Editing Arabization (section)

==Arabization in modern times==
{{Further|Arab nationalism}}
[[File:Arabic speaking world.svg|thumb|Status of Arabic language map<br />{{legend|SeaGreen|Exclusive official language}}{{legend|#0053ad|One of official languages, majority}}{{legend|#41a2fc|One of official languages, minority}}]]

In the modern era, Arabization occurred due to the [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] policies toward non-Arab minorities in modern [[Arab world|Arab states]], including [[Algeria]],<ref name="dwight492"/> [[Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq|Iraq]],<ref name="books.google.com"/> [[Syria]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5267&context=gc_etds|title=Between Kurdistan and Damascus: Kurdish Nationalism and Arab State Formation in Syria|author=Alexander K. McKeever|date=2021}}</ref> [[Egypt]],<ref name="Mneimneh"/> [[Bahrain]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcLtCwAAQBAJ&dq=arabization+bahrain&pg=PA96|title=Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends Or Foes?|author=Banafsheh Keynoush|date=2016|pages=96|publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137589392}}</ref> [[Kuwait]],<ref>Language Maintenance or Shift? An Ethnographic Investigation of the Use of Farsi among Kuwaiti Ajams: A Case Study. AbdulMohsen Dashti. Arab Journal for the Humanities. Volume 22 Issue : 87. 2004.</ref> and [[Sudan]].<ref name="dwight492"/> Modern Arabization also occurred to reverse the consequences of European colonialism.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dina Al-Kassim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbpIIjZVRq0C&dq=re-arabization&pg=PA185 |title=On Pain of Speech: Fantasies of the First Order and the Literary Rant |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520945791 |pages=185}}</ref> Arab governments often imposed policies that sought to promote the use of [[Modern Standard Arabic]] and eliminate the languages of former colonizers, such as the reversing of street signs from [[French language|French]] to Arabic names in Algeria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Naylor |first=Phillip C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFbCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |title=Historical Dictionary of Algeria |date=2015-05-07 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7919-5 |pages=85 |language=en}}</ref>

===Arabization in Algeria===
The unification and pursuit of a single [[Algerian nationalism|Algerian identity]] was to be found in the Arab identity, Arabic language and religion. Ben Bella composed the Algerian constitution in October 1963, which asserted that Islam was the state religion, Arabic was the sole national and official language of the state, Algeria was an integral part of the [[Arab world]], and that Arabization was the first priority of the country to reverse French colonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baldauf |first1=Richard B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sabe8l9hox0C&pg=PA64 |title=Language Planning and Policy in Africa |last2=Kaplan |first2=Robert B. |date=2007-01-01 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-84769-011-1 |pages=64 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Platteau |first=Jean-Philippe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7BriDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224 |title=Islam Instrumentalized |date=2017-06-06 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-15544-2 |pages=224 |language=en}}</ref> According to Abdelhamid Mehri, the decision of Arabic as an official language was the natural choice for Algerians, even though Algeria is a plurilingual nation with a minority, albeit substantial, number of Berbers within the nation, and the local variety of Arabic used in every-day life, [[Algerian Arabic]], was distinct from the official language, [[Modern Standard Arabic]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mehri |first=Abdelhamid |date=January 1972 |title=Arabic language takes back its place |work=Le Monde Diplomatique}}</ref>

Modern Arabization in Algeria took place to develop and promote Arabic into the nation's education system, government, and media in order to replace the former language that was enforced due to colonization, French.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Daoud |first=Mohamed |date=30 June 1991 |title=Arabization in Tunisia: The Tug of War |journal=Issues in Applied Linguistics |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=7–29 |doi=10.5070/L421005130 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Algeria had been conquered by France and even made to be part of its [[Metropolitan France|metropolitan core]] for 132 years, a significantly longer timespan compared to Morocco and Tunisia, and it was also more influenced by Europe due to the contiguity with [[Pied-Noir|French settlers in Algeria]]: both Algerian and French nationals used to live in the same towns, resulting in the cohabitation of the two populations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Sirles |first=Craig A. |date=1999-01-01 |title=Politics and Arabization: the evolution of postindependence North Africa |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |issue=137 |doi=10.1515/ijsl.1999.137.115 |issn=0165-2516 |s2cid=145218630}}</ref>

