Syrians ( Arabic : سوريون ) are the majority inhabitants of Syria , indigenous to the Levant , who have Arabic , especially its Levantine dialect , as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic . In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians retained Aramaic (Syriac) , which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects.
102-636: Not to be confused with Syrian . [REDACTED] Look up Sirian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Sirian or Sirians may refer to: Sirian, Iran , a village in Isfahan Province, Iran George Sirian (1818–1891), American naval officer Fictional aliens [ edit ] Human adversaries in Lucky Starr and the Pirates of
204-708: A Kurdish dialect spoken in Turkey and northeastern Iraq and Iran. It is estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century around 12,000 Kurds lived in Damascus ; an unknown number of Kurds lived in the Kurd-Dagh region; 16,000 Kurds lived in the Jarabulus region; and an unknown number lived in the Jazira province , where they were likely the majority. The extension of the railway and road to Nusaybin in 1918 intensified
306-467: A Syrian since the Syrian Arab identity is multi-layered and being Syrian complements being Arab. In addition to denoting Syrian Arabs, the term "Syrian" also refer to all Syrian citizens, regardless of their ethnic background. In 2018, Syria had an estimated population of 19.5 million, which includes, aside from the aforementioned majority, Kurds , Assyrians , Turks , Armenians and others. Before
408-508: A crumbling house or to build a new one. In 1976 the further implementation of the arabization policy along the Turkish border was officially dropped by Hafez al Assad. The achieved demographic changes were not reverted, and in 1977 a ban on non-arabic place names was issued. In March 1986, a few thousand Kurds wearing Kurdish costume gathered in the Kurdish part of Damascus to celebrate
510-615: A federal state, with a democratic system and structure for the federal government and provincial governments. Following the Tunisian Revolution and the Egyptian Revolution , 4 February 2011 was declared a Day of Rage in Syria by activists through Facebook. Few turned out to protest, but among the few were Kurdish demonstrators in the northeast of the country. On 7 October 2011, Kurdish leader Mashaal Tammo
612-719: A force of 6,000 soldiers. Syrian troops crossed the Iraqi border and moved into the Kurdish town of Zakho in pursuit of Barzani's fighters Syrian policies in the 1970s led to Arabs resettling in majority Kurdish areas. In 1965, the Syrian government decided to create an Arab cordon ( Hizam Arabi ) in the Jazira region along the Turkish border. The cordon was along the Turkish-Syrian border and 10–15 kilometers wide, stretched from
714-428: A liturgical language by Syriac Christians . English, and to a lesser extent French, is widely understood and used in interactions with tourists and other foreigners. Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated, and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural, and religious identities. Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The Alawites , a variety of Shia Islam , make up 12% of
816-421: A mosaic of West and East. Conservative and liberally minded people will live right next to each other. Like the other countries in the region, religion permeates life; the government registers every Syrian's religious affiliation. However, the number of non-believers in Syria is increasing but there is no credible source or statistics to support this information. Syrian cuisine is dominated by ingredients native to
918-518: A revenge attack, Kurdish tribes sided with Damascus and about 500 men from the Dakkuri, Milan, and Kiki tribes led by the Kurdish tribal leader Sa'ed Agha al-Dakkuri attacked the then predominantly Christian Amuda and burned the town. The town was destroyed and the Christian population, about 300 families, fled to the towns of Qamishli and Hasakah . Early demands for a Kurdish autonomy came from
1020-495: A routine part of the Syrian uprising. In June 2012, the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition group, announced Abdulbaset Sieda , an ethnic Kurd, as their new leader. Protests in the Kurdish inhabited areas of Syria evolved into armed clashes after the opposition Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) signed a cooperation agreement on 12 July 2012 that created
1122-554: A very highly controversial census raising concerns among human rights groups. According to the Syrian government, the reason for this enactment was due to groups of Kurds infiltrating the Al-Hasakah Governorate in 1945. The Syrian government claims that the Kurds came from neighboring countries, especially Turkey , and crossed the Syrian border illegally. The government claims that these Kurds settled down, gradually, in
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#17327810593891224-523: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Syrian The national name "Syrian" was used in antiquity to denote the inhabitants of the Levant. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Arab identity became dominant and the ethnonym "Syrian" was used mainly by Christians who spoke Syriac. In the 19th century, the name "Syrian" was revived amongst
1326-436: Is the country's largest ethnic minority, usually estimated at around 10% of the Syrian population and 5% of the Kurdish population . The majority of Syrian Kurds are originally Turkish Kurds who have crossed the border during different events in the 20th century. There are three major centers for the Kurdish population in Syrian, the northern part of the Jazira , the central Euphrates Region around Kobanî and in
