Report: Syria grants citizenship to Kurds

From Now Lebanon:

President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday granted citizenship to Syria's Kurds, the majority in the northeast who have been denied nationality for nearly half a century, said SANA state news agency.

"President Assad issued a decree granting Arab Syrian citizenship to people registered as foreigners in the [governorate of Hassake]," said the news agency.

The measure, which would benefit about 300,000 Kurds, comes a week after Assad tasked a committee with "resolving the problem of the 1962 census in the governorate of Hassake."

Kurds in Syria’s northeast took to the streets last Friday for the first time since pro-reform protests erupted in mid-March, calling for the right to citizenship and "freedom as well," Kurdish rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.

This is interesting, as apparently Assad really doesn't want to have the Kurds pressuring him on top of the other protesters.

Of course, Palestinians in Syria have no chance of becoming citizens, and if they start protesting Assad will happily, but quietly, slaughter them.