Repositori URV

Identifier: TDX:1078

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX1078

Authors:
Haffar, Rana

Abstract:
Taking an initial glance at minorities in Syria, we see that they are completely integrated into the country and that they enjoy a full life, in peace without problems. Even though behind all this exists an invisible wall resulting from the current political situation. However, if we look beyond this wall, it is here where we start to see things differently and is where we find the objective of my investigation; focusing on the analysis of the roll of Syrian minorities, mainly the Christian minority, their relation with other minorities and with the majority during the twenty-one centuries from the beginning of the existence of Christianity and particularly over the most recent decades. To know how these minorities were born, it is important to study them from the beginning, from the very start of the Christian era and to know how they later emerged and started to form different groups that were called Tawa´ef in Arabic (religious confessions). The legal situation of the country has also been analyzed to reach an understanding of the reasons why the family code of Christians was different from that of Muslims and Druze. During the sixties the nationalization of many companies caused the loss of the acquired influence of these minorities, which weakened their power. The search for citizenship and participation in all sectors of life including the political one was one of the main reasons that initiated the revolution, in which Christians also participated. Their objective being to achieve liberty and all the rights that were denied under the regime of Al-Assad, dreaming that the Arab spring would change the situation in Syria and transform it into a secular state where religion and policy are not united. This same call for liberty is the cause of the emigration towar