Syrian decree recognizes Kurdish as ‘national language,’ Arabic remains official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Syrian presidential decree issued in January recognizes Kurdish as a “national language” and permits its teaching in schools in areas with Kurdish populations, though Arabic remains the country’s sole official language, a senior official in Damascus told Rudaw on Thursday.

“Presidential Decree No. 13 recognizes Kurdish as a national language within the country, and allows Kurdish to be taught in both public and private educational institutions as an elective subject or within cultural and educational activities,” said Ahmed al-Hilali, spokesperson for Syria’s presidential team.

The remarks came after Syrian authorities removed a bilingual Kurdish-Arabic billboard from the Justice Palace in Hasaka, in the predominantly Kurdish northeast of the country, known as Rojava, and replaced it with one written in Arabic and English.

The move sparked anger among residents, who chanted “Kurdistan” during protests before later tearing down the newly installed billboard.

A similar controversy unfolded in the Kurdish city of Kobane, where authorities initially installed locality signs only in Arabic before adding Kurdish following public backlash.

The incidents come amid ongoing efforts to integrate Rojava’s civilian and military institutions into Syrian state structures under a January 29 agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the interim government in Damascus. The deal outlines the incorporation of the SDF and the autonomous administration’s civil institutions into the Syrian state.

Despite the decree recognizing Kurdish as a national language, Hilali stressed that Arabic remains “the sole official state language” and “a fundamental pillar of the constitution.”

“The law obliges us to protect the Arabic language as part of the sovereignty of the state and public order,” he said.

Hilali added that existing constitutional provisions establishing the primacy of Arabic remain in force and cannot be overridden under current law. Any broader changes to language policy or legal frameworks, he said, would require constitutional amendments to be debated once Syria’s newly formed parliament convenes.

Under Ba’ath Party 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 banned.

That changed in 2012 after Syrian government forces withdrew from Rojava, allowing a Kurdish-led administration to take control and introduce Kurdish-language education into schools.

Formal recognition and institutionalization of Kurdish-language education remain key demands of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) in ongoing negotiations with Syria’s new leadership, which took power following the ouster of longtime president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.