Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed autonomy for the past few decades, a situation that has been echoed by the Syrian government's move this week.
On Friday, President Ahmad Al Shara issued a decree affirming the rights of Kurdish Syrians, formally recognising their language and restoring citizenship to the country's biggest minority community.
The Kurds, one of the world's largest stateless people, have been fighting for power and an independent Kurdistan that spans Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, where a large number of them live.
In 1970 it was announced that the Kurdish north-east of Iraq had some limited self-rule. However, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) had its immediate origins in the 1990s, following a period of instability and violence under the rule of dictator Saddam Hussein.
Following the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq’s Kurds were officially able to set up their own government, called the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It is Iraq's only regional government and has its own presidency, ministers and parliament to govern largely independently of Baghdad.
Iraq's 2005 Constitution recognises an autonomous Kurdistan region in the north of the country, run by the KRG.
The Constitution gives Kurdish political parties the right to nominate a Kurdish president for Iraq. The Iraqi president, chosen by parliament, has a largely ceremonial role but they are responsible for appointing the prime minister.
Kurdish is an official language of Iraq, alongside Arabic. Additionally, Iraq's Constitution guarantees equality for all Iraqi citizens, regardless of race or religion, and acknowledges the national rights of Kurds.
Nowruz is an official public holiday in Iraq, recognised nationally as March 21 and a significant cultural celebration, especially for the Kurds.
This was the outcome of decades of political and military efforts to secure self-rule by the Kurdish minority, who are estimated to make up nearly 20 per cent of the Iraqi population.
Syrian Kurdish rights
Syria's granting of citizenship and other rights to the country's Kurdish community lays the foundation for a legal system that has been implemented in Iraq for decades.
President Al Shara's decree also formally recognises Kurdish as a “national language” alongside Arabic. It is the first time that Kurdish identity has been formally integrated into Syria’s national government.
By granting citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, the decree abolishes the 1962 census in Hasaka province that stripped many Kurds of Syrian nationality. That process had rendered nearly 20 per cent of the country's Kurdish population stateless.
Friday's decree said that affected residents, including those registered as stateless, will be given official recognition. Also, Nowruz, the spring and new year festival, will be a paid national holiday.
The move bans ethnic or linguistic discrimination, requires state institutions to adopt inclusive national messaging and sets penalties for incitement to ethnic strife.
The decree came after years of struggle, and weeks of heavy fighting between the Syrian army and Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish-run Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) said the decree was a “first step”. However, it called for “a comprehensive constitutional framework that recognises and safeguards the rights of all without exception”.
