E-BOOK: Migration Biographies - Europe on the move December 2020 | Page 16

Programme Erasmus + Europe on the move : Migration Biographies
Theses
referred to as “ Damascus Winter ”. In response to Assad ’ s restrictions , the Damascus Declaration was written by the opposition figures “ demanding a multiparty democracy ” 46 47 48 49 50
.
In 2006 a video was published announcing the foundation of the Islamic State ( IS ) in Iraq . IS at the time belonged to the terrorist group called al-Qaida . Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became leader of IS in 2010 . 51
The “ Arab Spring ” movement originated in Tunisia as a protest against government corruption , mismanagement and exploitation , in which a despaired vegetable seller committed suicide in public through self-immolation . 52 . The protests started in the second half of December in 2010 . 53
Many human rights groups have reported that Assad ’ s leadership involved torture , imprisonment and the murder of political opponents . This became the basis for subsequent Syrian protests . 54
The protests in Syria , which began in March 2011 , were peaceful and started after the arrest and torture of teenagers and children who spray painted the Tunisian and Egyptians demonstration slogans on house walls in Deraa . They were dubbed “ children of Deraa ”. The number of people participating in these protests grew exponentially . The number of protestors also increased because of other factors such as a weak economy , an ongoing drought , a demand for human rights as well as a “ tense religious atmosphere ” 55 . 56 57 58 59 60 According to History . com Editors Assad and the Syrian government answered the protests with
“ arresting and killing hundreds of protestors and their family members ”. 61
In the same summer , the Free Syrian Army ( FSA ) was formed by deserted soldiers , later becoming one of the strongest forces against the Assad-regime . The initially peaceful protests led to serious fighting and ultimately to
62 63 64 65 the beginning of the civil war in Syria between the Assad regime and various rebel groups in 2012 . 66 The Council on foreign relations , states that the conflict is driven by the three following campaigns
“ coalition efforts to defeat the IS , violence between the Syrian government and opposition forces , and military operations against Syrian Kurds by Turkish forces ” 67
In November 2012 , the National Coalition of Syrian revolution and opposition forces , commonly known as the Syrian National Coalition 68 formed the main Syrian opposition groups , with an aim to end the conflict as well as
69 70 to establish a democratic transition for Syria .
In 2013 , the Islamic State in Iraq ( ISI ) had become more powerful and had already conquered parts of Iraq and were starting to move into the north of Syria , where Raqqa became their strategic centre and was used as a
46 ( Carnegie- Middle East center 2012 )
47 ( Schweizer 2015 , 509f .)
48 ( Bender 2012 , 199 )
49 ( Carnegie- Middle East center 2012 )
50 ( Bender 2012 , 198 )
51 ( Schweizer 2015 , 511 )
52 ( Schweizer 2015 , 511 )
53
( Schweizer 2015 , 511 )
54 ( History . com Editors 2017 )
55 ( History . com Editors 2017 )
56 ( Schweizer 2015 , 511 )
57 ( History . com Editors 2017 )
58 ( Bender 2012 , 199 )
59 ( Gordon , et al . 2019 )
60 ( Schulte von Drach 2018 )
61 ( History . com Editors 2017 )
62 ( Schweizer 2015 , 511 )
63 ( BBC 2019 )
64 ( History . com Editors 2017 )
65 ( Gordon , et al . 2019 )
66 ( Schulte von Drach 2018 )
67 ( Gordon , et al . 2019 )
68 ( Carnegie Middle East Center n . d .)
69 ( National Coalition of Syrian revolution and opposition forces n . d .)
70 ( Schulte von Drach 2018 )
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