Home Recorded Stories “Having no ID keeps me in a state of constant fear”

“Having no ID keeps me in a state of constant fear”

Statement of Ali Mustafa Hamo Kour

by bassamalahmed
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Ali is a stateless Syrian Kurdi, specifically from the maktumin class and has been living in a constant fear of being arrested by the Syrian security service agents for not holding an ID.

Ali Mustafa Hamo Kour was born in Kobanî/Ayn al-Arab city in 1969. He is married with 11 sons, working in a farm in Ras al-Ayn/Sari Kani in al-Hasakah Governorate. He belongs to a family most of whose members are also maktumeen, as he told STJ field researcher who interviewed him in March 2018:

“When the special census was carried out, my father’s name was not registered, although he had served military service for four years and a half, during October War 1973. He submitted his papers several times trying to resolve his legal status, but to no avail. My father has three brothers, two of whom also served military service, they also tried to resolve their legal statuses, and two of them managed to obtain the Syrian nationality and IDs, while the other didn’t. We were not permitted to possess or acquire any property or register it in our name, so we were obliged to register our goods in the name of one of our naturalized relatives.”

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