Kurdish MP addresses Syrian Parliament in Kurdish

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish lawmaker addressed the Syrian parliament in Kurdish during the chamber's final session discussing its internal bylaws, marking what she described as the first time a representative delivered a speech in Kurdish within the parliament's walls.

Syrian member of parliament Fasla Yousef, who represents the province of Hasaka, told Rudaw's Solin Mohammedamin said she took advantage of a brief opportunity to thank the parliament's leadership and members in Kurdish after she was unable to take the parliamentary oath in her native tongue during the inaugural session.

"I stood up and delivered my speech in Kurdish, and everyone applauded," Yousef said, adding that she thanked the committee that drafted the parliament's internal bylaws, the council's presidency, and fellow lawmakers while wishing them success in their work.

The remarks come as Syria's newly formed 120-member People's Assembly, in which Kurdish representatives secured a total of eight to twelve seats, held its inaugural session in Damascus in mid-July, marking the first parliamentary meeting since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad. 

Yousef said the parliament's leadership did not object to her speaking Kurdish. "Everyone allowed it," she said, adding that lawmakers responded positively and applauded after her speech. "Everyone was pleased."

She also said the moment was not recorded because there were no cameras or journalists inside the chamber during the session. "That is unfortunate," Yousef said. "When we came out afterward, everyone said it was a very good and beautiful thing to do. This is a new Syria that should contain all colors."

Yousef was selected as a representative in the Syrian People’s Assembly in late May. Her appointment marks a transformation in the participation of Kurds in Syria’s state institutions since the founding of the state.

Youssef has emphasized the need to incorporate provisions under Decree No. 13 into Syria's new constitution which grants citizenship to stateless Kurds and has called for the recognition of Kurdish as an official language alongside Arabic in Kurdish-majority areas in northeastern Syria (Rojava) in addition to pursuing a peaceful and equitable solution for the integration of Syria’s Kurds within the framework of a unified Syria.

Yousef attended the Syrian parliament's inaugural session in mid-July wearing traditional Kurdish attire. She had previously stated her intention to recite the parliamentary oath in Kurdish, but the oath was delivered collectively in Arabic in the presence of Syria's president.

Yousef is a member of the leadership of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) and represents the province of Hasaka in the Syrian parliament.