1428-719: Is the most recurrent in Levantines (42–68%); the Peninsular Arabian and East African ancestral components represent around 25% of Syrian genetic make-up. The paternal Y-DNA haplogroup J1, which reaches its highest frequencies in Yemen 72.6% and Qatar 58.3%, accounted for 33.6% of Syrians. The J2 group accounted for 20.8% of Syrians; other Y-DNA haplogroups include the E1B1B 12.0%, I 5.0%, R1a 10.0% and R1b 15.0%. The Syrians are closest to other Levantine populations:
1530-534: Is today Syria, was officially known as the "Sancak of the Kurds" in Ottoman documents. The Millis revolted against the Ottoman government after the death of their leader Ibrahim Pasa and some of them eventually settled for the most part on the Syrian side of the newly drawn Turkish-Syrian border of 1922. When Maurice Abadie, a French general, was overseeing the French occupation of Syria, he made some observations on
1632-620: Is usually served with Arab-style tea – highly concentrated black tea, which is often highly sweetened and served in small glass cups. Another popular drink, especially with Christians and non-practicing Muslims, is the arak , a liquor produced from grapes or dates and flavored with anise that can have an alcohol content of over 90% ABV (however, most commercial Syrian arak brands are about 40–60% ABV). [REDACTED] Media related to People of Syria at Wikimedia Commons Kurds in Syria The Kurdish population of Syria
1734-847: The Alawite State and the Jabal Druze State to the Syrian Republic . Two early presidents, Husni Zaim and also Adib Al Shishakli , were of Kurdish origin, but they didn't identify as Kurds nor did they speak Kurdish. Shishakli even initiated the policy of prohibiting the Kurdish culture. Osman Sabri and Hamza Diweran along with some Kurdish politicians, founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) in 1957. The objectives of KDPS were promotion of Kurdish cultural rights, economic progress and democratic change. Following their demands for
1836-516: The Armenian genocide and the Assyrian genocide and settled in Syria. There are also roughly 500,000 Palestinians , who are mostly descendants of refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab War. The community of Syrian Jews inside Syria once numbered 30,000 in 1947, but has only 200 today. The Syrian people's beliefs and outlooks, similar to those of most Arabs and people of the wider Middle-East, are
1938-612: The Cretans and Lebanese Armenians . Studying the genetic relation between Jews and Syrians showed that the two populations share a close affinity. Apparently, the cultural influence of Arabian expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the seventh century was more prominent than the genetic influx. However, the expansion of Islam did leave an impact on Levantine genes; religion drove Levantine Muslims to mix with other Muslim populations, who were close culturally despite
2040-581: The Druzes , the Alawites , and the Christians , did not receive their own state. Waves of Kurdish Tribes and their families arrived into Syria originally came from Turkey in the 1920s. Kurdish immigration waves to Syria's Jazira province started immediately after WWI . After the war, the construction of road networks and the railway extension to Nusaybin have intensified the Kurdish immigration from
2142-732: The Hellenistic period . In one instance, the Ptolemaic dynasty of the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt applied the term "Syrian Village" as the name of a settlement in Fayoum . The Ptolemies referred to all peoples originating from Modern Syria and Palestine as Syrian. The term Syrian was imposed upon Arameans of modern Levant by the Romans. Pompey created the province of Syria , which included modern-day Lebanon and Syria west of
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#17327810593892244-675: The Kurdish Supreme Committee as the governing body of all Kurdish controlled areas. Under the administration of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, the People's Protection Units (YPG) were created to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria. On 19 July, the YPG captured the city of Kobanê , and the next day captured Amuda and Afrin . The KNC and PYD afterwards formed a joint leadership council to run
2346-690: The Lebanese , the Palestinians and Jordanians ; this closeness can be explained by the common Canaanite ancestry and geographical unity which was broken only in the twentieth century with the advent of British and French mandates. Regarding the genetic relation between the Syrians and the Lebanese based on Y-DNA, Muslims from Lebanon show closer relations to Syrians than their Christian compatriots. The people of Western Syria show close relations with
2448-761: The Ottoman ( Turkish ) authorities in the massacres of Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia , between 1914 and 1920, with further attacks on unarmed fleeing civilians conducted by local Arab militias. In other parts of the country during this period, Kurds became local chiefs and tax farmers in Akkar (Lebanon) and the Qusayr highlands between Antioch and Latakia in northwestern Syria. The Afrin Plateau northwest of Aleppo, just inside what
2550-774: The Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Gabriel I Tappouni and Michel Dôme the Armenian Catholic president of the Qamishli municipality. The Kurdish-Christian Coalition wanted French troops to stay in the province in case of Syrian independence , as they feared the nationalist Damascus government would replace minority officials by Muslim Arabs from the capital. The French authorities, although some in their ranks had earlier encouraged this anti-Damascus movement, refused to consider any new status of autonomy inside Syria and even annexed
