Kurdish National Council Statement on the 51st Anniversary of the “Arab Belt” Project

ARK News.. The General Secretariat of the Kurdish National Council in Syria issued the following statement on the 51st anniversary of the implementation of the “Arab Belt” project, reaffirming that all political and legal consequences of this plan are null and void. The Council stressed that these consequences must be revoked and addressed within a comprehensive national framework rooted in justice, equality, and fairness, and handled through transitional justice mechanisms that ensure an end to all forms of discrimination against Kurds and other components of Syrian society.

Full Statement:

On June 24, 1974, the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party issued Decision No. 521, launching the implementation of the “Arab Belt” project, which had been approved in 1966. This project was part of the former regime’s broader strategy of racist policies aimed at erasing the national identity of the Kurdish people in Syria and denying them their legitimate rights.

The “Arab Belt” was one of the most aggressive and dangerous expressions of chauvinism adopted by the Ba’athist regime. It established a settlement zone 15 kilometers deep along the Syrian-Turkish border in Hasaka Province. The state seized hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile agricultural land belonging to native Kurdish landowners and redistributed it to Arab families brought in from other regions, in a deliberate attempt to alter the demographic character of the region and sever the geographic and historical continuity between Kurdish areas.

This project did not occur in isolation. It was preceded by the infamous 1962 “exceptional census,” which stripped hundreds of thousands of Kurds of their Syrian citizenships, depriving them of their civil and social rights for decades.

The implementation of the Arab Belt project compounded this exclusion, displacing a large portion of the Kurdish population and depriving them of their land, livelihoods, and identity.

As the Kurdish National Council in Syria, we reaffirm our condemnation of this deeply racist project. We assert that all outcomes and legal consequences stemming from it are entirely illegitimate and must be nullified. A just resolution must be part of a comprehensive national process grounded in justice, equality, and the principles of transitional justice, bringing an end to all forms of discrimination against the Kurdish people and other communities in Syria.

Resolving the Kurdish question in Syria is essential to the construction of a modern, democratic state—one based on constitutional recognition of the rights of all its constituents, beginning with the Kurdish people, who have always been a fundamental part of Syria’s national fabric.

We therefore call on the transitional Syrian government, led by Mr. Ahmad al-Sharaa, along with all Syrian national forces, to prioritize reversing the consequences of the “Arab Belt” project, returning confiscated lands to their rightful Kurdish owners, resolving the legacy of the 1962 census by granting citizenship to the stateless, compensating those affected, and initiating a meaningful dialogue with the united Kurdish delegation. This dialogue must aim to reach a fair and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue based on genuine national partnership.

Building a new Syria—one founded on equal citizenship and the rule of law—requires a clear break with authoritarianism, an acknowledgment of historical injustices committed against all communities, and serious efforts to redress those injustices in a way that restores trust, dignity, and a shared sense of belonging for all Syrians.

We express our full solidarity with the victims of the “Arab Belt” project.
Let us work together to build a free and democratic Syria for all its citizens.

June 24, 2025
General Secretariat of the Kurdish National Council in Syria

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