Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a surprise decree on Friday granting the country’s oppressed Kurdish minority long-denied rights.

The decree affirms that “Syrian Kurdish citizens are an integral and authentic part of the Syrian people, and that their cultural and linguistic identity is an inseparable component of Syria’s unified and diverse national identity,” Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported.

Citing the provisions of Syria’s transitional constitutional declaration that was unilaterally drafted by the government last year, the decree commits the state to protecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Kurds. Most critically, it declares the Kurdish language a national language that can be taught in state-run and private........

© Al Monitor