2026-07-09T20:43:38+00:00
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Thousands of residents,
activists, journalists, and intellectuals marched through the northern Syrian
city of Kobani on Thursday, calling on Damascus to officially recognize the
city by its Kurdish name instead of Ain al-Arab.
The demonstration, sparked by
the installation of a government sign bearing the name “Ain al-Arab” at the
Qara Qozak Bridge on the city’s outskirts, began at Ashti Roundabout and
proceeded to Free Women’s Square in the city center, where participants carried banners reading, “No to Ain
al-Arab, Yes to Kobani,” “Kobani is our identity,” and “The name is a right…
Kobani is a historical right,” while urging the government to use “Kobani” in
official documents and public signage.
Restoring historical place
names, Kurdish National Council spokesperson Faisal Youssef argued, would
recognize Syria’s cultural diversity and reverse decades of Arabization. He
characterized the move as “a national entitlement” and an important step toward
transitional justice and national reconciliation.
Kobani, officially known as
Ain al-Arab, lies in northern Aleppo province. Ottoman records identified the
area as “Arab Pinar” (“Spring of the Arabs”), while the French Mandate
established the administrative district of Ain al-Arab in 1937. Some accounts
attribute the name “Kobani” to the German word Kompanie (“company”), after the
firm that built part of the Baghdad Railway and established a nearby station.
Kurdish historians, however, argue that it instead originates from the Kurdish
phrase “Kom Bani,” the name of a historic tribal confederation that once
dominated the area.
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