish village names in the area were replaced by Arabic names not necessarily related to the traditions and history of the region.[49] These Arabs are named as Maghmurin (مغمورين Maġmūrīn, which is affected by flooding).[49] The campaign eventually faded out under Hafez al-Assad in 1976, but the deported Kurds were not allowed to return.[4]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** McDowall, David (2021). "21: Living apart in French and Independent Syria". *A Modern History of the Kurds* (4th ed.). 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland: I.B. Tauris. p. 471. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7556-0079-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7556-0079-3).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-McDowall_2021_470,_471_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-McDowall_2021_470,_471_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-McDowall_2021_470,_471_2-2) McDowall, David (2021). "21: Living apart in French and Independent Syria". *A Modern History of the Kurds* (4th ed.). 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland: I.B. Tauris. pp. 470, 471. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7556-0079-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7556-0079-3).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** David L. Phillips (2017). [*The Kurdish Spring: A New Map of the Middle East*](https://books.google.com/books?id=nh8xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT150). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781351480369](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781351480369). Retrieved 25 November 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:0_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:0_4-4) Tejel, Jordi (2009). [*Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society*](https://books.google.com/books?id=g4f54qsU618C). Routledge. pp. 61–62. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780203892114](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780203892114).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Ahmed_2013_187_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Ahmed_2013_187_5-1) Ahmed, Akbar (2013). "4: Musharraf's Dilemma". *The Thistle and the Drone*. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 187. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8157-2378-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8157-2378-3).

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1. **[^](#cite_ref-Algun_8-0)** Algun, S., 2011. [Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939)](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/205821). Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 18. Accessed on 8 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** John G. Taylor. [*Kurdistan and the Kurds in the Travel Writings of John G. Taylor*](http://archive.org/details/TaylorKurdistan18611865).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Winter, Stefan (2017). ["The Reşwan Kurds and Ottoman Tribal Settlement in Syria, 1683-1741"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/48572068). *Oriente Moderno*. **97** (2): 256–269. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/22138617-12340151](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F22138617-12340151). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0030-5472](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0030-5472). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [48572068](https://www.jstor.org/stable/48572068).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** F., C. B.; Simpson, John Hope (June 1939). ["The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey"](https://doi.org/10.2307/1787965). *The Geographical Journal*. **93** (6): 458. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1939GeogJ..93..539F](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1939GeogJ..93..539F). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/1787965](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1787965). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0016-7398](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0016-7398). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [1787965](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1787965).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** McDowall, David (2013). *A modern history of the Kurds* (3., rev. and updated ed., reprint ed.). London: Tauris. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-85043-416-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85043-416-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Tejel, Jordi (2020), Cimino, Matthieu (ed.), ["The Complex and Dynamic Relationship of Syria's Kurds with Syrian Borders: Continuities and Changes"](http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-44877-6_11), *Syria: Borders, Boundaries, and the State*, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 243–267, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/978-3-030-44877-6_11](https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-44877-6_11), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-030-44876-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-030-44876-9), retrieved 6 September 2025{{[citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation)}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_work_parameter_with_ISBN))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-derStandard_14-0)** ["derStandard.at"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220706064125/https://apps.derstandard.at/privacywall/2000076385176/Angriff-auf-Afrin-Vertreibung-vom-Berg-der-Kurden). *DER STANDARD*. Archived from [the original](https://apps.derstandard.at/privacywall/2000076385176/Angriff-auf-Afrin-Vertreibung-vom-Berg-der-Kurden) on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Carsten Niebuhr (1778). [*Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Ländern. (Mit Kupferstichen u. Karten.) - Kopenhagen, Möller 1774-1837*](https://books.google.com/books?id=yltUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA419) (in German). p. 419.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-sperl_16-0)** Kreyenbroek, P.G.; Sperl, S. (1992). [*The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview*](https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/114). Routledge. p. [114](https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/114). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0415072654](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0415072654).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Carsten Niebuhr (1778). [*Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Ländern. (Mit Kupferstichen u. Karten.) - Kopenhagen, Möller 1774-1837*](https://books.google.com/books?id=yltUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA389) (in German). p. 389.