Syrian Turkmen

Some estimates indicate that if Arabized Turkmen (those who no longer speak Turkish as their main language) are taken into account, they form the second-largest group in the country.

The Seljuk Turks opened the way for mass migration of Turkish nomads once they entered northern Syria in 1071, and took Damascus in 1078 and Aleppo in 1086.

[16] By the 12tn century the Turkic Zengid dynasty (a vassal of the Seljuk Empire) continued to settle Turkmen in the wilayah of Aleppo to confront attacks from the Crusaders.

[18] The late Mamluk-era writer Ahmad al-Qalqashandi noted that Turkmen formed contingents in the regular armies of greater Syria.

By the sixteenth century the Ottomans continued to settle Turkmen in the rural areas around Homs and Hama to keep the Bedouin in check and serve as mütesellim.

[12] The Turkish settlement throughout the rural hinterlands of several Syrian cities was a state-organized population transfer which was used to counter the demographic weight and influence of other ethnic groups in the region.

[21] According to Dawn Chatty, these Turkmen settlers (alongside Circassian and Chechen refugees) became loyal subjects to the sultan and were "driven to succeed in agriculture and ready to defend themselves against any Bedouin claims to the land on which they had built their villages".

[21] According to the French geographer Vital Cuinet (1833–96), the Ottoman Turks (excluding Turkmen nomads) formed the second largest ethnic group, after the Syrian Arabs, in the Aleppo Sanjak.

In his best known work La Turquie d'Asie, géographie administrative: statistique, descriptive et raisonnée de chaque province de l'Asie Mineure he stated that the demographic structure of the Sanjak was as follows: In 1921, the Treaty of Ankara established Alexandretta (present-day Hatay) under an autonomous regime under French Mandate of Syria.

The Turks were initially satisfied with this agreement, because Article 7 declared that "The Turkish inhabitants of this district shall enjoy every facility for their cultural development.

Moreover, Article 9 stated that the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the first Ottoman ruler Osman I, "shall remain, with its appurtenances, the property of Turkey.

[25] Today, the Bayırbucak region, the coastal and rural section covering the northern Latakia area, has a considerable Turkmen presence and is considered by some Turks as a "stretch of the modern Turkish Hatay Province".

On 2 February 2016, at least seven women and children were killed by Russian air strikes in a Syrian Turkmen village in the northern countryside of Homs.

[48] There were also reports of forced displacement of Arabs, Syrian Turkmen and Kurdish civilians at the hands of the YPG from their homes in areas in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

[49][50] In June 2015 there was concern expressed by the UN Human Rights Council regarding displacement of Syrian Turkmen from their homes in villages south of Hasakah and Tal Abyad during fighting with ISIL.

[52] There are no reliable estimates on the total number of ethnic minorities living in Syria because official censuses conducted under the Assad regime had only asked citizens about their religion.

[1] Dr. Abdelwahed Mekki-Berrada, in a report published by the UNHCR, points out that the majority of Syrians are considered Arab, however, this is a term based on their spoken language, and not their ethnic affiliation.

Turkmen are mostly found in the urban centres and countryside of six governorates of Syria: Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Quneitra."

– Mustafa Khalifa (2013, published by the Arab Reform Initiative)[5]Assistant Professor Sebastian Maisel, focusing on the Yezidis, claimed that Syrian Turkmen numbered 250,000, which constitutes approximately 1% of the population.

[3] In December 2016, the Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ümit Yalçın stated that Turkey had opened its borders to around 500,000 Syrian Turkmen.

In 2020, the Voice of America reported that 1,000,000 Syrian Turkmen, including their descendants, who are living in Turkey have requested to become Turkish citizens.

[64] It was established in order to help the growing Syrian Turkmen community, which arrived to the country as part of the European migrant crisis, which started in 2014 and saw its peak in 2015.