2652-786: The Syrian Civil War , there was quite a large Syrian diaspora that had emigrated to North America ( United States and Canada ), European Union member states (including Sweden, France, and Germany), South America (mainly in Brazil , Argentina , Venezuela , and Chile ), the West Indies , Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Six million refugees of the Syrian Civil War also live outside Syria now, mostly in Turkey , Jordan , and Lebanon . Various sources indicate that
2754-577: The Turkish War of Independence led to the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which made no mention of a future Kurdish state. The majority of Ottoman Kurdish territory was given to Turkey and the rest in British Mandate of Iraq . Two small pockets with Kurdish majority at the border with Turkey ( Afrin and Ayn al-Arab ) were included in the State of Aleppo who, in contrast to
2856-505: The Turkish military operation in Afrin in early 2018. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people were displaced due to the Turkish intervention. On 9 October 2019, Turkey started bombarding Kurdish-controlled regions of Syria for a planned invasion called Operation Peace Spring . International and Kurdish human rights organizations have accused the Syrian government of discriminating against
2958-753: The 1880s for the name to begin to be widely used by the inhabitants to refer to themselves. Both Muslims and Christians agreed that the Muslims were not Syrians because they belonged to the Arabs while the Christians retained the Syrianism of antiquity. The spread of the Syrian "idea" amongst the Muslims can be traced to the efforts of Rashid Rida who contributed to the formulation of the Syrian Union Party's manifesto in 1918, demanding that Syria, in
3060-403: The 20th century to escape the harsh repression of the Kurds in that country. Kurds were later joined in Syria by a new large group that drifted out of Turkey throughout the interwar period during which the Turkish campaign to assimilate its Kurdish population was at it highest. The government has used the fact that some Kurds fled to Syria during the 1920s to claim that Kurds are not indigenous to
3162-486: The 20th century. Ottoman authorities with the cooperation of Kurdish troops (and to a lesser degree, Circassian and Chechen tribes) persecuted Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia and were granted their victims' land as a reward . Kurds were responsible for most of the atrocities against Assyrians, and Kurdish expansion happened at the expense of Assyrians (due to factors like proximity). Kurdish as well as Circassian and Chechen tribes cooperated with
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3264-726: The Aleppo neighborhoods of al Ashrafiya and Sheikh Maqsood . Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria , and make up between 5 and 10 percent of the Syrian population. The estimates are diluted due to the effects of the Syrian civil war and the permeability of the Syrian-Turkish border. The Kurdish population in Syria is relatively small in comparison to the Kurdish populations in nearby countries, such as Turkey , Iran , and Iraq . The majority of Syrian Kurds speak Kurmanji ,
3366-601: The Anatolian mountains to Syrian Jazirah. After that, massive waves of Kurds fled their homes in the mountains of Turkey after the failed Kurdish rebellions in Kemalist Turkey . It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria, under French Mandate authorities , who encouraged their immigration, and granted them Syrian citizenship. The French official reports show the existence of at most 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. In 1927, Hadjo Agha,
3468-730: The Arabic speakers of the Levant. Following the establishment of the Arab Kingdom of Syria in 1920, the name "Syrian" began to spread amongst its Arabic speaking inhabitants. The term gained more importance during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , becoming the accepted national name for the Arabic speakers of the Syrian Republic. Most Arabic speaking Syrians identify as Arabs. There is no contradiction between being an Arab and
3570-896: The Asteroids and other Lucky Starr novels by Isaac Asimov writing as Paul French Citizens of the Sirian Empire in The Sirian Experiments by Doris Lessing An alien race in The Age of the Pussyfoot by Frederik Pohl An alien race in Wasp (novel) by Eric Frank Russell An alien race in Serious Sam Alien invaders in XF5700 Mantis See also [ edit ] Sirianism ,
3672-414: The Elder , and Ptolemy , reported that Arabs inhabited many parts of Syria, which according to modern historians indicate either an ethnic group or a nomadic way of life. The urheimat of the Arab ethnos is unclear; the traditional 19th century theory locates this in the Arabian Peninsula, while some modern scholars, such as David Frank Graf, note that the epigraphic and archaeological evidence render
3774-424: The Euphrates, framing the province as a regional social category with civic implications. Plutarch described the indigenous people of this newly created Roman province as "Syrians", so did Strabo , who observed that Syrians resided west of the Euphrates in Roman Syria, and he explicitly mentions that those Syrians are the Arameans, whom he calls Aramaei , indicating an extant ethnicity. Posidonius noted that
3876-431: The French Mandate of Syria, newly-arriving Kurds were granted citizenship by French Mandate authorities and enjoyed considerable rights as the French Mandate authority encouraged minority autonomy as part of a divide and rule strategy and recruited heavily from the Kurds and other minority groups, such as Alawite and Druze , for its local armed forces. n 1936, the French forces bombarded Amuda. On 13 August 1937, in
