The Damascus book fair draws crowds, with censorship eased in post-Assad Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria — Abdul-Razzaq Ahmad Saryoul began publishing books in Syria in 2003 but he used to abstain from participating in the annual International Damascus Book Fair because of tight measures by the country's security agencies and bans on many books under Bashar Assad's rule.

In the first post-Assad book fair to be held in Damascus, which wrapped up Monday, Saryoul was surprised when he was issued a permit the day he applied to take part without being asked what his books are about. The wide range of titles available made this year's fair ''unprecedented,'' he said.

Another publisher, Salah Sorakji, was proud to offer Kurdish books in the Syrian capital for the first time in decades. During the Assad era, ethnic Kurds suffered from discrimination, including bans on their language.

The first book fair since Assad was unseated in December 2024 witnessed high turnout, with state media reporting that 250,000 people attended on the first day, Feb. 6, trekking out to fairgrounds where it was held about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city center. The fair's director, Ahmad Naasan, said about 500 publishing companies from some 35 countries took part.

A debate over religious texts

While the new freedom of expression was widely welcomed, the introduction of some previously forbidden books by Islamist writers sparked anxiety among religious minorities.

Religious books were among the best selling at previous fairs in the majority Sunni Muslim country. This year, however, books of the Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya — who lived in Damascus seven centuries ago and whose teachings are followed by Sunni jihadi groups — were sold openly at the fair after being banned for decades.

Assad, a member of the Alawite religious minority, officially espoused a secular ideology. The Assad dynasty launched brutal crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups during the family's five- decade rule.

The only known book to be banned this year — ''Have You Heard the Talk of the Rafida?'' — included audio addresses by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. strike in 2006. Iraq reportedly asked Syrian authorities to remove it because it incites hatred against Shiite Muslims.

A bearded man wearing a military uniform who identified himself by his nom de guerre Abu Obeida, bought a copy of Ibn Taymiyyah's famous book ''Al-Aqida Alwasitiyeh'' or ''The Fundamental Principles of Islam.''

''Before liberation this book was banned in Syria,'' Abu Obeida told The Associated Press, standing at a stand selling religious books. ''Anyone who had such a book used to be taken to jail.''

''Now it is available, thanks be to God,'' he said,adding that in the past people read ''what the state wanted them to.''

The book fair was first held in Syria in 1985 and stopped for several years after the country's civil war began in March 2011.

Hala Bishbishi, the director of the Egypt-based Al-Hala publishing house, was surprised by the number of people who showed up, although she added that the Damascus book fair cannot yet be compared to those held in oil-rich Gulf countries.

''With the circumstances that Syria passed through, this fair is excellent,'' the woman said. Shuttle buses between the fair and central Damascus boosted visitor numbers, she added.

Atef Namous, a Syrian publisher who had been living abroad for 45 years, said he was participating for the first time because any book can be sold at the fair now, even those imported form Western countries.

The exhibition this year comes weeks after intense clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northeast. A ceasefire deal was reached and the government in Damascus has sought to reassure Kurds that they are equal citizens in the new political order.

''We are very happy with this positive step toward Kurds, who for more than 60 years have been deprived of practicing the Kurdish culture,'' said Sorakji, the Kurdish publisher about being allowed to show books in Kurdish for the first time in many years.

Selling history, literature and philosophy books at his stand, Sorakji said most of the people buying were Kurds, but there were also Arabs who want to know more about their compatriots.

''We are all Syrians but what caused all the differences was the (Assad) regime,'' he said.

Another owner of a publishing company, Mayada Kayali, said that the most important thing to offer to the younger generations who ''have emerged from war, injustice and oppression is knowledge — knowledge that is accessible to them, without placing restrictions on their ideas or their opinions.''

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