SYRIA - The Kurdish Issue.

When Kurdish unrest broke out on March 12-14, 2004, critics of the Ba'thist regime said that was the beginning of a long spell of troubles in Syria. But the old guard got the authorities on March 15 to arrest scores of Kurdish leaders and activists who had been watched closely by intelligence agents months before the rioting.

What alarmed the old guard most was the fact that the US flag was hoisted by the Kurdish rioters and President Bush was hailed as their hero. The unrest spread to Damascus and Aleppo, where Kurdish students took to the streets to demonstrate against the deaths in the Kurdish regions.

It is important to note that the violence began in the predominantly Kurdish town of Qamishli - in the oil-rich al-Jazeera region bordering with Iraq - before a football match between a Syrian Arab team, al-Fatwa, and a mostly Kurdish team, al-Jihad. Scuffles broke out after al-Fatwa fans brandished pictures of Saddam Hussein, infuriating Kurds. Police dispersed the crowds by shooting in the air but Kurds accused police of shooting directly at demonstrators. More people were killed during funerals on March 13 which turned into riots, and Kurdish party leaders say hundreds of Kurds were arrested in Damascus on March 15, although this could not be independently confirmed.

The government-owned Tishreen newspaper said the committee set up to investigate the causes of the riots would "severely punish the perpetrators and instigators of these crimes". But by March 19, 2004. the Kurdish areas in the north-east of Syria had remained tense, with an unusually big number of secret agents deployed along the main streets in Qamishli, Amouda and other towns where the Kurdish community is large.

The Kurdish unrest was the first for decades in a tightly controlled Ba'thist state. It was not only a sign of growing discontent among the Kurds, but also of a feeling among many Syrians that the regime could be challenged from within as it faced uncertain times after the defeat of the Ba'thists in Iraq and growing US pressure.

Abdel Baqi Youssef, secretary of the Kurdish Yakiti Party, recently said: "Syria's Kurds were heartened by the positive developments in Iraq with the [October 2005) signing of the Iraqi constitution, which gives Kurds their rights and recognises Kurdish as an official language". Although he did not make a link between the 2004 riots and Iraqi developments, Youssef said Kurds in Syria were disappointed that Damascus continued to deny them their rights.

In line with the pan-Arab, non-sectarian Ba'thist ideology, Syria does not grant any special rights to Kurds. Those 250,000 Kurds who do not have Syrian nationality must serve in the military; they cannot vote, own property, go to state schools or hold government jobs. Syria fears an autonomous entity would threaten its territorial unity.