3978-575: The Iraqi border in the east to Ras Al-Ain in the west. The implementation of the Arab cordon plan began in 1973 and Bedouin Arabs were brought in and resettled in Kurdish areas . The toponymy of the area such as village names were Arabized. According to the original plan, some 140,000 Kurds had to be deported to the southern desert near Al-Raad . Although Kurdish farmers were dispossessed of their lands, they refused to move and give up their houses. Among these Kurdish villagers, those who were designated as alien were not allowed to own property, to repair
4080-413: The Jazira province among Kurds and Christians. The Kurdish leaders Hajo Agha, Kaddur Bey, and Khalil Bey Ibrahim Pasha. Hajo Agha was the Kurdish chief of the Heverkan tribal confederation and one of the leaders of the Kurdish nationalist party Xoybûn (Khoyboun). He established himself as the representative of the Kurds in Jazira maintaining the coalition with the Christian notables, who were represented by
4182-405: The Kurdish deputy Nuri Kandy of Kurd Dagh, who asked the authorities of the French mandate to grant an administrative autonomy to all the areas with a Kurdish majority in 1924. Also the Kurdish tribes of the Barazi Confederation demanded autonomy for the Kurdish regions within the French Mandate. But their requests were not fulfilled by the French at the time. Between December 1931 and January 1932,
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4284-687: The Kurdish minority. Amnesty International also reported that Kurdish human rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. The Kurdish language is the second most spoken language in Syria, after Arabic . The Kurds often speak the Kurdish language in public, unless all those present do not. According to the Human Rights Watch , Kurds in Syria are not allowed to officially use the Kurdish language, are not allowed to register children with Kurdish names, are prohibited to start businesses that do not have Arabic names, are not permitted to build Kurdish private schools and are prohibited from publishing books and other materials written in Kurdish. In 1988 it
4386-422: The Kurdish sections of Damascus of Hayy al-Akrad (the Kurdish quarter) and the Salhiyya districts located in the north-east of Damasacus on Mount Qasioun . The Kurdish community's role in the military continued under the Ottomans. Kurdish soldiers and policeman from the city were tasked with both maintaining order and protecting the pilgrims’ route toward Mecca . Many Kurds from Syria's rural hinterland joined
4488-476: The Levant" based on studies comparing modern and ancient DNA samples. Syrians cluster closely with ancient Levantine populations of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. A Levantine ancestral genetic component was identified; it is estimated that the Levantine, the Arabian and East African ancestral components diverged 23,700–15,500 years ago, while the divergence between the Levantine and European components happened 15,900–9,100 years ago. The Levantine ancestral component
4590-453: The Levant, whom they named "Syrians", as a conquered nation; Syrians were not assimilated into Greek communities, and many local peasants were exploited financially as they had to pay rent for Greek landlords. Outside Greek colonies , the Syrians lived in districts governed by local temples that did not use the Greek civic system of poleis and colonies. The situation changed after the Roman conquest in 64 BC; Semitic-speaking Syrians obtained
4692-400: The Levant; this helped to further strengthen the development of the Syrian national consciousness. Initially, most inhabitants were against the establishment of Syria as they considered this a step against Arab unity, but gradually, Faisal's Syria, which was declared an independent kingdom in 1920, prompted the Syrians to begin exploring the notion of Syrianism instead of pan-Arabism. Faisal
4794-440: The Mandate, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800. The French geographers Fevret and Gibert estimated that in 1953 out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of Jazira, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians. Even though some Kurdish communities have a long history in Syria, most Syrian Kurds originate from Turkey and have immigrated during
4896-416: The Ottoman government appointed the Milli chief Timur as governor of Raqqa (1800–1803). The Danish writer Carsten Niebuhr , who traveled to Jazira in 1764, recorded five nomadic Kurdish tribes (Dukurie, Kikie, Schechchanie, Mullie and Aschetie) and six Arab tribes ( Tay , Kaab, Baggara, Geheish, Diabat and Sherabeh). According to Niebuhr, the Kurdish tribes were settled near Mardin in Turkey, and paid
4998-494: The President signed Decree 49 which provides citizenship for Kurds who were registered as foreigners in Hasaka. However, a recent independent report has suggested that the actual number of non-citizens Kurds who obtained their national ID cards following the decree does not exceed 6,000, leaving the remainder of 300,000 non-citizens Kurds living in Syria in a state of uncertainty. One newly nationalized Kurd has been reported as saying: ‘I’m pleased to have my ID card .... But not until
5100-415: The Syrian government falsely claimed that many of the Kurds who were the original inhabitants of the land were foreigners, and in turn, violated their human rights by stripping them of their Syrian citizenship. As a result of government claims of an increase in illegal immigration, the Syrian government decided to conduct a general census on 5 October 1962 in the governorate with claims that its sole purpose
