Syrian Turkmen

Syrian Turkmen, also called Syrian Turks or Syrian Turkish people are Syrian citizens of Turkish origin who mainly trace their roots to Anatolia. Turkish-speaking Syrian Turkmen make up the third largest ethnic group in the country, after the Arabs and Kurds respectively.
The majority of Syrian Turkmen are the descendants of migrants who arrived in Syria during Ottoman rule ; however, there are also many Syrian Turkmen who are the descendants of earlier Turkish settlers that arrived during the Seljuk and Mamluk periods. Some estimates indicate that if Arabized Turkmen are taken into account, they form the second-largest group in the country. The majority of Syrian Turkmen are Sunni Muslims.
Syrian Turkmen share common genealogical and linguistic ties with the Turkish people in Turkey and Iraqi Turkmen, but do not identify themselves with the Turkmen of Turkmenistan and Central Asia. Most live near the Syrian-Turkish border, in an area that runs from the northwestern governorates of Idlib and Aleppo to the Raqqa Governorate. Others reside in the Turkmen Mountain near Latakia, the city of Homs and its vicinity until Hama, Damascus, and the southwestern governorates of Daraa and Quneitra.
During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, many Syrian Turkmen were involved in military action against the Assad regime until its fall in December 2024. Additionally, they have been fighting against the Syrian Democratic Forces, and have looked to the Turkish Armed Forces for support and protection. Many united under an official governing body, the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, and established the military wing of the assembly, the Syrian Turkmen Brigades. However, not all Turkmen support the Turkish occupation of northern Syria, and some have sided with the SDF, forming the Seljuk Brigade.

History

Turkic migration to Syria began in the 11th century during the rule of the Seljuk Empire. However, most Turkmen settled in the region after the Ottoman sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516. The Ottoman administration encouraged Turcoman families from Anatolia to establish villages throughout the rural hinterlands of several cities in Ottoman Syria. Migration from Anatolia to Syria was continuous for over 400 years of Ottoman rule, until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918; nonetheless, Syrian Turkmen community continued to reside in the region during the French Mandate and the formation of Syrian Republics.

Seljuk era

Syrian Turkmen have had a presence in Syria since the 11th century. The first recorded entry of free Turkmen troops into Syria was in 1064 when the Turkmen prince Ibn Khan and 1,000 of his archers entered Aleppo. He came at the request of the Arab Mirdasid emir Atiyya ibn Salih to assist him against his own Banu Kilab tribesmen who backed a rival Mirdasid emir, Mahmud ibn Nasr. Turkmen rule in the region began with the Seljuk conquests in the Middle East. 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. By the 12tn century the Turkic Zengid dynasty continued to settle Turkmen in the wilayah of Aleppo to confront attacks from the Crusaders. In return for their military service, the Turkic rulers distributed fiefs in the area to the Turkmen.

Mamluk era

In 1260, the Mamluk Sultanate – ruled by a line of Turkish and Circassian sultans – entered Syria in response to the Mongol invasions. Whilst Cairo remained the seat of the Mamluk Sultanate, Damascus became their second capital. Hence, by the thirteenth century, the Turkmen formed a part of the armies of Damascus and Aleppo, and permanently settled in these regions. After the Bahri sultan of the Mamluks, Baibars, destroyed Qara he settled Turkmen in the town in 1265. Two years later, he settled more Turkmen in the Syrian coast to protect the region. The Turkmen were called on to assist in the capture of Margat by the Muslim commander of the Krak des Chevaliers in 1280. The late Mamluk-era writer Ahmad al-Qalqashandi noted that Turkmen formed contingents in the regular armies of greater Syria. By the 15th century, the Muslim writer Khalil az-Zahiri recorded 180,000 Turkmen soldiers and 20,000 Kurdish soldiers in Syria. The Turkmen mainly lived in the provinces of Aleppo and were settled in suburbs such as al-Hadir al-Sulaymani; they also live near the coast and the Jawlan.

