Qamishlo, Hasakah residents: Burning Kurdish flag is attack on revolution's gain

Residents of Hasakah held a protest in City Bus Square in the al-Nasra neighborhood, with the participation of communes, councils and members of civil society organizations. They carried Kurdish flags and chanted slogans condemning attacks on the symbols and identity of the Kurdish people.

The statement was read in two languages, with Laila Mawo, head of the Kalasa Council, reading the Arabic version and Kurdish language teacher Jinda Mohammed reading the Kurdish version.

The statement condemned and denounced “what happened in the city of Hasakah on October 2, 2026, when a certain group staged a demonstration charged with racist ideas against the Kurdish people and other communities.”

It said the slogans and positions expressed during the demonstration, which insulted Kurdish national symbols and flags, “carried a rhetoric that serves Syria’s enemies and calls for division and conflict, which could further increase tensions and fuel discord among the people of the region.”

The statement affirmed “everyone’s right to peacefully express their demands, which is a legitimate right,” but said that “defending rights cannot be done by insulting an identity or its symbols.”

It noted that what happened “should not be understood as an expression of the demands of the Arab people, but rather, in some of its aspects, as rhetoric directed against the legitimate national and political rights of the Kurdish people and an explicit call for their exclusion and the revival of the chauvinist Baathist policies.”

The statement added that internal and regional actors are seeking to exploit social divisions and fuel Kurdish-Arab tensions in an effort to undermine the current understanding between the two communities and derail the process of integration and the building of a new Syria that embraces everyone. It called on the relevant authorities to launch a clear and accountable investigation into the recent incidents that took place in Peace Square in the city center.

The statement also reaffirmed the Kurds’ right to education in their mother tongue. It said, “We reject the marginalization of our language, and no one can take it away from us. Throughout history, we have proven that our language is our life. We are not against any other language; rather, we want linguistic and cultural diversity in the new Syria.”

Qamishlo

In a similar context, residents of Qamishlo condemned the burning of the Kurdish flag and attacks on the national symbols of the Kurdish people, stressing that targeting the flag constitutes an attack on the gains of the revolution. They called on the Internal Security Forces to fulfill their duty, protect symbols and flags, and prevent such incidents from happening again.

The Popular Initiative in Qamishlo issued a statement to the public today after demonstrators in Hasakah’s Ghweiran neighborhood burned Kurdish symbols and flags.

Dozens of city residents attended the reading of the statement, raising Kurdish flags and symbols at the Reading Garden in the western part of the city.

Zina Aslan read the statement on behalf of the Popular Initiative, which said the attack on the Kurdish flag in Hasakah was rejected and condemned in all forms and could not be accepted under any pretext.

The statement said the region is going through a historic and sensitive period, noting that a degree of trust has emerged between the Kurdish and Arab peoples following 14 years of struggle, during which both sides participated in joint administration, fought ISIS mercenaries, and protected the land, culture and existence of the communities.

The initiative said attacks targeting the Kurdish flag constitute an attack on the Kurds and the gains of their revolution, stressing that protecting flags is everyone’s responsibility and that every flag has its own sanctity, particularly the Kurdish flag, “green, red and yellow,” which flies over their areas.

The statement stressed that the Kurds are an essential part of the process of integration and the building of a democratic and equal Syria, as they live on the same land and share a common martyrs’ cemetery and a shared future.

At the end of the statement, the Popular Initiative called on the Internal Security Forces in Hasakah province to fulfill their duty and protect the Kurdish flag, and not allow such attacks to happen again because of the harm they cause to social peace and peaceful coexistence.

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ANHA