Kurds in Syria - Demographics

Demographics

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria and make up nine percent of the population or 2.0 million people. The Kurdish population in Syria is relatively small in comparison to the Kurdish populations in nearby countries, such as Iraq (4.7-6.2 million), Iran (7.9 million) and Turkey (14.4 million). The majority of Syrian Kurds speak Kurmanji, a Kurdish dialect spoken in Turkey and northeastern Iraq and Iran, and are Sunni Muslims with the exception of some Yazidi Kurds.

It is estimated that at the beginning of the twentieth century around 12,000 Kurds lived in Damascus; an unknown number of Kurds lived in the Kurd-Dagh region; 16,000 Kurds lived in the Jarabulus region; and an unknown number lived in the Jazira province where they were likely the majority. In the 1920s after the failed Kurdish rebellions in Kemalist Turkey, there was a large influx of Kurds to Syria’s Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria. Even though Kurds have a long history in Syria, the government has used the fact that many Kurds fled to Syria during the 1920s to claim that Kurds are not indigenous to the country and to justify the government’s discriminatory policies against them.