2026-05-14T20:29:29+00:00
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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.
