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The 2004 Qamishli uprising refers to the uprising by Syrian Kurds in the northeastern city of Qamishli in March 2004. The riots started during a chaotic football match, when some fans of the guest team (Arabs) started raising pictures of Saddam Hussein, an action that angered the fans of the host team (the Kurds). Both groups began throwing stones at each other, which soon developed to a political conflict as the Arab group raised pictures of Saddam Hussein while the Kurdish group raised the Flag of Kurdistan. The Ba'ath Party local office was burned down by Kurdish demonstrators, leading to the security forces reacting. The Syrian army responded quickly, deploying thousands of troops backed by tanks and helicopters, and launching a crack-down. Events climaxed when Kurds in Qamishli toppled a statue of Hafez al-Assad. At least 30 Kurds were killed as the security services re-took the city. As a result of the crackdown, thousands of Syrian Kurds fled to Iraqi Kurdistan. ==Background== Qamishli is the largest town in Al-Hasakah Governorate and is located in northeast Syria. It is regarded as the Kurds and Assyrian community capital. It is also the center of the Syrian Kurdish struggle,〔(Qantara.de - The Kurds of Syria - An Insecure Stone in the Syrian Mosaic )〕 especially in the recent years. The reason why the Kurds were so upset over pictures showing Saddam Hussein was because Saddam Hussein, 5th president of Iraq, had targeted the Kurds for a longer period of time. The two dominant ethnicities in Iraq for a longer period of time has been the Arabs in the south and central Iraq, whilst the Kurds in the north and north-east Iraq. Hussein long viewed the Kurds as a long-time threat to Iraq’s survival, making the hatred and dismissal towards the Kurds one of his highest priorities. Along with Hussein hating them, the Kurds also felt opposition from the Syrian government because of past events, the most important one happening in 1962. In 1962 the government took a census and left out thousands of Kurds. This left them and their children without citizenship and denied them the right to obtain government jobs or to own property. This disregarded minority now consists of hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who now carry red identification cards that identify them as “foreigner.” Another move the government made which has fueled tensions was resettling thousands of Arabs from other parts of the country into along the border in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. They did this in order to build a buffer between Kurdish areas, which has furthered the hatred between the Kurds and Arabs. After the violence, President Bashar al-Assad visited the region and called for a "national unity". Through this he allegedly hoped to cool tempers and supposedly pardoned 312 Kurds who were accused of participating in the massacre. The United States has for a longer period of time recognized Iraqi Kurdistan diplomatically which has led the Americans to invite the current Kurdish leader of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, to the White House and a meeting in Baghdad when the American president was in town. The visit from United States Vice President, Joe Biden, to the fourth largest city in Iraq, Erbil, also known as the Iraqi Kurdistan capital, helped strengthen their ally with them. The United States started Operation Comfort and Operation Comfort II in an attempt to defend Kurds fleeing their homes in Northern Iraq as a result of the Iraqi Gulf War. Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States has been allies for a longer period of time dating back to 1919 when the US supposedly successfully pushed for an independent country for the Kurds. Masoud Barzani is the current president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic party. Jalal Talabani is the sixth and current president of Iraq, a leading Kurdish politician. He is the first non-Arab president of Iraq.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jalal Talabani )〕 The protest occurred in 2004 and Jalal Talabani was elected president in 2005. The United States and Iraqi Kurdistan has not always been allies. The use of chemical weapons during the massacre by the Iraqi Government to Kurdish civilians in 1988; United States and United Nations chose to ignore it.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1343277.html )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2004 al-Qamishli riots」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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