The United States Commission on Religious Freedom (USCRF), in its 2024 annual report, writes that in the Kurdish-majority areas “the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), supported by its Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), continued to highlight religious freedom as a governing principle.”
In its overview of respect for religious freedom in Syria, USCRF also mentioned the 2014 missions by the People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) to locate and free Yazidi women and girls who had been kidnapped by ISIS. USCRF recommends that the US government works with the AANES to locate the 2,700 Yazidis who remain missing.
Christianity has had a resurgence in North and East Syria since the 2012 Rojava revolution. Oppressed under ISIS, the Christian community in the liberated city of Kobane is growing. In Raqqa, previously held under an iron grip by the ISIS caliphate, church property has recently been officially handed back to the Christian community.
This respect for religious freedom by the AANES contrasts with the picture in the rest of the country. According to USCRF, “religious freedom conditions in Syria remained poor”. The “worst violations occurred in areas under the control of nonstate entities. While the government of President Bashar al-Assad committed a range of other human rights abuses.”
USCRF points out that Turkey’s occupation and bombing campaign is “one of the most significant threats to religious freedom in Syria”. The organisation reported that “Factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) destroyed mosques in Afrin and bulldozed the Yazidi shine of Chal Khaneh and other religious monuments and cemeteries. The Turkish government’s permissive stance toward the brutality of these TSOs against civilian populations and their targeting of religious minorities—such as confiscating property and forcing at least two Yazidis in Afrin to convert to Islam—rendered Turkish-controlled areas among the least secure and most damaging to religious freedom in Syria.”
Turkey itself is recommended to be placed on the US’ ‘special watch list’ for abusers of religious freedom. Alevis, Turkey’s biggest religious minority, lacked official recognition. Arrests and prosecutions for insulting Islam and blasphemy continued in 2023, and USCRF pointed out that “government officials increasingly engaged in rhetoric that targeted or ostracized religious minorities”.
The report’s recommendations include the inclusion of the AANES in any political solution to the Syrian conflict in order to protect religious minorities. USCRF also recommended that the US government takes diplomatic action to ensure that humanitarian aid and reconstruction funding is channelled to areas where religious minorities will benefit.
The organisation also recommends fully implementing ‘General License No. 22’, which authorises US economic activity in AANES controlled areas.
In comparison, USCRF recommended that the US Congress should: “Incorporate consideration of Turkey’s treatment of religious minorities and broader human rights issues into its continued evaluation of the U.S.-Turkey bilateral relationship, including in the context of proposed legislation”.