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Stefan Sperl, Philip G. Kreyenbroek (1992). [*The Kurds a Contemporary Overview*](https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre). London: Routledge. pp. [145–146](https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/145). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-203-99341-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-203-99341-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Hovannisian, Richard G. (2007). [*The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies*](https://web.archive.org/web/20160511234459/https://books.google.com/books?id=K3monyE4CVQC&pg=PA271&dq=assyrian%2Bgenocide%2Bby%2Bkurds%2Bin%2Bsyria&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BS1kVLqiGcOsyATv34DoCA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg). Transaction Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781412835923](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781412835923). Archived from [the original](https://books.google.com/books?id=K3monyE4CVQC&q=Amuda&pg=PA271) on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Joan_A._Argenter,_R._McKenna_Brown_2004_199_20-0)** Joan A. Argenter, R. McKenna Brown (2004). [*On the Margins of Nations: Endangered Languages and Linguistic Rights*](https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3BMtn6TmcC&pg=PA199). Institut d'Estudis Catalans. p. 199. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780953824861](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780953824861).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Lazar, David William, not dated [A brief history of the plight of the Christian Assyrians* in modern-day Iraq](http://www.americanmesopotamian.org/uploads/66603/A_brief_history_of_the_plight_of_the_Christian_Assyrians_in_modern_day_Iraq.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150417082428/http://www.americanmesopotamian.org/uploads/66603/A_brief_history_of_the_plight_of_the_Christian_Assyrians_in_modern_day_Iraq.pdf) 2015-04-17 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). American Mespopotamian.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-R._S._Stafford_2006_25_22-0)** R. S. Stafford (2006). [*The Tragedy of the Assyrians*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LSzuzsRh37gC&pg=PA25). Gorgias Press, LLC. p. 24. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781593334130](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781593334130).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Mouawad, Ray J. (2001). ["Ray J. Mouawad, Syria and Iraq – Repression Disappearing Christians of the Middle East"](http://www.meforum.org/17/syria-and-iraq-repression). *Middle East Quarterly*. Middle East Forum. Retrieved 20 March 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Bat Yeʼor (2002). [*Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide*](https://books.google.com/books?id=n4kTdYgwQPkC&pg=PA162). Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 162. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780838639429](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780838639429).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Chatty2010_25-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Chatty2010_25-1) [Dawn Chatty](/source/Dawn_Chatty) (2010). [*Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8OsgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230). Cambridge University Press. pp. 230–232. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-139-48693-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-139-48693-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Harriet Montgomery, *The Kurds of Syria: An Existence Denied* (Berlin: Deutsches Orient-Institut, 2005), pp. 47–50.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-The_Refugee_Problem_27-0)** Simpson, John Hope (1939). [*The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SxR8uwEACAAJ) (First ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 458. [ASIN](/source/ASIN_(identifier)) [B0006AOLOA](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006AOLOA).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** Abu Fakhr, Saqr, 2013. [As-Safir](/source/As-Safir) daily Newspaper, Beirut. [in Arabic](http://assafir.com/Article/331189#.UrbZIuK_guh) [Christian Decline in the Middle East: A Historical View](http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.ca/2013/12/as-safir-on-history-of-persecution-of.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-McDowell_29-0)** McDowell, David (2005). *A modern history of the Kurds* (3. revised and upd. ed., repr. ed.). London [u.a.]: Tauris. p. 469. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1850434166](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1850434166).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-tejel3_30-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-tejel3_30-1) Tejel, Jordi (2009). [*Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society*](https://books.google.com/books?id=5lh9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT250). London: Routledge. p. 144. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-203-89211-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-203-89211-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Tachjian_31-0)** Tachjian Vahé, [The expulsion of non-Turkish ethnic and religious groups from Turkey to Syria during the 1920s and early 1930s](https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/expulsion-non-turkish-ethnic-and-religious-groups-turkey-syria-during-1920s-and-early-1930s), Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, [online], published on: 5 March 2009, accessed 09/12/2019, ISSN 1961-9898

