Arabs in Turkey

In 1995 Turkey's ethnic Arab population was estimated at 800,000 to 1 million according to the US Library of Congress Country Study. [http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-13939.html]

Arabs in Turkey are mostly Alawite Muslims living in the Hatay region, Adana, and Mersin. Most have family ties with the ʿAlawis living in Syria (see Alawis in Turkey). As Alawis, the Arabs of Turkey believe they are subjected to state-condoned discrimination. Fear of persecution actually prompted several thousand Arab Alawis to seek refuge in Syria following Hatay's incorporation into Turkey. The kinship relations established as a result of the 1939-40 emigration have been continually reinforced by marriages and the practice of sending Arab youths from Hatay to colleges in Syria. Since the mid-1960s, the Syrian government has tended to encourage educated Alawi to resettle in Syria, especially if they seem likely to join the ruling Baath Party.

There are also Sunni Arabs living along the border with Syria in the cities such as Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Siirt, Bitlis, and Muş. The Arabs in this part of the border consist of many Bedouin tribes placed there during the Ottoman Empire. Many of these tribes have blood ties to other Bedouins living in Syria, especially in the city of Ar Raqqah.

Individuals of Sunni Arab ancestry have been influential in Turkish politics, recently among the cadres of the ruling moderate Islamist AK Parti. The great-grandfather of Abdullah Gül was an Arab from Siirt who settled in Develi around 1915. [ [http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6392331.asp?gid=180 Abdullah Gül Biography] , April 26, 2007, "Hürriyet" tr icon] Great-grandmother of Bülent Arınç was Egyptian. [ [http://www.haber3.com/artikel.php?artikel_id=101390 Notice on Bülent Arınç's origins] by Turgay Tezcanlı, December 22, 2006, "Haber 3" website tr icon] . Emine Erdoğan, the wife of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was born to an Arab family in Siirt. [ [http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/archives.php?id=37431 "Erdogan's wife in Los Angeles Times"] , August 25, 2004, "Turkish Daily News"]

ee also

*Mhallami

References

*"This article contains text originally adapted from the public domain Library of Congress Country Study for Turkey at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/trtoc.html."