( CNN ) -- Syria has granted citizenship to thousands of stateless people in the country 's Kurdish region , a move seen as a gesture to placate the predominantly Arab country 's restive minority . State-run media said President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday issued a legislative decree granting `` Syrian Arab nationality '' to people registered as `` foreigners '' in Hasaka , the northeastern region where Kurds reside . There has long been discontent in the Kurdish region , and protests have been held there in recent days . Many Kurds have been stateless , and Human Rights Watch said they have faced obstacles , such as getting work and state services . Al-Assad has promised to deal with the issue over the years . `` In 1962 , an exceptional census stripped some 120,000 Syrian Kurds -- 20 percent of the Syrian Kurdish population -- of their Syrian citizenship . By many accounts , the special census was carried out in an arbitrary manner , '' Human Rights Watch said in a July report . `` Brothers from the same family , born in the same Syrian village , were classified differently . Fathers became foreigners while their sons remained citizens . The number of stateless Kurds grew with time as descendants of those who lost citizenship in 1962 multiplied ; as a result , their number is now estimated at 300,000 . '' Human Rights Watch , which notes that the Kurds are the largest non-Arab ethnic minority in Syria , estimated the Kurdish population to be 1.7 million , about 10 percent of Syria 's population . The Syrian government , viewing Kurdish identity as a threat , has suppressed the group 's political and cultural rights . Demonstrations in 2004 over longstanding complaints led to harassment and protests were put down with `` lethal force , '' Human Rights Watch said . At that time , at least 36 people were killed , 160 were injured , and more than 2,000 detained amid `` widespread reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees , '' Human Rights Watch said . Massoud Akko , a Kurdish journalist and human rights defender based in Norway , told CNN there are two forms of stateless Kurds -- the majority , around 220,000 , are called `` foreigners '' and they are the ones that the decree addresses . But there 's another class of stateless people , numbering about 80,000 , who are n't included in the decision . `` This is not enough . We need more , '' Akko said , referring to the political , social , and economic demands the people have made for decades . `` We as Kurds in Syria do not have the minimal ethnic rights , no schools , no cultural centers . We can not even use our languages in the universities . We want to be equal to the Kurds living in Turkey , Iran and Iraq . '' He said the regime made the move to placate Kurds , who 've been angry over their treatment . However , three major Kurdish parties have called for protests Friday in Qamishli , Aleppo and other Syrian cities . Along with the basic rights they want , Kurds would like to see the Baathist Party rule come to an end and have more political parties formed . They also want freedoms in media and other realms , Akko said . They do n't want to see the controversial 48-year-old emergency rule replaced by an equally oppressive terrorism law , and they demand a civilian rather than a military court system . CNN 's Rima Maktabi contributed to this report .
President Bashar al-Assad issues a legislative decree on citizenship . The Kurds are about 10 percent of Syria 's population , Human Rights Watch estimates . Move comes during unrest in the predominantly Arab country .