Syria’s Sharaa signs decree allegedly to guarantee Kurdish rights amid conflict

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday addressed the Kurds in a video message, announcing that he has signed a “special decree” guaranteeing Kurdish “rights and certain particularities.” The move comes as fighting continues between Syrian state forces and Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria.

“I am honored today to issue a special decree for our people, the Kurds, guaranteeing their rights and certain particularities by the text of the law,” Sharaa said in the message published on X.

According to the decree, Kurdish is recognized as a “national language” and is permitted in schools in areas where “Kurds constitute a notable percentage of the population” as “part of elective curricula.”

Kurds in northeast Syria (Rojava), under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), study in their mother tongue from the first grade through university. Beginning in the fourth grade, Arabic is taught as a mandatory second language. Other ethnic and religious groups in the region study in their own languages and take Kurdish as a second language from year four.

Arabic remains the only official language of the country, and the decree does not include mandatory Kurdish lessons at school.

The decree also designates the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, as a public holiday in Syria. It coincides with Mother’s Day, which is already a national holiday in the country.

The decree further states that all Syrian Kurds are to receive citizenship, including those previously classified as “unrecorded” under the ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The new government in Damascus and its regional ally, Turkey, have repeatedly said that Kurds who were deprived of citizenship under the former government will be granted Syrian nationality.

Syrian Kurds have faced state discrimination since the country’s establishment nearly 80 years ago, including restrictions on political, economic, and cultural rights. The Kurdish language was banned from public use for decades. Following a 1962 census that Human Rights Watch said was conducted arbitrarily, tens of thousands of Kurds were stripped of citizenship after being labeled “alien infiltrators” from Turkey.

In his message, Sharaa sought to reassure Kurds of his government’s intentions.

“Your life is our life, and we want nothing but the welfare of the country and its people, development, reconstruction, and the unity of the country, and no one should miss their share of this goodness,” he said.

Sharaa also called on displaced Kurds to return, urging “everyone who was forcibly displaced from their land to return safely and securely without condition or restriction except for laying down arms.”

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds have been displaced since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, especially during Turkey’s offensives against Kurdish forces in northern Syria in the last decade. The latest tensions between Damascus and Kurdish forces in Kurdish-majority areas of Aleppo displaced around 150,000 people. A large number of them have yet to return to their homes.

Sharaa appealed for Kurdish participation in Syria’s future, calling on the Kurds “for active participation in building this nation and preserving its safety and unity, and that we reject anything other than that.”

He warned against what he described as misinformation about his government’s intentions, saying, “beware of believing the narrative that we want harm for our people, the Kurds.”

The remarks come amid ongoing tensions and intermittent clashes between Damascus-aligned forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria and Rojava.

The Syrian military has expanded its attacks on Kurdish-held territory as part of the interim government’s stated goal of integrating the civil and military institutions of Rojava into state structures under a stalled deal signed in March 2025 between SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa. The deal also calls for a nationwide ceasefire and mentions Kurdish rights.

After expelling Kurdish fighters from two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in Aleppo last week, Damascus expanded its operations into SDF-held areas of eastern Aleppo province, including Deir Hafer, Maskanah and surrounding districts. The areas were declared “closed military zones,” and residents were ordered to evacuate by Friday evening.

Control of the territory would allow government forces to open a corridor linking Aleppo to Raqqa province, the former stronghold of the Islamic State (ISIS), and increase pressure on the SDF along the Euphrates River.

The Syrian Arab Army on Friday called on SDF fighters to “begin your defection from the SDF organization.” The SDF responded that the remarks were “nothing but desperate and transparent appeals that reflect political and military bankruptcy and a failed attempt to sow division among the region’s communities.”

Clashes last week in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods killed at least 82 people, including 43 civilians, according to a report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Following the clashes in Aleppo, President Masoud Barzani, who is the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), cautioned that there is "the danger of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in that area."

Elsewhere under Sharaa’s leadership, clashes in Druze-majority Suwayda province have killed hundreds of people, while violence in Alawite-majority coastal regions last year left even more dead, with Syrian government forces and affiliated forces blamed for many civilian casualties.

Following the attacks on minority communities, the SDF has cited the need to protect Kurdish areas amid continued instability and sporadic violence.

Meanwhile, Sharaa is expected to arrive in Berlin next week, a visit that has sparked mixed reactions among German lawmakers. Several parliamentarians say Chancellor Friedrich Merz should use the meeting to address the situation of Kurds in Syria.

The following is the full translation of the decree:

1 - Syrian Kurdish citizens are considered a fundamental and authentic part of the Syrian people, and their cultural and linguistic identity is considered an integral part of the diverse and unified Syrian national identity.

2 - The state commits to protecting cultural and linguistic diversity, and guarantees the right of Kurdish citizens to revive their heritage and arts and develop their mother tongue within the framework of national sovereignty.

3 - The Kurdish language is considered a national language, and it is permitted to teach it in government and private schools in areas where Kurds constitute a notable percentage of the population, as part of elective curricula or as an educational cultural activity.

4 - All laws and exceptional measures resulting from the 1962 census in Hasaka province are abolished, and Syrian citizenship is granted to all citizens of Kurdish origin residing on Syrian territory, including those whose registration is withheld, with their complete equality in rights and duties.

5 - "Al-Nawroz" holiday (March 21) is considered an official paid holiday throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, as a national holiday expressing spring and brotherhood.

6 - State media and educational institutions commit to adopting an inclusive national discourse, and any discrimination or exclusion on an ethnic or linguistic basis is legally prohibited, and anyone who incites ethnic strife shall be punished in accordance with applicable laws.

7 - The relevant ministries and authorities shall issue the necessary executive instructions to implement the provisions of this decree, each in what concerns it.

8 - This decree shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall be considered effective from the date of its issuance.


Updated at 12:18 am on January 17.

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