Akademik

(Jezire)

   Jazire is by far the largest both in area and population of the three discontinuous Kurdish districts in Syria. The term jazire (island) refers to the same geographical situation as did the ancient Greek word Mesopotamia, which literally means "country between the two rivers" (Tigris and Euphrates). Upper Mesopotamia became the Jazire, while lower Mesopotamia was called Iraq (which some say means "well rooted" but is probably simply of ancient eponymous origin). Since World War I, parts of Jazire have lain in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

   Most Kurds living now in Syrian Jazire are considered foreigners by the Syrian government, lacking the rights of citizenship. The rationale for this disenfranchisement is that many of these Syrian Kurds originally came from Turkey following the failure of the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925 and subsequent Kurdish uprisings. Syria officially calls Jazire by the name Hasaka.

   The present border was drawn by the French and Turks following World War I. This demarcation allotted to Syria what the French call le Bec de Canard, or the Duck's Beak, a large gash of territory pointed toward the main part of central Kurdistan, which is now in Iraq.