Turkey Feature: Syria Conflict Puts Strain on 1 Million Alawites
Monday, October 22, 2012 at 10:23
Photo: Ayman Oghanna/New York TimesMatthew Cassel writes for Al Jazeera English:
The mountains melt away into the waters of the Mediterranean outside the Turkish-Alawite city of Samandag, nestled just beside the border with Syria.
Beyond the peaks is Latakia province, the ancestral homeland of the Assad family that has ruled Syria for more than four decades.
But on this side lies Hatay, Turkey's southernmost province, which is home to most of the country's Alawites. At around one million, they represent a small but vocal minority leading the opposition to the government's role in the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
"When something is happening in Syria we feel it," said 31-year-old Kemal sitting in a park in central Samandag. "We have Turkish citizenship, but our origins are Arab."
He spoke in a Syrian dialect of Arabic, like most Turkish Alawites are able to. Although ethnically Arab, the community leaves little doubt about its strong patriotism for the modern Turkish state and its secular model of government.
When asked whether he felt more loyal to Syria or Turkey, Kemal presented his upturned forearms: "Cut open my veins and I assure you Turkish flags will pour out."
Kemal, who declined to give his surname, was on a brief break from work as a barber in Saudi Arabia. Because of their common language, many Alawites from Turkey travel to the oil-rich Gulf for work.
Kemal says he hates living in what he described as Saudi Arabia's ultra-conservative Muslim society. Most members of the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shia Islam, are secular.
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The mountains melt away into the waters of the Mediterranean outside the Turkish-Alawite city of Samandag, nestled just beside the border with Syria.
Beyond the peaks is Latakia province, the ancestral homeland of the Assad family that has ruled Syria for more than four decades.
But on this side lies Hatay, Turkey's southernmost province, which is home to most of the country's Alawites. At around one million, they represent a small but vocal minority leading the opposition to the government's role in the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
"When something is happening in Syria we feel it," said 31-year-old Kemal sitting in a park in central Samandag. "We have Turkish citizenship, but our origins are Arab."
He spoke in a Syrian dialect of Arabic, like most Turkish Alawites are able to. Although ethnically Arab, the community leaves little doubt about its strong patriotism for the modern Turkish state and its secular model of government.
When asked whether he felt more loyal to Syria or Turkey, Kemal presented his upturned forearms: "Cut open my veins and I assure you Turkish flags will pour out."
Kemal, who declined to give his surname, was on a brief break from work as a barber in Saudi Arabia. Because of their common language, many Alawites from Turkey travel to the oil-rich Gulf for work.
Kemal says he hates living in what he described as Saudi Arabia's ultra-conservative Muslim society. Most members of the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shia Islam, are secular.
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Soon after, residents of Hatay were outraged when the Free Syrian Army, the main umbrella organisation fighting against the Syrian government, on its website claimed its main base to be "Hatay, Turkey". After complaints to Turkish officials, it was later changed to "Damascus, Syria".
The Apaydin refugee camp near Antakya houses dozens of former Syrian army generals and hundreds of army defectors, and is the suspected location of FSA commander Riad al-Assad.
"The Turkish government is not supporting a democratic transition in Syria, it's supporting armed groups," Matkap said.
"We believe the Syrian regime is not democratic, but using weapons and the tactic of war is not a legitimate method to oppose it."
"It's the poor people who will suffer from this war, not the regime."
As time progressed, Maktap and others began organising protests in Antakya against the government's support for the armed opposition in Syria. He admitted that the overwhelming majority of the thousands of protesters were Alawites.
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