5202-401: The administration for renewal. However, many of those Kurds who submitted their cards received nothing in return. Many were arbitrarily categorized as ajanib ('foreigners'), while others who did not participate in the census were categorized as maktumin ('unregistered'), an even lower status than the ajanib ; for all intents and purposes, these unregistered Kurds did not exist in the eyes of
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#17327810593895304-418: The aftermath of World War I and the Ottoman withdrawal from the region, become an independent state and not part of larger Arab one ruled by the Hashemites of the Kingdom of Hejaz . Rida did not reject the Arab identity but recognized a Syrian uniqueness and advocated the idea of a Syrian state. In the end, Syria did become a separate state but under the Hashemite king Faisal . He entered Damascus in 1918 in
5406-415: The aftermath of the Ottomans' evacuation of the Levant at the end of World War I. His entry ignited the Syrian national consciousness after he declared an Arab government in the Levant centred in Damascus with him as prince. In June 1919, the Syrian National Congress , which included representatives from Palestine and Lebanon, demanded the full independence of Syria, within borders that encompass more or less
5508-443: The captured cities. By 24 July, the Syrian towns of Al-Malikiyah ), Ras al-Ayn , Al-Darbasiyah and Al-Muabbada had also come under the control of the People's Protection Units. The only major cities with significant Kurdish populations that remained under government control were Hasaka and Qamishli . Kurdish-inhabited Afrin Canton has been occupied by the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army since
5610-427: The chief of the powerful Kurdish tribe Havergan, arrived with more than 600 families in Qubour el-Bid (later renamed al-Qahtaniyah ). The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish immigration into Syria, and a new significant wave of refugees arrived in 1929. The number of Kurds settled in the Jazira province during the 1920s was estimated between 20,000 and 25,000. With the continuous intensive immigration
5712-409: The citizenship of Greek poleis , and the line separating the Greeks and the natives blurred. The idioms Syrian and Greek were used by Rome to denote civic societies instead of separate ethnic groups. Ancient Syria of the first millennium BC was dominated by the Aramaeans; they originated in the Northern Levant as a continuum of the Bronze Age populations of Syria. The Aramaeans assimilated most of
5814-419: The context of the Syrian Civil War , Kurds established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria . Syrian Kurds live mainly in three Kurdish pockets in northern Syria adjacent to Turkey . Many Kurds also live in the large cities and metropolitan areas of the country, for example, in the neighborhood Rukn al-Din in Damascus , which was formerly known as Hayy al Akrad (Kurdish Quarter), and
5916-443: The country and to justify its discriminatory policies against them. In the 12th century, Kurdish and other Muslim regiments accompanied Saladin , who was a Kurd from Tikrit , on his conquest of the Middle East and establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty (1171–1341), which was administered from Damascus . The Kurdish regiments that accompanied Salidin established self-ruled areas in and around Damascus. These settlements evolved into
6018-472: The earlier Levantine populations through their language. With the adoption of a common religion, Christianity , most of the inhabitants turned into Syrians (Aramaeans). Islam and the Arabic language had a similar effect where the Aramaeans themselves became Arabs regardless of their ethnic origin following the Muslim conquest of the Levant . The presence of Arabs in Syria is recorded since the 9th century BC, and Roman period historians, such as Strabo , Pliny
6120-409: The early periods of the conquest, and formed an isolated aristocracy. The Arabs of the caliphate accommodated many new tribes in isolated areas to avoid conflict with the locals; caliph Uthman ordered his governor, Muawiyah I , to settle the new tribes away from the original population. Syrians who belonged to Monophysitic denominations welcomed the Muslim Arabs as liberators. The Abbasids in
6222-476: The eighth and ninth centuries sought to integrate the peoples under their authority, and the Arabization of the administration was one of their methods. Arabization gained momentum with the increasing numbers of Muslim converts from Christianity ; the ascendancy of Arabic as the formal language of the state prompted the cultural and linguistic assimilation of Syrian converts. Some of those who remained Christian also became Arabized, while others stayed Aramean, it
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#17327810593896324-416: The eve of the Rashidun Caliphate conquest of the Levant, 634 AD, Syria's population mainly spoke Aramaic as the Lingua franca , while Greek was the language of administration. Arabization and Islamization of Syria began in the 7th century, and it took several centuries for Islam, the Arab identity, and language to spread; the Arabs of the caliphate did not attempt to spread their language or religion in
6426-578: The failure of Syrian political union with Egypt in 1961, Syria was declared an Arab Republic in the interim constitution. On 23 August 1962, the government conducted a special population census only for the province of Jazira based on reports of illegal infiltration of tens of thousands of Turkish Kurds into Syria. As a result, around 120,000 Kurds in Jazira (20% of Syrian Kurds) were stripped of their Syrian citizenship even though they were in possession of Syrian identity cards. The inhabitants who had Syrian identity cards were told to hand them over to
