Arabs in Turkey

The Arabs in Turkey (Arabic: العرب في تركيا, Turkish Türkiye Arapları ) set with 1.1 to 2.4 percent of the total Turkish population (about 800,000 ), one of the largest ethnic minorities in Turkey comprise the vast majority of Arabs in Turkey speaks Arabic in a Syrian, Lebanese or Iraqi dialect.

History

The Arabs for centuries have lived in Southeastern Anatolia. Mid-7th century, the Arabs conquered Southeast Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia. The last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II Harran stood even by 745 to his residence. After expansion, many Arab families from the Arabian Peninsula to southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia to Harran ( حران / Harran ) were Cizre ( جزيرة ابن عمر / Dschazīrat ), Siirt ( سعرد / Si ʿ red) and Şanlıurfa ( الرها / ar - Ruha ) resettled.

In the military coup in 1980 the relatives of the rural population were often forced by the Turkish armed forces from acting as a so-called village guards and for that to take weapons. Who accepted no weapons, had to either leave the village or the choice to be arrested. In contrast, the Arabs showed less resistance than the Kurds. Many of them accepted weapons, some migrated but also - especially in Lebanon, still live 50,000 Arabic-language Mhallami from the province of Mardin in the. Others went as an asylum seeker in the Western European countries, especially to Germany.

Settlement area

Arabs live mainly in the south and south-eastern Turkey on the border with Syria and Iraq, in the provinces of Adana, Batman, Bitlis, Gaziantep, Hatay, Mardin, Mersin, Muş, Siirt, Şanlıurfa and Şırnak. For this, the diaspora community comes in the metropolis of Istanbul, is the with 87 983 people, about 0.7 % of Istanbul's total population, a large Arab community. More diaspora communities exist in the cities of Adana and Mersin.

Today, nearly a quarter of the Arabs living in the province of Hatay. In the districts Altinözü, Samandağ, Yayladağı, make the Arabs the absolute majority of the population and in Antakya, Iskenderun, Kumlu and Reyhanlı they are with the Turks about the same proportion. In the provinces of Adana and Mersin, the Arabs live mainly in the villages in the districts Karataş and Yumurtalık or tarsus, which are not far from the Mediterranean. In the province of Gaziantep Arabs live exclusively in the district Karkamış, where they live alongside Turks and some Kurds. In the province of Şanlıurfa they form the absolute majority in the counties of Akçakale and Harran. In Birecik Ceylanpınar and Suruc the Arabs live mainly in the villages on the border with Syria and in the surrounding villages of Şanlıurfa. In the province of Mardin, the Arabs comprise about 15 % of the population, many of them are Arabic-speaking Mhallami. There they live next to some Kurds and Syrians mainly in the districts of Mardin, Midyat, Ömerli, Savur and Yeşilli. In Idil, a district of Şırnak Province, the Arabs are a small minority, and in the town of Siirt also. In addition, there are isolated villages in the district of the province of Muş Hasköy, in the counties of the province of Batman Kozluk and Sason and in the counties of the province of Bitlis Güroymak and Mutki belonging mainly to the Arab Bidri - Aşiret. For Bidri - Aşiret who has several subtopics such as Babil, Rasul, Sigo and Said, include a total of nearly 100,000 members.

Religions

The Arabs in Turkey are divided into three religious groups, ie Sunnis, Alawites and Christians. The Sunni Arabs make up the largest group within this ethnic group. They live in Batman, Bitlis, Gaziantep, Hatay, Mardin, Muş, Siirt, Şanlıurfa and Şırnak. The Sunni Arabs belong to different than the majority of Sunni Muslims in Turkey, the schafiitischen law school. The majority of 300000-350000 Alawi Arabs who are erroneously equated with the Turkish and Kurdish Alevis who live in the provinces of Adana, Hatay and Mersin. Religion History provide the Alawites are a ultra - Shiite sect that probably emerged from the five - Shia and do not constitute about a spin-off of 12er Shia. The belief is characterized among other things by Gnostic elements and messianism. Ali attributed divine properties or construed as Imanation God. The approximately 18,000 Christian Arabs living in the majority in the province of Hatay, Antakya and Iskenderun in the cities as well as in the village Tokaçlı. They belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, a community with private patriarchy and with Arabic as a liturgical language. The proper name is Nasrani and they form a special group among the Christians in Turkey.

Language

The vast majority of Arabs in Turkey speaks Arabic in a Syrian, Lebanese or Iraqi dialect. Since the Arabs in Turkey, adapting the majority of the Turkish population, assumes the role of the Arabic language since the founding of Turkey shrinking. The language is spoken mostly only from the older Arabs and the majority of young Arab population in Turkey, have almost no Arabic language skills more.

Known Arabs

(* = Paternal Arab descent )

From the Seljuk or Ottoman Empire

• Al - Dschazarī - Arab engineer, inventor and designer
• Ibn al - Athir - Arab historian of the Middle Ages
• Al - Battani - Arab astronomer of the early Middle Ages
• Taqīyu d- Dīn Aḥmad bin Taymiyah - Arab- Islamic scholar
• Thabit ibn Qurra - Arab mathematician and astronomer

From the Republic of Turkey

• Bilal Aziz - Turkish- Lebanese footballer
• Hüseyin Çelik * - Turkish university professor, politician and former Minister of Education
• Emine Erdoğan - First Lady and wife of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
• Murathan Mungan * - Turkish writers
• Hilmi Yarayıcı - Turkish singer and composer
• Hamdi Alkan
• Gökhan Zan
• Atiye Deniz - Turkish singer