Kurds in Western Kurdistan Seek End to Decades of Arabized Place Names

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - A delegation from the Kurdish National Council's Afrin branch met with the Afrin region administration on Sunday, submitting a formal letter demanding the restoration of original Kurdish names to villages, towns, mountains and valleys across the Afrin region, according to a statement published on the council's Facebook page.

The delegation met with Khairo al-Ali, head of the Afrin region administration, and handed him a written appeal addressing what it described as the Arabization of geographic names in the area and calling for measures to reverse the legacy of what it called "chauvinist" policies pursued under the former Baath Party government in Syria.

In its letter, the Kurdish National Council argued that altering the names of villages, towns, cities and geographic sites amounts to erasing original identity and place, calling it a violation of international law and "a crime against culture and original identity" that falsifies historical and geographic fact.

The statement cited researcher Abdullah al-Halou, who has said pre-Semitic place names are more prevalent in Western Kurdistan (northern Syria) than in other regions. It also quoted Aleppo historian Khair al-Din al-Asadi, who wrote in his multi-volume "Encyclopedia of Comparative Aleppo": "I was invited to take part in Arabizing the names, but I declined, saying this was a tampering with the truth."

According to the council, the original names in the Afrin region remained in official use, as recorded in French administrative registers, from the founding of the Syrian state through independence on April 17, 1946, and continued until the formation of the United Arab Republic with Egypt in 1958. It was then, the statement said, that Syrian-Egyptian union authorities first moved to Arabize the names of Afrin's villages and towns, forming a special committee for the task — a project the council said was left unfinished after the union dissolved.

The council said renewed efforts followed after the Baath Party took power in Syria, intensifying under the rule of Hafez al-Assad. In 1976, according to the statement, authorities decided to implement the Arabization of place names across Western Kurdistan, including Afrin, forming an official committee composed of Kurdish and Syriac members along with a representative from Aleppo's Antiquities Directorate.

The council said the committee's work resulted in a new list of names that took official effect in 1977 under Interior Ministry Decision No. 580, changing the names of 190 villages and towns across the Afrin region and entering the new names into official records, personal identification documents and road signage.

The statement added that after armed factions entered the Afrin region on March 18, 2018, some villages and geographic sites were Arabized further.

The council described these measures as part of a broader pattern of policies it said Kurds in Syria faced for decades, including forced displacement projects, a disputed census, the expulsion of students and workers, and continued arrests, which it said were intended to erase Kurdish national identity and collective memory.

Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government on December 8, 2024, the council said Syria's new authorities should move to reverse the legacy of what it called harmful Baath-era policies and address grievances faced by Syrians broadly and Kurds in particular. The statement outlined several requests:

The council called for recognition that Syria is a country of diverse ethnic, religious and sectarian components, arguing that while the former government was repressive toward all Syrians, it said Kurds faced compounded discrimination that should now be addressed.

It urged the formation of a specialized government committee, including academics and technical experts from Afrin and other areas, to restore original names — in the language used locally — to villages, towns, cities, mountains, valleys and rivers.

The council also called for the reversal of past agricultural reform measures in Afrin and the return of land and property to what it described as their original owners, along with local administration of the Afrin region and its districts by residents themselves across political, administrative, economic and security functions, within the framework of Syria's new government and a system of equal citizenship.

The Kurdish National Council's Afrin branch said it submitted the letter "with utmost appreciation and respect" to the Afrin region administration, framing the request as part of a broader national reckoning with the country's past as Syria's new government takes shape.