6528-406: The first elections under the new Syrian constitution were held. Among the deputies there were three members of the Syrian Kurdish nationalist Xoybûn (Khoyboun) party from the three different Kurdish enclaves in Syria: Khalil bey Ibn Ibrahim Pacha ( Jazira province ), Mustafa bey Ibn Shahin ( Jarabulus ) and Hassan Aouni ( Kurd Dagh ). In the mid-1930s, there arose a new autonomist movement in
6630-414: The geographic distance, and this produced genetic similarities between Levantine Muslims and Moroccan and Yemeni populations. Christians and Druze became a genetic isolate in the predominantly Islamic world. Arabic is the mother tongue of the majority of Syrians as well as the official state language. The Syrian variety of Levantine Arabic differs from Modern Standard Arabic . Western Neo-Aramaic ,
6732-410: The governor of that city for the right of grazing their herds in the Syrian Jazira. These Kurdish tribes gradually settled in villages and cities and are still present in Jazira (modern Syria's Hasakah Governorate ). In the mid 1800s, the Emirate of Bohtan of Bedir Khan Beg span over parts of present day northeastern Syria. The demographics of this area underwent a huge shift in the early part of
6834-489: The immigration of Kurds southwards into the Syrian foothills and plains along rivers. In the 1920s after the failed Kurdish rebellions in Kemalist Turkey , there was a large migration of Kurds to Syria's Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria. The French official reports show the existence of 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929. The French authorities continued to allow Kurdish migration into
6936-422: The local Janissary corps in Damascus. Later, Kurdish migrants from diverse areas, such as Diyarbakir , Mosul and Kirkuk , also joined these military units which caused an expansion of the Kurdish community in the city. The Kurdish dynasty of Janbulads ruled the region of Aleppo as governors for the Ottomans from 1591 to 1607. At the beginning of the 17th century, Kurdish tribes were forcefully settled in
7038-581: The mothers. After an incident in a football stadium in Qamishli , 65 people were killed and more than 160 were injured in days of clashes starting from 12 March. Kurdish sources indicated that Syrian security forces used live ammunition against civilians after clashes broke out at a football match between Kurdish fans of the local team and Arab supporters of a visiting team from the city of Deir al-Zor . The international press reported that nine people were killed on 12 March. According to Amnesty International hundreds of people, mostly Kurds, were arrested after
7140-399: The name Syria itself is derived from Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι , Sýrioi , or Σύροι , Sýroi , both of which originally derived from the Akkadian word Aššūrāyu ( Assyria ) in northern Mesopotamia , modern-day Iraq. However, during the Seleucid Empire , this term was also applied to The Levant , and henceforth the Greeks applied
7242-399: The number of stateless Kurds has grown to more than 200,000. According to Refugees International, there are about 300,000 Kurdish non-citizens in Syria; however, Kurds dispute this number and estimate about 500,000. An independent report has confirmed that there are at least 300,000 non-citizen Kurds living in Syria. According to the Human Rights Watch, by many accounts, the special census
7344-540: The only surviving Western Aramaic dialect, is still spoken in three villages ( Maaloula , Bakh'a and Jubb'adin ) in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains by both Muslim and Christian Arameans (Syriacs) . Syriacs in the northeast of the country are mainly Turoyo-Aramaic speakers but there are also some speakers of Suret-Aramaic , especially in the Khabour Valley . Classical Syriac is also used as
7446-669: The option of legally relocating to another country because they lack passports or other internationally recognized travel documents. In Syria, other than in the governorate of Al-Hasakah , foreigners cannot be employed at government agencies and state-owned enterprises; they may not legally marry Syrian citizens. Kurds with foreigner status do not have the right to vote in elections or run for public office, and when they attend universities they are often persecuted and cannot be awarded with university degrees. non-citizens Kurds living in Syria are not awarded school certificates and are often unable to travel outside of their provinces. In April 2011,
7548-461: The people called Syrians by the Greeks refer to themselves as Arameans. In his book The Great Roman-Jewish War , Josephus , a Hebrew native to the Levant, mentioned the Syrians as the non-Hebrew, non-Greek indigenous inhabitants of Syria. Syrians are mainly descended from the various ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of the ancient Near East . The Seleucids ruled the indigenous peoples of
7650-646: The people of Northern Lebanon. Mitochondrial DNA shows the Syrians to have an affinity with Europe; main haplogroups are H and R . Based on Mitochondrial DNA, the Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians form a close cluster. Compared to the Lebanese, Bedouins and Palestinians, the Syrians have noticeably more Northern European component, estimated at 7%. Regarding the HLA alleles , Syrians, and other Levantine populations, exhibit "key differences" from other Arab populations; based on HLA-DRB1 alleles, Syrians were close to eastern Mediterranean populations, such as
