{"id":137633,"date":"2026-05-12T12:02:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=137633"},"modified":"2026-05-12T12:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:02:45","slug":"residents-of-kobani-calls-to-make-kurdish-syrias-second-official-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/137633\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents of Kobani calls to make Kurdish Syria\u2019s second official language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KOBANI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> With the arrival of May 15, Kurdish Language Day, popular and academic demands are renewed in the city of Kobani in northern Syria to grant the \u201cKurdish language\u201d its legal status by enshrining it as a second official language in Syria\u2019s new constitution, in order to ensure the protection of the identity and the national and political rights of Syrian Kurds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatima Baz, a lecturer at Kobani University and head of its Kurdish Literature Department, hopes that the Kurdish language will attain academic and scholarly standing, as well as a place in the Syrian constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 15 is considered Kurdish Language Day, marking the publication of Hawar magazine in 1932 in the Syrian capital, Damascus, by the Kurdish prince and intellectual Jaladat Badirkhan. It was the first Kurdish magazine printed in Latin script. Every year, millions of Kurds in Syria, Turkey, and Iran mark this day and consider it an occasion to demand recognition of their mother tongue in the constitutions of those countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second official language<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Baz says that, as citizens of Syria, they demand that Kurdish be the second official language in the country, so that the Kurdish people can affirm and confirm the presence of their language within Syria\u2019s new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She points out that the Kurdish language was banned for many years during the rule of both father and son Assad. Those who spoke or taught Kurdish were punished, and some were imprisoned for years as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baz calls for preventing the repetition of those practices carried out by the former Syrian regime against the Kurds, including the suppression of identity and language, by enshrining Kurdish in the Syrian constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decree No. 13\u2026 a step in the right direction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Baz believes that the issuance of Decree No. 13 by the transitional government does not in itself fulfill the Kurdish people\u2019s demands to affirm their identity, rights, and language. She noted that the decree is a positive step but must be enshrined in the new constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her part, Mergana Mohammed, a university student in Kobani, demands that their mother tongue, Kurdish, be recognized as the second official language after Arabic in the Syrian constitution, because language expresses national identity and protects the political and national rights of the Kurdish people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curricula in Kurdish<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mohammed says that as students who have studied in their language for more than ten years, curricula must be prepared for schools and educational institutions in Kurdish. She noted that students would be unable to continue their studies in Arabic after these years of Kurdish-language education and would face academic, scientific, and social difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juhayna Mohammed, also a university student, repeated the same demands, adding that during the period of the previous regime there was no recognition of the Kurdish language or Kurdish existence. Therefore, the solution lies in constitutional recognition of the Kurdish language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The constitution is the solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Azad Barazi, a Kurdish politician, said that the stage the Kurdish people in Syria are going through is \u201cvery sensitive.\u201d After years of struggle and work, Kurdish rights must be guaranteed in the Syrian constitution and protected through constitutional means, because the constitution is the most important law in any state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kurdish politician stressed that relations between components, institutions, and the state must be governed constitutionally, because the constitution is the decisive reference for resolving the problems of peoples and components within states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barazi believes that Decree No. 13 is positive and can be built upon, and that it is a good step, but it is not sufficient and does not meet the demands of the Kurdish people. The content of the decree, along with other rights, must be ensured in the constitution so that the rights of the Kurdish people become fundamental, recognized rights in Syria.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Fattah Issa<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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