US EditionSyria’s Sharaa Grants Citizenship and Language Rights to Kurdish Syrians, State Media Says
The decree grants citizenship to previously stateless Kurds and recognizes Kurdish language and Nowruz holiday amid stalled integration talks and recent clashes.
- On January 16, Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued Decree No.13 granting Kurdish language rights and citizenship, declaring Kurdish a national language and Nowruz a national holiday, state media SANA reported.
- Amid stalled integration talks, the decree aimed to woo Kurds after clashes in Aleppo last week killed at least 23 and displaced more than 150,000 in Kurdish-led autonomous administration areas.
- Technically, the decree annuls exceptional 1962 census measures, grants Syrian citizenship provisions to Kurds, constituting between 10% and 15% of the population, including 1,200,000 in the northeast, and bans discrimination prohibition by ethnicity or language.
- Following the decree, Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said forces will withdraw east of Aleppo at 7 a.m. local time, and Syrian troops struck Kurdish positions in Deir Hafer shortly after.
- Strategically, observers note Sharaa's conciliatory gesture is striking given his ouster of Bashar al-Assad last year, but officials warn a failed diplomacy could lead the Syrian army to launch a full-scale campaign stripping Kurds of their semi-autonomous zone and imperiling the March 10 agreement.
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64 Articles
This deployment occurs in the aftermath of a decree granting national rights to the Kurdish minority.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara issued a decree on Friday declaring Kurdish an official language and granting citizenship to all Syrian Kurds, stating that the Kurds are an essential and inseparable part of Syria.
While the conflict has been bogged down in recent weeks, Syrian President Ahmed al-Charaa announced on Friday night that he recognized by decree the national rights of the Kurds, whose language will now be official.
Following the recent fighting in Syria, interim President Sharaa has announced to strengthen the rights of the Kurdish minority.
Malay Mail
AlKhaleej TodaySyria recognises Kurdish language and culture amid unrest over northern autonomy push
DAMASCUS, Jan 17 — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday declaring Kurdish a “national language”, in an apparent gesture of good will towards the minority following clashes in recent days.The decree is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria’s independence in 1946.It stated Kurds were “an essential and integral part” of Syria, where they have suffered decades of marginalisation and oppression unde…
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