7752-893: The population and mostly live in and around Tartus and Latakia . Christians make up 10% of the country. Most Syrian Christians adhere to the Byzantine Rite ; the two largest are the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church . The Druze are a mountainous people who reside in Jabal al-Druze who helped spark the Great Syrian Revolt . The Ismailis are an even smaller sect that originated in Asia. Many Armenian and Assyrian Christians fled Turkey during
7854-564: The position that Giuseppe Cardinal Siri was elected Pope in the 1958 papal conclave Siriano , a Tucanoan people indigenous to Colombia and Brazil Sirianus , the Catepan of Italy from 1062 to 1064 The Sirius Mystery , a non-fiction book by Robert K. G. Temple Syriacs , or the Assyrian people Syrian (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
7956-422: The process is completed will I truly trust the intentions of this action. Before my card is activated, I must have an interview, no doubt full of interrogation and intimidation, with State Security. Citizenship should not be a privilege. It is my right.’ According to one researcher, the Kurdish street perceived the measure of providing citizenship as 'not well-intentioned, but simply an attempt to distance Kurds from
8058-545: The recognition of the Kurdish cultural rights, the Party got suppressed by the United Arab Republic and the possession of Kurdish publications or music was enough to be sent to be detained. KDPS was never legally recognized by the Syrian state and remains an underground organization, especially after a crackdown in 1960 during which several of its leaders were arrested, charged with separatism and imprisoned. After
8160-464: The region in cities like Amuda and Qamishli until they accounted for the majority in some of these cities. The government also claims that many Kurds were capable of registering themselves illegally in the Syrian civil registers. The government further speculated that Kurds intended to settle down and acquire property, especially after the issue of the agricultural reform law, to benefit from land redistribution. However, according to Human Rights Watch,
8262-665: The region, with many of its speakers having become Arabs. Those who retained the Aramaic language are divided among two groups: The Arabs in Arabia called the region of Syria region al-Sham ( Arabic : بِـلَاد الـشَّـام , romanized : Bilād al-Šām , lit. 'the country of Sham') which became the dominant name of the Levant under the Rashidun Caliphate and its successors. The geographic designation "Syria" returned in 1864 when Ottoman Syria
8364-484: The region. Olive oil , garlic , olives , spearmint , and sesame oil are some of the ingredients that are used in many traditional meals. Traditional Syrian dishes enjoyed by Syrians include, tabbouleh , labaneh , shanklish , wara' 'enab , makdous , kebab , Kibbeh , sfiha , moutabal , hummus , mana'eesh , bameh , and fattoush . A typical Syrian breakfast is a meze . It is an assortment platter of foods with cheeses, meats, pickles, olives, and spreads. Meze
8466-780: The riots. Kurdish detainees were reportedly tortured and ill-treated. Some Kurdish students were expelled from their universities, reportedly for participating in peaceful protests. The Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria was formed to represent Syrian Kurds based on two major conferences, one at the US Senate in March 2006 and the other at the EU parliament in Brussels in 2006. The Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria (KNAS) seeks democracy for Syria and supports granting equal rights to Kurds and other Syrian minorities. They seek to transform Syria into
8568-670: The ruler of the Seleucid Empire as the King of Syria or King of the Syrians. The Seleucids designated the districts of Seleucis and Coele-Syria explicitly as Syria and ruled the Syrians as indigenous populations residing west of the Euphrates ( Aramea ) in contrast to Assyrians who had their native homeland in Mesopotamia east of the Euphrates. However, the interchangeability between Assyrians and Syrians persisted during
8670-455: The settlements of Kurds in 1920: Over the course of the past century the Kurds have migrated and spread throughout northern Syria. Those who have spread to the west of the Euphrates have come from the valleys of Kurdistan. They have gradually settled in and live alongside the Turks, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs, all of whose customs they have adopted to some degree. Following World War I,
8772-564: The spring festival of Newroz . Police warned them that Kurdish dress was prohibited and they fired on the crowd leaving one person dead. Around 40,000 Kurds took part in his funeral in Qamishli. Also in Afrin , three Kurds were killed during the Newroz demonstrations. After the protests, the Syrian government prohibited the Newroz festivities and established a new holiday on the same day, honoring
8874-436: The state. They could not get jobs, become educated, own property or participate in politics. In some cases, classifications varied even within Kurdish families: parents had citizenship but not their children, a child could be a citizen but not his or her brothers and sisters. Those Kurds who lost their citizenship were often dispossessed of their lands, which were given by the state to Arab and Assyrian settlers. A media campaign
8976-571: The term without distinction between the Assyrians of north Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant. The Greeks used the terms "Syrian" and "Assyrian" interchangeably to indicate the indigenous Arameans , Assyrians and other inhabitants of the Levant and Mesopotamia , Herodotus considered "Syria" west of the Euphrates . Starting from the 2nd century BC onwards, ancient writers referred to