While trying to build an independent and unified nation-state after the [[Evian Accords]], the Algerian government under [[Ahmed Ben Bella]]'s rule began a policy of Arabization. Indeed, due to the lasting and deep colonization, French was the major administrative and academic language in Algeria, even more so than in neighboring countries. Since independence, [[Algerian nationalism]] was heavily influenced by [[Arab socialism]], [[Islamism]] and [[Arab nationalism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shatzmiller |first=Maya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=apVov0sqrfUC&pg=PA201 |title=Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies |date=2005-04-29 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-7254-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">James McDougall. ''History and the Culture of Nationalism in Algeria''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. 25.</ref>

However, the process of Arabization was meant not only to promote Islam, but to fix the gap and decrease any conflicts between the different Algerian ethnic groups and promote equality through monolingualism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Benrabah|first=Mohamed|date=10 August 2010|title=Language and Politics in Algeria|journal=Nationalism and Ethnic Politics|volume=10|issue=1 |pages=59–78|doi=10.1080/13537110490450773|s2cid=144307427}}</ref> In 1964 the first practical measure was the Arabization of primary education and the introduction of religious education, the state relying on Egyptian teachers – belonging to the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and therefore particularly religious<ref>Abu-Haidar, Farida. 2000. 'Arabisation in Algeria'. International Journal of Francophone Studies 3 (3): 151–163.</ref> – due to its lack of literary Arabic-speakers. In 1968, during the [[Houari Boumediene]] regime, Arabization was extended, and a law<ref>ordonnance n° 68-92 du 26 avril rendant obligatoire, pour les fonctionnaires et assimilés, la connaissance de la langue nationale (1968)</ref> tried to enforce the use of Arabic for civil servants, but again, the major role played by French was only diminished.

The whole policy was ultimately not as effective as anticipated: French has kept its importance<ref>Benrabah, Mohamed. 2007. 'Language Maintenance and Spread: French in Algeria'. International Journal of Francophone Studies 10 (1–2): 193–215</ref> and Berber opposition kept growing, contributing to the [[1988 October Riots]]. Some Berber groups, like the [[Kabyle people|Kabyles]], felt that their ancestral culture and language were threatened and the Arab identity was given more focus at the expense of their own. After the [[Algerian Civil War]], the government tried to enforce even more the use of Arabic,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/algerie_loi-96.htm|title=Algérie: Ordonnance no 96-30 du 21 décembre 1996|website=www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca|accessdate=23 April 2023}}</ref> but the relative effect of this policy after 1998 (the limit fixed for complete Arabization) forced the heads of state to make concessions towards [[Berber languages|Berber]], recognizing it in 2002<ref>article 3bis in the 2002 constitutional revision</ref> as another national language that will be promoted. However, because of literary Arabic's symbolic advantage, as well as being a single language as opposed to the fragmented [[Berber languages]], Arabization is still a goal for the state, for example with laws on civil and administrative procedures.<ref>loi du 25 fevrier 2008 http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/algerie_loi-diverses.htm#Loi_n°_08-09_du_25_février_2008_portant_code_de_procédure_civile_et_administrative_</ref>

