SDF chief says Arabic-only signboard in Rojava temporarily accepted
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Mazloum Abdi, leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said they have accepted the signboard on a key judicial building in the Kurdish province of Hasaka despite public outrage over the absence of the Kurdish language, until Damascus resolves the issue.
Syrian authorities on Thursday removed a signboard on the Justice Palace in Hasaka that featured Kurdish and Arabic, replacing it with one in English and Arabic. Damascus later installed a new signboard, this time only in Arabic, but it was also taken down by Kurds. The government’s insistence on excluding Kurdish has left the building without a signboard.
Abdi told the pro-SDF Hawar News Agency in an interview partially published on Monday that they did not protest the absence of Kurdish on the signboard because they did not want the issue to negatively affect the wider integration process agreed in January with American mediation, following weeks of clashes between the Kurdish-led force and forces affiliated with Damascus.
“We have accepted it for a while until it is addressed in the future,” he said, adding that while they view Kurdish demands to include the language on the signboard as legitimate, they are calling on people to accept it until the issue is resolved.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the ruling party in the Kurdish region of northeast Syria (Rojava), said on Saturday that adding Kurdish alongside Arabic on signboards of state institutions in the region would strengthen, not weaken, Damascus.
The government made a similar move in Kobane in recent days but later added Kurdish to the signboards following public backlash. A signboard on the Justice Palace in Afrin - written in Arabic and Turkish - was widely shared by Kurds on Saturday, with many questioning why Damascus opposed the inclusion of Kurdish, a national language, while retaining a foreign language on the Afrin signboard.
The PYD called on Damascus and all Syrians "to move closer toward the concept of a democratic national state that remains neutral toward all national, ethnic, cultural, and religious components in Syria." It also reiterated that the Syrian interim constitution - which it said was "rushed and did not adequately or effectively reflect the will of Syria’s diverse components" - should be amended.
Abdi said the government’s excuse is that the building belongs to a sovereign institution and serves as the province’s central justice palace, therefore it should be only in Arabic.
Syrian authorities on Thursday removed a signboard on the Justice Palace in Hasaka that featured Kurdish and Arabic, replacing it with one in English and Arabic. Damascus later installed a new signboard, this time only in Arabic, but it was also taken down by Kurds. The government’s insistence on excluding Kurdish has left the building without a signboard.
Abdi told the pro-SDF Hawar News Agency in an interview partially published on Monday that they did not protest the absence of Kurdish on the signboard because they did not want the issue to negatively affect the wider integration process agreed in January with American mediation, following weeks of clashes between the Kurdish-led force and forces affiliated with Damascus.
“We have accepted it for a while until it is addressed in the future,” he said, adding that while they view Kurdish demands to include the language on the signboard as legitimate, they are calling on people to accept it until the issue is resolved.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the ruling party in the Kurdish region of northeast Syria (Rojava), said on Saturday that adding Kurdish alongside Arabic on signboards of state institutions in the region would strengthen, not weaken, Damascus.
The government made a similar move in Kobane in recent days but later added Kurdish to the signboards following public backlash. A signboard on the Justice Palace in Afrin - written in Arabic and Turkish - was widely shared by Kurds on Saturday, with many questioning why Damascus opposed the inclusion of Kurdish, a national language, while retaining a foreign language on the Afrin signboard.
The PYD called on Damascus and all Syrians "to move closer toward the concept of a democratic national state that remains neutral toward all national, ethnic, cultural, and religious components in Syria." It also reiterated that the Syrian interim constitution - which it said was "rushed and did not adequately or effectively reflect the will of Syria’s diverse components" - should be amended.
Abdi said the government’s excuse is that the building belongs to a sovereign institution and serves as the province’s central justice palace, therefore it should be only in Arabic.