ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Efforts continue to make Kurdish an official language in Syria as Damascus makes headway to administer the language in education in the transitional period, a politician from northeast Syria said on Wednesday.
“We will make Kurdish an official language in Syria,” Hassan Mohamed Ali, co-chair of public relations in the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara on Wednesday, adding that the demand and the long-deprived right of studying in Kurdish “will receive constitutional backing and individuals taking state positions will work from within to secure these rights.”
SDC is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which was dissolved earlier this week as part of an integration process with Damascus.
Syrian interim President Sharaa issued Presidential Decree No. 13 in January, recognizing Kurdish as a “national language” and allowing it to be taught in schools. Under the Ba’ath party's rule, led by the Assad family from 1971 to 2024, Kurdish was heavily restricted in public life. Speaking, writing, publishing, and singing in Kurdish were prohibited, and Kurdish names for newborns were not allowed.
Ali’s statement came as SDF chief Abdi announced the dissolution of the SDF on Tuesday, announcing its ultimate integration into the Syrian state system. The Kurdish-led group, with backing from the US, defeated the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2019 after more than 11,000 of its fighters were killed in the war.
The SDC official said Abdi will be stationed at Damascus as an advisor to Sharaa on the Kurdish issue - as previously reported by Rudaw.
“The Kurdish issue, which was previously discussed outside state structures, will now become part of state policy and the constitution from within the state,” he said, linking the Kurdish military commander’s new position to advancing linguistic, cultural, and constitutional rights of Kurds in Syria.
“Kurds are now saying, ‘I am Kurdish, and I am Syrian.’ Our methods of struggle are shifting to match these new realities,” Ali explained.
Of relevant note, Abdi said in an interview with Rudaw earlier this month that language is his “priority” in talks with Damascus. He also noted that Decree No. 13 was not “enough.”
“For 15 years in Rojava, Kurdish has been the language of education, and we have reached the university level. Because of that, we cannot go back to the language being an optional language. This is impossible,” he stressed. “The main goal was for the Kurdish language to remain as the official language of instruction.”