===Arabization in Oman===
Despite being a nation of the Arabian Peninsula, [[Oman]] had been home to several native languages other than Arabic,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/the-languages-of-oman/ |title=The languages of Oman |last=Cellier |first=Catherine |date=2015| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> of which [[Kumzari language|Kumzari]] which is the only native [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]] in the Arabian Peninsula has been classified as highly endangered by the UNESCO and at risk of dying out in 50 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/07/kumzari-the-omani-language-on-the-verge-of-extinction |title=Kumzari, the Omani language on the verge of extinction |date=2019| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> Before the [[1970 Omani coup d'état|takeover of Qaboos as sultan]], Arabic was only ever spoken by the inhabitants outside the village of [[Kumzar]], in mosques or with strangers, however since the introduction of Arabic-only schools in 1984, Arabic is hence now spoken at both school and village with it being mandatory in school and as TV and radio are also in Arabic meaning virtually all media the people of Kumzar are exposed to is in Arabic.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/last-stand-hybrid-language-omans-seafaring-past |title=Last stand of a hybrid language from Oman's seafaring past |date=2016| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> There has also been an internalization of outsiders' negative attitudes toward the Kumzari language to the point where some Kumzari families have begun to speak Arabic to their children at home.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/3093 |title=Kumzari | access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>

The [[Modern South Arabian languages]] have also come under threat in Oman. [[Hobyot language|Hobyot]] is considered a critically endangered language.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Al Jahdhami|first=Said|date=October 2016|title=Minority Languages in Oman|journal=Journal of the Association for Anglo-American Studies|volume=4}}</ref> The actual number of speakers is unknown, but it is estimated to be only a few hundred. Most of those who maintain the language are elderly, which adds to the likelihood that language extinction is near. Ethnologue categorizes it as a moribund language (EGIDS 8a). The only fluent speakers that are left are older than the child-bearing age, which ultimately makes integration of the language into subsequent generations highly improbable.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/cloud/hoh|title=Hobyót in the Language Cloud|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref> Mechanisms of transmission would have to be created from outside the community in order to preserve it.

The [[Harsusi language]] is also critically endangered, as most Harsusi children now attend Arabic-language schools and are literate in Arabic, Harsusi is spoken less in the home, meaning that it is not being passed down to future generations.<ref name=morris>Morris, M. 2007. "[http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/morris07.htm The pre-literate, non-Arabic languages of Oman and Yemen.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150308095916/http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/morris07.htm |date=2015-03-08 }}" Lecture conducted from Anglo-Omani and British-Yemeni Societies.</ref> With the discovery of oil in the area and the reintroduction of the [[Arabian Oryx]] in the area which has provided job opportunities for Harsusi men, this has led to them using primarily Arabic or [[Mehri language|Mehri]] when communicating with their co-workers.<ref name=peterson>Peterson, J.E. "[http://jepeterson.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Oman_Diverse_Society_Southern_Oman.pdf Oman's Diverse Society: Southern Oman.]" In: ''Middle East Journal'' 58.2, 254-269.</ref> These factors have also caused many Harasis to speak Arabic and Mehri in addition to or in place of Harsusi. These pressures led one researcher to conclude in 1981 that "within a few generations Harsusi will be replaced by Arabic, more specifically by the Omani Arabic standard dialect"<ref>Swiggers, P. 1981. "A Phonological Analysis of the Ḥarsūsi Consonants." In: ''Arabica''  28.2/3, 358-361.</ref> though this has not yet materialized. [[UNESCO]] has categorised Harsusi as a language that is "definitely endangered".<ref>United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), "[http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap/language-id-1950.html Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]", 2010.</ref>

The [[Shehri language]] has also come under threat in recent years, prior to the Arabization of Oman, Shehri was once spoken from Yemen's [[Hadhramaut]] region to [[Ras Al Hadd]] in Eastern Oman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://shuoon.om/?p=110968 |title=النقوش والكتابات الصخرية بسلطنة عمان.. إرث قديم وشواهد على التاريخ |date=25 October 2021 | access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> Until around as little as forty years ago, Shehri was spoken by all of the inhabitants of Dhofar as the common language, including by the native Arabic speakers in Salalah who spoke it fluently. The remainder of Dhofar's inhabitants all spoke Shehri as their mother tongue. Today however Arabic has taken over as the form of mutual communication in Dhofar and is now exclusively spoken by those to whom it is their native tongue. A number of the older generation of Shehri language speakers, particularly those who live in the mountains, do not even speak Arabic and it was only around fifty years ago that most of Dhofar's Shehri speaking population began to learn it. The fact that Arabic has a written form unlike Shehri has also greatly contributed to its decline.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atheer.om/en/39607/shehri-a-native-omani-language-under-threat/ |title=Shehri: A Native Omani Language Under Threat |date=16 September 2017 | access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>

