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A Kurdish man reads a book at a library in Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeast Syria on January 11, 2017. For years, Syria's Kurds were banned from using their language in official settings and prevented from learning it in schools or publishing magazines or books in the tongue. / AFP / DELIL SOULEIMAN (Photo credit should read DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

A Kurdish man reads a book at a library in Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeast Syria on January 11, 2017.
For years, Syria's Kurds were banned from using their language in official settings and prevented from learning it in schools or publishing magazines or books in the tongue.
 / AFP / DELIL SOULEIMAN        (Photo credit should read DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)