The demographics of this area underwent a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century . Some Circassian , Kurdish and Chechen tribes cooperated with the Ottoman ( Turkish ) authorities in the massacres of Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia , between 1914 and 1920 , with further attacks on unarmed fleeing civilians conducted by local Arab militias . Many Assyrians fled to Syria during the genocide and settled mainly in the Jazira area . Starting in 1926 , the region saw another immigration of Kurds following the failure of the Sheikh Said rebellion against the Turkish authorities . While many of the Kurds in Syria have been there for centuries , waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syria , where they were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities . In the 1930s and 1940s , the region saw several failed autonomy movements
Armenian
Armenian Genocide
Human rights in North and East Syria