Another language, [[Bathari language|Bathari]] is the most at risk of dying out with its numbers (as of 2019) at currently anywhere from 12 to 17 fluent elderly speakers whereas there are some middle aged speakers but they mix their ancestral tongue with Arabic instead.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Joe |title=The National Newspaper |url=https://www.thenational.ae/uae/race-is-on-to-preserve-an-omani-language-spoken-by-17-people-1.957065 |access-date=29 December 2019 |volume=12|issue=220}}</ref> The tribe seems to be dying out with the language also under threat from modern education solely in Arabic. The Bathari language is nearly extinct. Estimates are that the number of remaining speakers are under 100.<ref name="MSAL">{{cite web|url=http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/173010/MSALProjectInformation.pdf|title=MSAL Project Information|publisher=[[University of Salford]]|access-date=30 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315225507/http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/173010/MSALProjectInformation.pdf|archive-date=15 March 2016}}</ref>

===Arabization in Morocco===
Following 44 years of colonization by France,<ref name=":0" /> Morocco began promoting the use of Modern Standard Arabic to create a united Moroccan national identity, and increase literacy throughout the nation away from any predominant language within the administration and educational system. Unlike Algeria, Morocco did not encounter with the French as strongly because the Moroccan population was scattered throughout the nation and major cities, which resulted in a decrease of French influence compared to the neighboring nations.<ref name=":0" />

First and foremost, educational policy was the main focus within the process, debates surfaced between officials who preferred a "modern and westernized" education with enforcement of bilingualism while others fought for a traditional route with a focus of "Arabo-Islamic culture".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Redouane|first=Rabia|date=May 1998|title=Arabisation in the Moroccan Educational System: Problems and Prospects|journal=Language, Culture and Curriculum|volume=11|issue=2|pages=195–203|doi=10.1080/07908319808666550|issn=0790-8318}}</ref> Once the [[Istiqlal Party]] took power, the party focused on placing a language policy siding with the traditional ideas of supporting and focusing on Arabic and Islam.<ref name=":1" /> The Istiqlal Party implemented the policy rapidly and by the second year after gaining independence, the first year of primary education was completely Arabized, and a bilingual policy was placed for the remaining primary education decreasing the hours of French being taught in a staggered manner.<ref name=":1" />

Arabization in schools had been more time-consuming and difficult than expected because for the first 20 years following independence, politicians (most of which were educated in France or French private school in Morocco) were indecisive as to if Arabization was best for the country and its political and economic ties with European nations.<ref name=":0" /> Regardless, complete Arabization can only be achieved if Morocco becomes completely independent from France in all aspects; politically, economically, and socially. Around 1960, Hajj Omar Abdeljalil the education minister at the time reversed all the effort made to Arabize the public school and reverted to pre-independent policies, favoring French and westernized learning.<ref name=":0" /> Another factor that reflected the support of reversing the Arabization process in Morocco, was the effort made by King Hassan II, who supported the Arabization process but on the contrary increased political and economic dependence on France.<ref name=":0" /> Because Morocco remained dependent on France and wanted to keep strong ties with the Western world, French was supported by the elites more than Arabic for the development of Morocco.<ref name=":0" />

