Turkmen (Syrian Turkmen)

Turkmen in Syria trace their origins to Oghuz Turkic migrants who arrived from the Seljuk period onward. Under the Ottomans, Turkmen families were encouraged to settle rural villages, partly to counter Bedouin tribes, and some served as gendarmes guarding roads and mountain passes. After the annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta (Hatay) by Turkey in 1939 and again between 1945 and 1953, there was emigration from Syria to Turkey.

Sources and details

Most Syrian Turkmen are Sunni Muslims. Turkish dialects survive in many villages, but long Arabization has produced a large group of Arabic-speaking Turkmen; under Ba'ath rule Turkish could not be taught in schools and many villages received Arabic names. Communities are found in Aleppo city and the northern countryside (Azaz, al-Bab, Jarabulus), in Jabal al-Turkman north of Latakia, north of Homs, in the Golan/Quneitra area and in Damascus, where a 'Turkish Street' was founded in al-Salihiyah in the early 20th century.

There are no reliable figures. A commonly cited estimate of about 200,000 (Heras 2013) contrasts with claims by Turkmen leaders of more than 3.5 million and an estimate of about one million by the historian Meşküre Yılmaz (cited by Enab Baladi 2019); the difference largely depends on whether Arabic-speaking Turkmen are counted. During the war many Turkmen joined opposition factions with Turkish backing, Turkmen villages in Latakia, Homs and Hama were bombarded, and large numbers fled to Turkey and Lebanon.

Sites connected with this community 3

• Tomb of Suleyman ShahAshme (Esme), c. 22 km west of Kobani (since Feb 2015), Aleppo · Islamic heritage

  Memorial tomb attributed by tradition to Suleyman Shah, ancestor of the Ottoman dynasty, maintained by Turkey as a Turkish heritage site.

• Al-SalihiyahDamascus · Historic architecture

  Turkish migrants founded a 'Turkish Street' neighbourhood in al-Salihiyah in the early 20th century.

• Qal'at Ja'barRaqqa · Castles & fortresses

  Original location (until 1973) of the tomb attributed to Suleyman Shah, per the atlas religious data.

Further sites (not yet in the atlas)

• Jabal al-Turkman (Turkmen Mountain) جبل التركمانLatakia

  Mountain district north of Latakia with a dense cluster of Turkmen villages; heavily affected by fighting from 2012.

Sources (4)

1. Wikipedia – Syrian Turkmen (secondary pointer; compiles divergent estimates)
2. Enab Baladi – Complex nationalities: the stories of Syria's Turkmen November 2019
3. Heras, Nicholas A. – Syrian Turkmen join opposition forces in pursuit of a new Syrian identity, Terrorism Monitor 11(11), Jamestown Foundation May 30, 2013
4. Wikipedia – Tomb of Suleyman Shah (cited as attributionSource in the atlas file heritage_religious.json; not re-opened in this run)