Syrian president issues decree recognizing Kurdish language and rights

President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday affirming the rights of Kurdish Syrians, according to state media. The decree recognized Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and adopted Nowruz, the Persian new year widely celebrated by Kurds, as an official holiday.

Mr. al-Sharaa also called for the government to grant Syrian citizenship to Kurdish residents who were stripped of it after a 1962 census, the decree said. The announcement came after days of intense fighting between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.), during which at least 24 civilians were killed over five days and thousands fled their neighborhoods.

The government and the S.D.F. had been negotiating to integrate the group into the new national military, but talks had stalled and clashes erupted in Aleppo. Around the time the decree was announced, the national military said it had begun striking S.D.F. positions; S.D.F. leader Mazloum Abdi posted on X that his forces would withdraw from the contested area and redeploy east of the Euphrates, though it was unclear whether that would head off further clashes.

The fighting was among the most intense since the end of the civil war in December 2024, when Mr. al-Sharaa’s coalition ousted the Assad government.

Key Topics

World, Ahmed Al-sharaa, Kurdish Syrians, Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, Aleppo