===Arabization in Tunisia===
The Arabization process in Tunisia theoretically should have been the easiest within the North African region because less than 1% of its population was Berber, and practically 100% of the population natively spoke vernacular [[Tunisian Arabic]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Arabization in Tunisia: The Tug of War|last=Daoud, Mohamed|date=1991-06-30|publisher=eScholarship, University of California|oclc=1022151126}}</ref> However, it was the least successful due to its dependence on European nations and belief in Westernizing the nation for the future development of the people and the country. Much like Morocco, Tunisian leaders' debate consisted of traditionalists and modernists, traditionalists claiming that Arabic (specifically Classical Arabic) and Islam are the core of Tunisia and its national identity, while modernists believed that Westernized development distant from "Pan-Arabist ideas" are crucial for Tunisia's progress.<ref name=":2" /> Modernists had the upper hand, considering elites supported their ideals, and after the first wave of graduates that had passed their high school examinations in Arabic were not able to find jobs nor attend a university because they did not qualify due to French preference in any upper-level university or career other than Arabic and Religious Studies Department.<ref name=":2" />

There were legitimate efforts made to Arabize the nation from the 1970s up until 1982, though the efforts came to an end and the process of reversing all the progress of Arabization began and French implementation in schooling took effect.<ref name=":2" /> The Arabization process was criticized and linked with Islamic extremists, resulting in the process of "Francophonie" or promoting French ideals, values, and language throughout the nation and placing its importance above Arabic.<ref name=":2" /> Although Tunisia gained its independence, nevertheless the elites supported French values above Arabic, the answer to developing an educated and modern nation, all came from Westernization. The constitution stated that Arabic was the official language of Tunisia but nowhere did it claim that Arabic must be utilized within the administrations or every-day life, which resulted in an increase of French usage not only in science and technology courses. Further, major media channels were in French, and government administrations were divided – some were in Arabic while others were in French.<ref name=":2" />

===Arabization in Sudan===
{{Main|Languages of Sudan}}

[[Sudan]] is an ethnically mixed country that is economically and politically dominated by the society of riverine Sudan along the Nile, where many identify as Arabs and Muslims. The population in [[South Sudan]] consists mostly of Christian and Animist [[Nilotic peoples|Nilotic people]], who have been regarded for centuries as non-Arab, African peoples. Apart from Modern Standard Arabic, taught in schools and higher education, and the spoken forms of [[Sudanese Arabic]] colloquial, several other languages are spoken by diverse ethnic groups.

Since independence in 1956, [[Sudan]] has been a multilingual country, with Sudanese Arabic as the major first language among the majority and second language by some minority groups such as the [[Beja people]] in Eastern Sudan. In the 2005 [[constitution of the Republic of Sudan]] and following the [[Comprehensive Peace Agreement]], the official languages of Sudan were declared Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and English. Before the independence of [[South Sudan]] in 2011, people in the southern parts of the country, who mainly speak [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] or [[Juba Arabic]], were subjected to the official policy of Arabization by the central government in Khartoum. The constitution declared, however, that "all indigenous languages of the Sudan are national languages and shall be respected, developed, and promoted," and it allowed any legislative body below the national level to adopt any other national language(s) as additional official working language(s) within that body's jurisdiction.<ref name=":3">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Languages |encyclopedia=Sudan: a country study |publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/cs/pdf/CS_Sudan.pdf |last=Bechtold |first=Peter K. |date=2015 |editor-last=Berry |editor1-first=LaVerle |edition=5th |pages=77–79 |isbn=978-0-8444-0750-0}} {{PD-notice}} Though published in 2015, this work covers events in the whole of Sudan (including present-day South Sudan) until the 2011 secession of South Sudan.</ref>

MSA is also the language used in Sudan's central government, the press, as well as in official programmes of Sudan television and Radio Omdurman. Several [[lingua franca]]s have emerged, and many people have become genuinely multilingual, fluent in a native language spoken at home, a lingua franca, and perhaps other languages.<ref name=":3" />

