Kurdish Culture Days in Syria spotlight Kurds’ identity and language

Shafaq News- Damascus

The “Kurdish Culture Days Festival” in Damascus has emerged as a symbol of growing openness toward Kurdish cultural expression in Syria, participants and organizers told Shafaq News on Thursday as the event entered its second day.

Held at the Dummar Cultural Complex, the festival featured poetry readings, storytelling sessions, and artistic performances by Kurdish writers and performers from across Syria. “Hosting the event in Damascus during Kurdish Language Day was not previously possible,” remarked Gharib Hasso, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), portraying the gathering as the result of “years of struggle and sacrifice” to preserve language and heritage.

Hasso called for official recognition of Kurdish within a democratic Syrian constitution that guarantees the rights of all communities. “Recognition of the Kurdish language would not harm any side. It would enrich the Syrian state and its cultural diversity.”

Researcher and international arbitration adviser Abdul Issa, meanwhile, noted that participants in previous years often feared security repercussions after cultural activities, while current conditions have allowed greater freedom of expression. He attributed part of the shift to a presidential decree issued by transitional President Ahmad Al-Sharaa encouraging broader dialogue surrounding Kurdish identity and culture.

Poet Abdul Samad Mahmoud, who traveled from Qamishli to attend the event, described the festival as a moment of “great pride and happiness,” recalling being dismissed from his job and detained after reciting poetry at a festival in the Qamishli countryside under previous government policies.

Kurdish literature and culture, he stressed, form an integral part of Syria’s national identity and called for stronger engagement between Kurdish and Arab intellectuals to reinforce social cohesion and national unity.