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Gibert_and_Févret_32-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Gibert_and_Févret_32-1) La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. [La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique](https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294). In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : [https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294](https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294) Accessed on 8 December 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-dspace.library.uu.nl_33-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-dspace.library.uu.nl_33-1) Algun, S., 2011. [Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939)](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/205821). Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 11-12. Accessed on 8 December 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-fevret_34-0)** Fevret, Maurice; Gibert, André (1953). ["La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique"](http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294). *Revue de géographie de Lyon* (in French). **28** (28): 1–15. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3406/geoca.1953.1294](https://doi.org/10.3406%2Fgeoca.1953.1294). Retrieved 29 March 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** Hourani, Albert Habib (1947). [*Minorities in the Arab World*](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.81805). London: Oxford University Press. pp. [76](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.81805/page/n86).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-vaumas_36-0)** Etienne, de Vaumas (1956). ["La Djézireh"](http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geo_0003-4010_1956_num_65_347_14375). *[Annales de Géographie](/source/Annales_de_G%C3%A9ographie)* (in French). **65** (347): 64–80. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3406/geo.1956.14367](https://doi.org/10.3406%2Fgeo.1956.14367). Retrieved 29 March 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-37)** M. Proux, "Les Tcherkesses", *La France méditerranéenne et africaine*, IV, 1938

1. **[^](#cite_ref-38)** Kaya, Z. 2012. [Kaya (2012)](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16390538.pdf).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-39)** Fieldhouse, D. K., 'Syria and the French, 1918–1946', Western Imperialism in the Middle East 1914-1958 (Oxford, 2008; online edn, Oxford Academic, 1 Jan. 2010), [https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199540839.003.0007](https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199540839.003.0007)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-McDowall,_David_2004._pp._473-474_40-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-McDowall,_David_2004._pp._473-474_40-1) McDowall, David. Modern History of the Kurds, I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2004. pp. 473-474.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:2_41-0)** Nazdar, Mustafa (1993) [1978]. "The Kurds in Syria". In Chaliand, Gérard (ed.). [*Les Kurdes et le Kurdistan*](https://books.google.com/books?id=W78I4hK0JLQC) [*A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan*]. Translated by Pallis, Michael. London: Zed Books. p. 199. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-85649-194-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85649-194-5). The Kurds were suspected of being "in league" with the Kurds of Iraq, who had just launched the September 1961 insurrection aimed at securing autonomous status within an Iraqi framework. Under the pretext of the illegal immigration from Turkey, on August 23, 1961, the government promulgated a decree (no. 93) authorizing a special population census in Jezireh Province. It claimed that Kurds from Turkey were "illegally infiltrating" the Jezireh in order to "destroy its Arab character". The census was carried out in November of that year; when its results were released, some 120,000 Jezireh Kurds were discounted as foreigners and denied Syrian citizenship. **Arab Belt plan** In 1962, to combat the "Kurdish threat" and "save Arabism" in the region, the government inaugurated the so-called "Arab Cordon plan" (*Al Hizam al-arabi*), which envisaged the entire Kurdish population living along the border with Turkey. They were to be gradually replaced by Arabs and would be resettled, and preferably dispersed, in the south. The discovery of oil at Qaratchok, right in the middle of Kurdish Jezireh, no doubt had something to do with the government's policy.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_42-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_42-1) McDowall, David (2020). ["A Modern History of the Kurds"](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/modern-history-of-the-kurds-9780755600793/). *Bloomsbury, I.B. Tauris*. p. 469. Retrieved 29 August 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** Hasan, Mohammed (December 2020), p.6

1. **[^](#cite_ref-44)** Gunter, Michael (15 November 2014). [*Out of Nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War*](https://books.google.com/books?id=nAsnDAAAQBAJ&q=michael+gunter+and+the+Arab+belt&pg=PA21). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84904-531-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84904-531-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-45)** McDowall, David (2021). "21: Living apart in French and Independent Syria". *A Modern History of the Kurds* (4th ed.). 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland: I.B. Tauris. p. 471. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7556-0079-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7556-0079-3).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-jAD34_46-0)** November 2009. ["Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria"](https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria1109webwcover_0.pdf) (PDF). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 28 September 2017.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-47)** Paul, James A.; Watch (Organization), Middle East (1990). [*Human Rights in Syria*](https://books.google.com/books?id=N-xjxWYWnlwC&dq=Mohammed+Talib+Hilal&pg=PA89). Human Rights Watch. p. 88. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-929692-69-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-929692-69-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-48)** Hannoyer, J., 1985. Grands projets hydrauliques en Syrie. La tentation orientale", in MaghrebMachrek, n°109, pp. 24-42. Mentioned in [Myriam Ababsa. PRIVATISATION IN SYRIA : STATE FARMS AND THE CASE OF THE EUPHRATES PROJECT.. Fifth Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting, Mar 2004, Florence-Montecatini Terme, Italy. ffhalshs-00339057f](https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00339057/document)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_49-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_49-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:1_49-2) Hasan, Mohamed (December 2020). ["Kurdish Political and Civil Movements in Syria and the Question of Representation"](https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108501/). *[London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics)*. p. 7. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210418062223/https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108501/) from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Arab Belt project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Belt_project) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Belt_project?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.