===Arabization in Mauritania===
[[Mauritania]] is an ethnically-mixed country that is economically and politically dominated by those who identify as Arabs and/or Arabic-speaking [[Berbers]]. About 30% of the population is considered "[[Black African]]", and the other 40% are Arabized Blacks, both groups suffering high levels of discrimination.<ref name="npr.org">{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87940096 |title= Mauritania Fights to End Racism|website=www.npr.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502165303/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87940096 |archive-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> Recent Black Mauritanian protesters have complained of "comprehensive Arabization" of the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afrik-news.com/article17279.html|title=Mauritania: Marginalised Black populations fight against Arabisation - Afrik-news.com: Africa news, Maghreb news - The African daily newspaper|author=Alicia Koch, Patrick K. Johnsson|date=8 April 2010|publisher=Afrik-news.com|access-date=11 December 2014}}</ref>

===Arabization in Iraq===
{{main|Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in North Iraq|Al-Anfal Campaign}}

[[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Ba'ath Party]] had aggressive Arabization policies involving driving out many pre-Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups – mainly [[Kurds]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Yezidis]], [[Shabaks]], [[Armenians]], [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turcomans]], [[Kawliya]], [[Circassians]], and [[Mandeans]] – replacing them with Arab families.

In the 1970s, Saddam Hussein [[Moaved|exiled]] between 350,000 and 650,000 [[Ajam of Iraq|Shia Iraqis of Iranian ancestry (Ajam)]].<ref name="HamshahriIbrahimi">{{cite web|url=http://www.hamshahri.org/print-7737.aspx|title=Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian)|work=hamshahri.org|access-date=12 November 2014}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Most of them went to Iran. Those who could prove an Iranian/Persian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq after [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam]].<ref name="HamshahriIbrahimi"/>

During the Iran-Iraq War, the [[Anfal campaign]] destroyed many Kurdish, Assyrian and other ethnic minority villages and enclaves in North Iraq, and their inhabitants were often forcibly relocated to large cities in the hope that they would be Arabized.

[[Kirkuk#1970 Autonomy Agreement|This policy]] drove out 500,000 people in the years 1991–2003. The Baathists also pressured many of these ethnic groups to identify as Arabs, and restrictions were imposed upon their languages, cultural expression and right to self-identification.

===Arabization in Syria===
{{See also|Human rights in Rojava|Arab Belt|label 2=Arab Belt Project|Qamishli massacre}}

Since the independence of Syria in 1946, the ethnically diverse [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|Rojava]] region in northern Syria suffered grave human rights violations, because all governments pursued a most brutal policy of Arabization.<ref name="HRW-1996">{{cite web|title=SYRIA: The Silenced Kurds; Vol. 8, No. 4(E)|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm|website=Human Rights Watch|date=1996}}</ref> While all non-Arab ethnic groups within Syria, such as [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Armenians]], [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turcomans]], and [[Mhallami]] have faced pressure from [[Arab Nationalism|Arab Nationalist]] policies to identify as ''Arabs'', the most archaic of it was directed against the [[Kurds]]. In his report for the 12th session of the UN [[Human Rights Council]] titled ''Persecution and Discrimination against Kurdish Citizens in Syria'', the [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] held:<ref name="OHCHR-2009">{{cite web|title=Persecution and Discrimination against Kurdish Citizens in Syria, Report for the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council|url=http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session12/SY/KIS-KurdsinSyria-eng.pdf|website=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|date=2009|access-date=25 June 2015|archive-date=25 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025095237/http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session12/SY/KIS-KurdsinSyria-eng.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> <blockquote>"Successive Syrian governments continued to adopt a policy of ethnic discrimination and national persecution against Kurds, completely depriving them of their national, democratic and human rights – an integral part of human existence. The government imposed ethnically-based programs, regulations and exclusionary measures on various aspects of Kurds' lives – political, economic, social and cultural."</blockquote>

