Syrian Presidential Decree on Kurdish Rights

Translation and Overview

With the Syrian government having recently taken over the predominantly Kurdish neighbourhoods of Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya in Aleppo city, and amid the impending withdrawal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from Dayr Hafir and Maskanah in Aleppo province, there are understandably questions about the current status of the negotiations between the central government and the SDF for implementing the March 2025 agreement that stipulated the SDF’s integration into the Syrian state.

The negotiations, as I have noted before, are at an impasse because they have not yet bridged the divide between Damascus’ centralised vision of governance and the SDF’s desire for the government to grant its project autonomy. During the negotiations, the central government reportedly made ‘offers’ for recognition of Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights- something that had been a concern for the SDF leaders. It would now seem that President Ahmad al-Sharaa has decided to issue a decree implementing these offers anyway.