[65] Most Syrian Turkmen live in the area around the northern Euphrates, near the Syrian-Turkish border; however, they are also scattered throughout several governorates, stretching towards central Syria and the southern region near the Golan Heights.

[4] It is spoken by the Turkmen minority mostly in villages east of the Euphrates, north of Aleppo, and on the northern coast of the country, along the Syrian-Turkish border.

[77] Some Syrian Turkmen living far from the Turkish border, such as in Homs, have managed to preserve their national identity but are more competent in speaking the Arabic language.

[77] In 2018 Dr. Eldad J. Pardo and Maya Jacobi reported that they did not identify any Turkish (nor Kurdish or Aramaic) teaching, either as a first or second language, in the Syrian national curriculum.

[82] From the French mandate era to the Assad regime, the Turkish culture and language have perished for a section of the Syrian Turkmen community.

[11][86] Syrian Turkmen occupied a low rung on the societal ladder, as reported by Al Bawaba, it was stated that Assad always sought to benefit his politically dominant Alawite religious minority.

The Zengid ruler Nur al-Din unified Syria after he took Damascus in 1154.
A Mamluk from Aleppo .
Syria came under Ottoman rule once Selim I conquered the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in 1516–17.
Turkmens ( Turcomanos ) shown inhabiting the western side of the Euphrates , in modern-day northwestern Syria, in Atlas histórico de Tierra Santa (1840)
In 1938 the Hatay State was formed in the Sanjak of Alexandretta of the French Mandate of Syria . It was annexed by Turkey in 1939 and became the Hatay Province .
Subhi Barakat , of Turkish origin, was the first President of Syria . [ 28 ]
Of Turkish origin, Khalil Mardam Bey was the composer of the Syrian National Anthem . [ 29 ]
Traditional flag of Syrian Turkmen
One of the flags used to represent the Syrian Turkmen community.
Flag of Syrian Turkmen adopted by the Syrian Turkmen Assembly
Syrian Turks waving Turkish and Syrian flags whilst shouting slogans: "No To Demographic Changes in Syria' and 'No To Genocide' during the December 2016 protests in London .
Pakize Tarzi , who was the first female Turkish gynecologist, moved to Turkey with her family after the British captured Damascus in 1918. [ 58 ]
Syrian Turkmen refugees protest in Istanbul .
Latakia has traditionally had a strong Turkmen settlement.
The town of Salib al-Turkman ( Turkish : Sılayip Türkmen ) is mostly populated by Syrian Turkmen.
The village of Burj Islam is mostly populated by Syrian Turkmen. [ 66 ]
Of Turkish origin, the poet Nizar Qabbani wrote his works in the Arabic language . [ 72 ]
Of Turkish origin, Ahmad Nami was the 5th Prime Minister and 2nd President of Syria. His first language was Turkish , consequently, he "could hardly speak Arabic". [ 73 ]
Of Turkish origin, Professor Sadiq Jalal al-Azm was known as a human rights advocate and a champion of intellectual freedom and free speech. [ 84 ]
Khaled Khoja , of Turkish origin, was the president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces from 2015 to 2016.
Bashir al-Azma served as the Prime Minister of Syria. His family, the Al-Azms , were of Turkish descent. [ 88 ]
From a Turkmen family, Yusuf al-Azma was the Minister of War and Chief of General Staff of Syria. [ 89 ]
Of Turkish origin, Said al-Ghazzi was the Prime Minister of Syria in 1954 and then in 1955–56. [ 90 ]
Damascus -born Suat Hayri Ürgüplü served as the 11th Prime Minister of Turkey in 1965. [ 91 ]
Of Turkish origin, Sati' al-Husri was a Pan-Arabist writer. [ 92 ]
Of Turkish origin, Jamil Mardam Bey was the 21st Prime Minister of Syria. [ 93 ]
Sabah Qabbani , of Turkish origin, was the 5th Ambassador of Syria to the United States, taking office in 1974. [ 72 ]