Ottoman era

Mamluk rule of Syria ended once the Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered the region in 1516–17. Thereafter, the Ottoman administration encouraged Turkish nomads from Anatolia to settle in strategic areas of the region. 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.
Turkish migration from Anatolia to Ottoman Syria was continuous for almost 400 years, until Ottoman rule ended in 1918. 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. Furthermore, the Turkmen served as the local gendarmes to help assert Ottoman authority.
By the late nineteenth century, many Turkish refugees who lost their lands to Russia in the European regions of the Ottoman Empire settled in Ottoman Syria between 1878 and 1906 and were provided with new lands by the Ottoman state. According to Dawn Chatty, these Turkmen settlers 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".

Vilayet of Aleppo

According to the French geographer Vital Cuinet, the Ottoman Turks 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:

Ethnic and religious groups	Estimated population in the Aleppo Sanjak	Percentage
Syrian Arab	300,541	38.41%
Ottoman Turk	159,787	20.43%
Kurdish and Turkmen nomads	103,744	13.26%
Greek Catholic	23,315	2.98%
Syrian Catholic	20,913	2.67%
Syrian Jacobite	20,594	2.63%
Jew	19,633	2.51%
Greek Orthodox	18,665	2.39%
Armenian Apostolic	17,999	2.30%
Chaldean Catholic	17,027	2.18%
Armenian Catholic	15,563	1.96%
Chaldean non-Uniate	15,300	1.96%
Protestant	9,033	1.15%
Circassian	9,000	1.15%
Other Muslims	26,713	3.41%
Other Catholic	4,447	0.57%
Total	782,274	100%

French Mandate

The Alexandretta/Hatay Question

In 1921, the Treaty of Ankara established Alexandretta 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. The Turkish language shall have official recognition." 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."
In September 1936, France announced that it would grant full independence to Syria, which would also include Alexandretta. The President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, responded with a demand that Alexandretta be given its own independence. The issue was brought before the League of Nations, which sent a mission to the district in January 1937. The mission concluded that the Turks constituted a majority and by July 1938 elections were held in the province; the Turks formed a majority of 22 seats in a 40-seat parliament of the newly established Hatay State, which remained a joint Franco-Turkish protectorate. The Hatay State began using Turkish flags, and petitioned Ankara to unify Hatay to the Republic of Turkey. France finally agreed to the Turkish annexation on 23 July 1939. 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".

Syrian Republican era

After the Sanjak of Alexandretta became the province of Hatay in the Republic of Turkey, in 1939, some Turkish families immigrated into the new borders of Syria, settling in the provinces of Aleppo and Damascus. Hence, new "Turkish streets" began to emerge, such as in the al-Salihia district in Damascus. Family unifications of Turkmen families living on both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border continued for more than 70 years until the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.
By 1950, Latakia showed great economic potential as the largest port city in Syria, and many Syrian Turkmen living in rural villages joined the Turkmen community already established there. Consequently, there is now a total of 265 Turkish villages in and around Latakia center.
In addition to urban migrations, under the name of "land reform", lands owned by the Turkmen were nationalized and Arabs were resettled in areas near the Turkish border. Arabization policies also saw the names of Turkish villages renamed with Arabic names. Thus, a mass exodus of Syrian Turkmen migration to Turkey took place between 1945 and 1953, many of which settled in Kirikhan, Alexandretta and Adana, in southern Turkey.
The cultural and political rights of the Turkish-speaking minority remaining in Syrian territories was not guaranteed under any legal constitution. Those living in large groups managed to protect their cultural identity, however, Turkmen living in smaller groups were significantly Arabized. In any case, the minority had no rights to open Turkish schools or associations.
By the late 20th century, Dr. Larry Clark stated there was "more than 200,000" Turkmen in Syria whilst the stated that estimates ranged between 800,000 and 1 million. Numerous academics placed the Turkish-speaking Sunni Muslim population at approximately 3% of Syria's population, including Professor Daniel Pipes Professor Itamar Rabinovich, Professor Moshe Ma'oz, Dr. Nikolaos van Dam, Dr Henry Munson, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch.