Arab Belt project

Al-Hasakah governorate with its districts, was what was affected most by the project.

The Arab Belt project (Arabic: الحزام العربيcode: ar is deprecated ) was the Syrian Baath government's project of Arabization of the north of the Al-Hasakah Governorate to change the demographics of the Kurdish regions of Syria in favor of the Arabs. The process was meant to increase the Arab population in those lands that were once Arab majority, before the Kurdish influx into the region after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s.^[1]^[2]

Background

The regions in the "Arab Belt" are rich in oil deposits and good agricultural land. About 50 to 60 percent of the Syrian petroleum caves are estimated to be located in the district of Al-Malikiyah.^[3]

Planning

The Baath party came to power in 1963 in Syria and decided in 1965 to build the 350 km long and 10-15 km wide Arabian belt along the Syria–Turkey border. The Belt stretched from the Iraqi border in the east to Ras al-Ayn (Kurdish: Serê Kaniyê) in the west. After another coup within the Baath party, Hafez al-Assad succeeded in becoming the head of Syria in 1970 and began to act on the plan in 1973. The project's name was officially changed to "Plan for the establishment of state model farms in the Jazira province".^[4]

Arab Belt Project Media

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

References

↑ Yousef M., Choueiri. A companion to the history of the Middle East (in en) (2005)Wiley-Blackwell. p. 475. ISBN 1405106816.
↑ Fevret, Maurice. La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique (in fr). Revue de géographie de Lyon 28 (28) (1953). p. 1–15. doi:10.3406/geoca.1953.1294. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
↑ Wood, Josh. Syria's Oil Resources Are a Source of Contention for Competing Groups. New York Times (20 March 2013). Retrieved 16 February 2022.
↑ Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria (November 2009)Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 February 2022.

[1] Yousef M., Choueiri. A companion to the history of the Middle East (in en) (2005)Wiley-Blackwell. p. 475. ISBN 1405106816.

[fevret-2] Fevret, Maurice. La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique (in fr). Revue de géographie de Lyon 28 (28) (1953). p. 1–15. doi:10.3406/geoca.1953.1294. Retrieved 29 March 2012.

[3] Wood, Josh. Syria's Oil Resources Are a Source of Contention for Competing Groups. New York Times (20 March 2013). Retrieved 16 February 2022.

[4] Group Denial: Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria (November 2009)Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 February 2022.

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