Forms are filled as Syrian Kurds gather at a registration centre for foreign Kurds and unregistered residents in the city of al-Malikiyah Kadimah (Dêrik in Kurdish) northeastern Syria, on April 15, 2026, to submit their names for Syrian citizenship. In a packed hall in Qamishli's sports stadium in northeast Syria, dozens of Kurds on April 15, wait to apply for citizenship after many in the minority were barred from doing so for decades. Since last week, "unregistered" Kurds, who have been stateless since a controversial 1962 census, have been flocking to registration centres across Syria to apply for citizenship, based on the interior ministry's instructions. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP via Getty Images)