The [[Kurdish language]] was not officially recognized, it had no place in public schools.<ref name="HRW-1996" /><ref name="OHCHR-2009" /><ref name=Tejel>{{cite book|first=Jordi |last=Tejel |url=http://www.kurdipedia.org/books/74488.pdf |title=Syria's kurds history, politics and society |year=2009 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-203-89211-4 |pages=X |edition=1. publ. |author2=Welle, Jane |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001038/http://www.kurdipedia.org/books/74488.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> A decree from 1989 prohibited the use of Kurdish at the workplace as well as in marriages and other celebrations. In September 1992 came another government decree that children not be registered with Kurdish names.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Out of Nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War|last=Gunter|first=Michael M.|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-1-84904-435-6|pages=21|language=en}}</ref> Also businesses could not be given Kurdish names.<ref name="HRW-1996" /><ref name="OHCHR-2009" /> Books, music, videos and other material could not be published in Kurdish language.<ref name="HRW-1996" /><ref name=Tejel /> Expressions of Kurdish identity like songs and folk dances were outlawed<ref name="OHCHR-2009" /><ref name=Tejel /> and frequently prosecuted under a purpose-built criminal law against "weakening national sentiment".<ref name="HRW-2010">{{cite web|title=HRW World Report 2010|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report-2010|website=Human Rights Watch|date=2010}}</ref> Celebrating the [[Nowruz]] holiday was often constrained.<ref name="HRW-1996" /><ref name=Tejel />

In 1973, the Syrian authorities confiscated 750 square kilometers of fertile agricultural land in [[Al-Hasakah Governorate]], which were owned and cultivated by tens of thousands of Kurdish citizens, and gave it to Arab families brought in from other provinces.<ref name="OHCHR-2009" /><ref name="CSmonitor-2005">{{cite journal|title=A murder stirs Kurds in Syria|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0616/p01s03-wome.html|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=16 June 2005 }}</ref> Describing the settlement policies pursued by the regime as part of the "Arab Belt programme, a Kurdish engineer in the region stated: <blockquote>"The government built them homes for free, gave them weapons, seeds and fertilizer, and created agricultural banks that provided loans. From 1973 to 1975, forty-one villages were created in this strip, beginning ten kilometers west of [[Ras al-Ayn|Ras al-'Ayn]]. The idea was to separate [[Kurds in Turkey|Turkish]] and [[Syrian Kurds]], and to force Kurds in the area to move away to the cities. Any [[Arabs|Arab]] could settle in [[Al-Hasakah|Hasakeh]], but no Kurd was permitted to move and settle there."<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 October 1996 |title=Syria: The Silenced Kurds |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/1996/10/01/syria-silenced-kurds#P241_41082 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005235027/http://www.hrw.org/report/1996/10/01/syria-silenced-kurds |archive-date=5 October 2015 |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2007, in another such scheme in Al-Hasakah governate, 6,000 square kilometers around [[Al-Malikiyah]] were granted to Arab families, while tens of thousands of Kurdish inhabitants of the villages concerned were evicted.<ref name="OHCHR-2009" /> These and other expropriations of ethnic Kurdish citizens followed a deliberate masterplan, called "Arab Belt initiative", attempting to depopulate the resource-rich Jazeera of its ethnic Kurdish inhabitants and settle ethnic Arabs there.<ref name="HRW-1996" />

After the Turkish-led forces had [[Operation Olive Branch|captured Afrin District]] in early 2018, they began to implement a resettlement policy by moving [[Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army]] fighters and Sunni Arab refugees from southern Syria into the empty homes that belonged to displaced locals.<ref name="conversion">{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-yazidis-isis-islam-conversion-afrin-persecution-kurdish-a8310696.html |title=Yazidis who suffered under Isis face forced conversion to Islam amid fresh persecution in Afrin |author=Patrick Cockburn |work=[[The Independent]] |date=18 April 2018 |access-date=23 August 2018 }}</ref> The previous owners, most of them Kurds or [[Yazidis]], were often prevented from returning to Afrin.<ref name="conversion"/> Refugees from Eastern [[Ghouta]], [[Damascus]], said that they were part of "an organised demographic change" which was supposed to replace the Kurdish population of Afrin with an Arab majority.<ref name="conversion"/>