Soviet Union: Information on the Africa-Asia Solidarity Committee in Moscow, including services offered by this committee to foreign students, especially to Syrian Kurds; travel documents issued, and information on whether these travel documents are confiscated at the airport
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 March 1991 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SUN8059 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Soviet Union: Information on the Africa-Asia Solidarity Committee in Moscow, including services offered by this committee to foreign students, especially to Syrian Kurds; travel documents issued, and information on whether these travel documents are confiscated at the airport, 1 March 1991, SUN8059, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aca18.html [accessed 1 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
There is no information available on the Africa-Asia Solidarity Committee in Moscow, however, an article from the Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1989 refers to a Syrian Committee for Solidarity with Asian and African Countries, and a Syrian Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee, which reportedly visited the USSR on the invitation of the Soviet-Asian Solidarity Committee (Staar 1989, 500, 501). Please find this article attached. No further information on these committees is currently available to the IRB Documentation Centre.
There is no information currently available regarding Soviet aid to Syrian or other foreign students. The Europa World Year Book 1990 states that tuition is free in institutions of higher education in the Soviet Union (Europa 1990 1990, 2584). Two articles from the Soviet Telegraph Agency indicate that there are Syrian students studying in the Soviet Union (TASS 1989; TASS 1988). Further, a Middle East Watch Report states that "the Ba'th Party awards many travel grants and scholarships for study abroad, especially to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe" (Middle East Watch 1990, 158). Sources report that the Soviet Union and Syria have maintained a close relationship, including the signing of a twenty year treaty of friendship and cooperation in 1980 (Countries of the World 1990 1990, 1217). According to the Encyclopedia of the Third World, "the Soviet Union has long been Syria's principal source of military equipment and economic aid" (Encyclopedia of the Third World 1987, 1885).
Bibliography
Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook 1990. 1990. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Inc.
Delury, George E. 1987. World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties. Vol. 2. 1987. New York: Facts on File Inc.
Encyclopedia of the Third World. Vol. 3. 1987. New York: Facts on File, Inc.
The Europa World Year Book 1990. 1990. Vol. 2. London: Europa Publications Ltd.
Middle East Watch. September 1990. Human Rights in Syria. New York: Human Rights Watch.
Staar, Richard E., ed. 1989. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1989. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press.
TASS. 13 April 1989. "Syria's National Holiday Observed in Moscow". (NEXIS)
TASS. 10 June 1988. "Syrian Metropolitan about Soviet Union".(NEXIS)
