ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurds living in Damascus are feeling both hope and skepticism about an agreement with the Syrian government that will see Kurdish security forces remaining in neighbourhoods of Aleppo.
"This was a step to see where things stand regarding the Kurds, because they are part of society. Of course, they will not be without identity as they were before. We want them to be recognised,” Haval al-Ayubi, a resident of the Kurdish neighbourhood Rukn al-Din in Damascus, told Rudaw on Thursday.
He explained the challenge of holding onto his Kurdish identity. “We are Kurds originally from Damascus, we do not speak Kurdish, we are removed from our ethnic roots. Our names are Kurdish and we live in the Kurdish neighbourhood, but we do not speak Kurdish. Our ethnicity is certainly not lost. We are happy because we are Muslims and also happy because we are Kurds," he said.
Kurds in Syria have long faced systemic repression and discrimination from successive authorities, including attacks on peaceful gatherings, arrests of political activists, and bans on cultural celebrations. Thousands have been denied full citizenship rights, with many rendered stateless due to exclusionary policies that date back decades. These measures disproportionately targeted Kurds, stripping them of their nationality and relegating them to second-class status, denying them education, employment opportunities, and political representation. While reforms were introduced in 2011, the process was limited and disrupted by conflict.
Rukn al-Din, one of Damascus’ oldest neighborhoods, is home to a significant Kurdish population, often called the neighborhood of the Kurds. Kurdish is not an official language in Syria, but the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) has made it official within the regions it controls.
In December, following a blistering offensive by a rebel coalition led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which later dissolved and formed the current interim Syrian government, residents of Rukn al-Din told Rudaw that they want to have effective participation in the political process and be provided with Kurdish education while having an independent administration.
In Aleppo, Kurds maintained control over two neighbourhoods throughout Syria’s civil war. On Tuesday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the status quo army of Rojava, struck an agreement with the new leadership in Damascus to exchange all prisoners and allow SDF-affiliated internal security forces (Asayish) to remain in these predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood, Bedran Ciya Kurd, advisor to the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), said on X.
The SDF and Damascus-affiliated forces on Thursday began the process of swapping nearly 250 prisoners as part of the agreement, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported.
"Thank God, the agreement was very good, and God willing, they will agree on this matter in all of Syria. At least the people of the area can protect themselves, and the Asayish members will be from the same area. May God grant goodness to all Kurds of Syria,” Marwan Samo, another Kurd in Damascus, told Rudaw.
The mukhtar (chieftan) of the Kurdish neighborhood, Bassam Ahmed, said that the agreement contributed to the return of normal life in the area. "They could not go to their homes because the roads were closed. Now the roads are open, and all people should return to their properties and see to their interests. Everything was closed before, but now everything is open, and God willing, the situation is good."
Faisal Hammo, a Kurdish sheikh, expressed his hope that the agreement would contribute to achieving Kurdish rights. "It is very good for us because they say they will give us our rights. We also do not want this country to be divided, and we have rights too.”
However, skepticism remains regarding the implementation of the deal.
"The deal might just be ink on paper," Na’im Wanli said, adding that "perhaps the other side cannot be trusted.”
“What is their agreement, what are its terms, who signed it, and under whose auspices was it - Americans or French? We want to know who the guarantor of the terms between the two parties is… If the guarantor of the terms is Turkey, then they cannot be trusted; that is my opinion. We hope something good happens between the parties,” he added.
The SDF also signed a landmark agreement with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on March 10 to integrate the SDF into the Syrian state apparatus. The agreement recognizes the Kurds as an integral part of Syria, includes a countrywide ceasefire, and stipulates the return of displaced Syrians to their hometowns.
The number of Kurds returning to the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in the northwest significantly increased following the SDF-Damascus deal, according to Ahmed Hassan, the head of the local council for the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) - the main opposition party in Rojava.
In 2018, Turkey and its allied Syrian militias seized control of Afrin. Thousands of Kurds fled, many moving to the nearby Shahba region, while families displaced from elsewhere in Syria moved into Afrin.
Solin Mohammed Amin contributed to this report.