Country: Syria

Group: Turkmen

Date Finalized: 09/25/2021

Team: Hunter Blevins (lead), Samantha Bradford, Gabriel Cardenas, Kamaria Boyston, Victoria Fuller

Content Warning: war, physical violence, genocide, discrimination, racism

Approximate Time Period: 2011-present

The Syrian Civil War, starting in 2011, and resultant violence has forced Turkmen in Syria away from their homes. We rate this data a 3/3. Their displacement is well documented by multiple reliable news sources, international organizations, and peer-reviewed articles.

            Turkmen have a significant presence in Syria that dates to the 11th century. Estimates suggest there are 3.5 million Turkmen in the country with the majority concentrated in the provincial regions of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and Latakia. Their suffering in the region predates the Syrian Civil War conflicts (Mustafa, 2015). The Syrian government has not recognized the Turkmen as an ethnic minority, preferring to “stress the unity of the Arab nation” (BBC, 2015). In 2012, Higher Council of Turkmen in Syria chair, Samir Alo, stated that “thousands of Turkmen families have been driven to the [Turkish] border” (Stubbs & Pamuk, 2015). By July 2012, the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey was greater than 44,000, many of them Turkmen (Wilkes, 2012). Additionally, in July 2013, ISIS demanded that Kurds in Tal Abyad flee or be killed, resulting in thousands of Turkmen also fleeing the area (Human Rights Council, 2014). Additionally, Kurdish forces purportedly destroyed Turkmen homes and displaced their residents in the autonomous region of Rojava in Northern Syria (Minority Rights Group, 2019).

Sources

  1. BBC. (2015, November 24). Who are the Turkmen in Syria? BBC News. Retrieved September 21, 2021,from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34910389.
  1. Human Rights Council. (2014). Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic—Rule of Terror: Living under ISIS in Syria. https://www.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/HRC_CRP_ISIS_14Nov2014.doc&action=default&DefaultItemOpen=1
  1. Minority Rights Group. (2021, May 26). Syria – World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/country/syria/
  1. Mustafa, A. (2015). The Turkmen Reality in Syria. ORSAM Review of Regional Affairs, 27, 3.
  1. Stubbs, J., & Pamuk, H. (2015, November 27). Russian raids repeatedly hit Syrian Turkmen areas, Moscow’s data shows | Reuters. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-russia-turkey-airstrik-idUSKBN0TG1YQ20151128
  1. Wilkes, S. (2012, July 24). Exodus continues from Syria, including some 10,000 Iraqis. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2012/7/500e80209/exodus-continues-syria-including-10000-iraqis.html