Syria’s self-appointed President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday formally recognizing the Kurdish language and restoring Syrian citizenship to all Kurdish residents who had previously been classified as stateless, according to the state news agency SANA.
The decree establishes Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and permits its use in education, allowing schools to teach Kurdish for the first time under Syrian law. It also grants full citizenship rights to Kurdish Syrians who lost their nationality under policies introduced following a 1962 census conducted in Hasaka province, which left tens of thousands of Kurds without legal status for decades.
In addition, the decree declares Nowruz, the Kurdish spring and New Year festival, a paid national holiday nationwide. It includes provisions banning ethnic and linguistic discrimination, mandates inclusive national messaging by state institutions, and sets penalties for incitement to ethnic or communal strife.
In a video message shared on his X account, al-Sharaa addressed the Kurdish population directly, calling for unity and urging Syrians to reject narratives that promote division. He said the measures were intended to affirm Kurdish identity as an integral part of Syria’s national fabric.
The announcement follows violent clashes last week in the northern city of Aleppo, where fighting between government-aligned forces and Kurdish fighters left at least 23 people dead, according to Syria’s health ministry. The unrest forced more than 150,000 people to flee Kurdish-administered areas of the city before the clashes subsided following the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters.
The violence has highlighted ongoing tensions between Damascus and Kurdish political and military groups, particularly the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which control large parts of northeastern Syria. Relations have remained strained despite months of talks aimed at integrating Kurdish-run civilian administrations and armed forces into Syrian state institutions.
Negotiations between the Syrian government and Kurdish representatives continued throughout last year but have produced limited progress, with key disagreements remaining over governance, security arrangements, and the future status of Kurdish-administered regions.
Al-Sharaa, who assumed leadership following the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly pledged to reunify the country after more than 14 years of conflict. However, Kurdish factions have expressed concern over the Islamist orientation of the new government and have sought firm guarantees regarding political rights, cultural recognition, and local autonomy.
The decree marks the first formal recognition of Kurdish linguistic and citizenship rights by the Syrian state and comes amid broader efforts by the new leadership to consolidate authority and address long-standing grievances as the country continues to recover from years of war.
