Syrian president makes Kurdish a 'national language'
Friday, 16 January, 2026 , 19:35
Damascus, Jan 16, 2026 (AFP) — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday making Kurdish a "national language" and granting the minority community national rights, amid tensions between the government and Kurdish forces in the northeast.
In the decree, Sharaa also made Nowruz -- the Kurdish new year -- an official holiday and granted nationality to Kurds who had been stripped of it under a controversial 1962 census.
