Rights group says "ongoing" genocide against Kurds in Syria

Sulaimaniyah, Dec. 10 (AKnews) – A Kurdish rights group says Syria is carrying out genocide acts against the indigenous Kurds in the country behind a complete media blackout. CHAK or Kurdocide Watch, a Stockholm-based rights watchdog, says it is planning a conference in the Swedish capital on Wednesday to uncover the persecutions of the Kurds of Syria. Rights groups in Syria have warned that violence against the Kurds is increasing and the Stockholm-based watchdog says Syria's Kurdish region "is under ongoing genocide". "Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish individuals in this country (Syria) are not seen as worth even Arab nationality, let alone Kurdish" said Azad Haidery of CHAK, "their children have no schooling rights. More than 50,000 children do shoe shining on the streets" "Unfortunately, the least coverage by the media and European circles has been devoted to the west part of Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdish region), while the persecution of this Kurdish region is no less than the other Kurdish regions in Turkey and Iran, if not greater" Though there are no official statistics to confirm the number of the Kurds in Syria, unofficial statistics suggest there are about three million of them, accounting for 10-17% of the population. The majority of the Swedish parties are expected to attend the conference on Wednesday, in addition to Amnesty International, and many more human rights groups, according to Haidery. CHAk has held conferences in Sweden on the persecution of Kurds of Turkey as well. "We have also invited the foreign ministry of Sweden, but they have not replied to ups officially" Haidery says renowned Turkish writer Ismail Besikci will also deliver a speech in the conference from Ankara by telephone. And Syrian eye witnesses will also participate to recount mass murders of the Kurds in the country. The PEN Honorary Member has served 17 years in prison on propaganda charges stemming from his writings about the Kurdish minority in Turkey. On Dec. 9, a Kurdish human rights organization (DAD) in Syria, said Kurdish recruits in the Syrian army were killed while doing military service in mysterious circumstances after the body of a Kurdish solder was delivered to his family the same day. The family of recruit Mohammed Jalal Mohammed, received the body of their son who Syrian officers in his military unit said he died as a result of electric shock. Families of the victims often claim their sons were exposed to torture and murder, citing traces and marks appearing on their recovered bodies. Syrian authorities claim the cases are "accidents" or "suicides" without official investigations being conducted into the cases or the bodies being inspected by forensic experts. In 2010, nine Kurdish soldiers were killed while on military duty in the Syrian army bringing the total number of Kurdish recruits killed in mysterious circumstances to 44 since 2004. Reported by Khabat Nawzad, edited by Raber Y. Aziz Monday, January 10th 2011 12:47 PM