Transitional Government ignores Holidays of Syrian Communities

New decrees issued by the Presidency of the Transitional Government in Syria have sparked a wave of resentment among the country's ethnic and religious components, after they excluded many national and religious holidays that represent the authentic components of Syrian society. This is considered a continuation of the approach of exclusion and marginalization pursued by the previous Syrian regime.

According to Decree No. 188 of 2025 declaring the official holiday, Newroz, which falls on March 21 of each year, was omitted. This holiday is a sacred national holiday for the Kurdish people in Syria and many parts of occupied Kurdistan, and is also celebrated in several countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Central Asian countries.

Nowruz is a symbol of freedom, renewal, and rebirth for the Kurds. In 2010, UNESCO recognized Newroz on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, designating March 21 as an international day to celebrate it.

Despite this international recognition, the transitional government in Syria continued to follow in the footsteps of the former Syrian regime, which had issued Decree No. 104 of 1988, designating March 21 as "Mother's Day," without mentioning the national significance of Newroz for the Kurds. This was considered at the time an attempt to marginalize Kurdish identity in Syria.

The new decree also ignored the Akitu holiday, the national holiday of Syriacs, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, which falls on April 1 of each year. It is one of the oldest holidays in human history, with roots dating back more than four thousand years to the civilizations of Mesopotamia.

Akitu embodies the meaning of renewed life, fertility, and the beginning of a new year, and represents a symbol of the cultural identity and national presence of Syriacs and Assyrians in the region.

While the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria allowed the celebration of Newroz, designating it as an official day, as well as the Akitu holiday, which was held publicly with the participation of all communities, the transitional government's disregard for these two holidays was seen as a step toward marginalizing the historical components of the Syrian people.

The decree also did not include the "Joy of God" holiday of the Murshid sect, which runs from August 25 to 27 of each year. This holiday is one of their most important religious occasions, commemorating the launch of the call by the sect's founder, Mujib Salman al-Murshid, in 1951.

It also included the cancellation of several Syrian national holidays, including Martyrs' Day, which falls on May 6, the day the Ottomans executed a number of Syrian intellectuals and activists in Marjeh Square in Damascus. It also included World Teachers' Day, which falls on October 5, and is an occasion to honor workers in the education sector.

Observers believe that these steps reflect a systematic policy to eliminate cultural pluralism and the diverse identity that constitute the essence of Syrian society. They assert that any political process or drafting of a new constitution that ignores the rights of all ethnic and religious components will be neither just nor legitimate.

A number of representatives of the components in North and East Syria also expressed their dissatisfaction with these policies, stressing that the repeated exclusion threatens the Syrian national fabric and reproduces the centralism that has marginalized the peoples of the region for decades.

ANHA