9078-410: The title Sirian . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sirian&oldid=1222079292 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
9180-471: The traditional theory inadequate to explain the Arabs' appearance in Syria. The Arabs mentioned in Syria by Greco-Roman writers were assimilated into the newly formed "Greco–Aramaean culture" that dominated the region, and the texts they produced were written in Greek and Aramaic. Old Arabic , the precursor of Classical Arabic , was not a literary language; its speakers used Aramaic for writing purposes. On
9282-601: The vicinity of Jarabulus and Seruj by the Ottoman sultans. In the mid-18th century, Ottomans recognized Milli tribal leaders as iskan başı or chief of sedentarization in Raqqa area. They were given taxing authority and controlling other tribes in the region. In 1758, Milli chief and iskan başı Mahmud bin Kalash entered Khabur valley, subjugated the local tribes and brought the area under control of Milli confederation and attempted to set up an independent principality. In 1800,
9384-471: The victorious Allied powers and the defeated Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920. The treaty stipulated that Ottoman Kurdistan, which included Kurdish inhabited areas in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq to be given autonomy within the new Turkish Republic , with the choice for full independence within a year. The Kemalist victory in Turkey and subsequent territorial gains during
9486-575: The villages numbered between 700 and 800 in 1939. Consequently, Kurds became majority in the districts of Tigris (later renamed al-Malikiyah ) and Qamishli , while Arabs remained the majority in Hasakah district. Immigration from Turkey was not limited to the Jazira area. In the 1930s, Kurdish Alevis who fled the persecution of the Turkish army during the Dersim massacre , settled in Mabeta . Under
9588-737: The west the area around Afrin . All of these are on the Syria-Turkey border , and there are also substantial Kurdish communities in Aleppo and Damascus further south. Human rights organizations have accused the Syrian government of routinely discriminating and harassing Syrian Kurds. Many Kurds seek political autonomy for what they regard as Western Kurdistan , similar to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, or to be part of an independent state of Kurdistan . In
9690-437: Was carried out in an arbitrary manner separating members of the same families and classifying them differently. HRW claims that some Kurds in the same family became citizens while others became foreigners suggesting an inaccuracy in the Syrian government's process; HRW also alleges that some of the Kurds who had served in the Syrian army lost citizenship while those who bribed officials kept theirs. Stateless Kurds also do not have
9792-462: Was deposed by the French who established a mandate in 1920, but the formation of a Syrian consciousness amongst the members of the Syrian Arab national movement solidified and spread amongst the Muslims as well as the Christians. Genetic tests on Syrians were included in many genetic studies. The genetic marker which identifies descendants of the ancient Levantines is found in Syrians in high proportion. Modern Syrians exhibit "high affinity to
9894-449: Was gunned down in his apartment by masked men widely believed to be government agents. During Tammo's funeral procession the next day in the town of Qamishli , Syrian security forces fired into a crowd of more than 50,000 mourners, killing five people. According to Tammo's son, Fares Tammo, "My father's assassination is the screw in the regime's coffin. They made a big mistake by killing my father." Since then, Kurdish demonstrations became
9996-545: Was launched against the Kurds with slogans such as Save Arabism in Jazira! and Fight the Kurdish Menace! . These policies in the Jazira region coincided with the beginning of Barzani 's uprising in Iraqi Kurdistan and discovery of oilfields in the Kurdish inhabited areas of Syria. In June 1963, Syria took part in the Iraqi military campaign against the Kurds by providing aircraft, armoured vehicles and
10098-597: Was probably during the Abbasid period in the ninth century that Christians adopted Arabic as their first language; the first translation of the gospels into Arabic took place in this century. Many historians, such as Claude Cahen and Bernard Hamilton, proposed that the Arabization of Christians was completed before the First Crusade . By the thirteenth century, the Arabic language achieved complete dominance in
10200-482: Was prohibited also to sing in non-arabic language at weddings or festivities. There are also some " nawar people " (gypsies) who speak Kurdish and call themselves Kurds in some regions. The decree 768 of the year 2000, prohibited shops to sell cassettes or videos in Kurdish language. The decree also encouraged to implement older restrictions of the Kurdish language. In 1962, 20 percent of Syria's Kurdish population were stripped of their Syrian citizenship following
10302-505: Was reorganized and the name was used for a vilayet encompassing generally the southern Levant. The use of the national designation "Syrian" however has its origin in the tense relationship between the Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians of the Levant, where Christians wanted to distance themselves from the Muslims. Already in the 1830s, the Lebanese traveler As’ad Khayyat identified with the term Syria, but it took till
10404-433: Was to purify registers and eliminate the alien infiltrators. As a result, the verified registrations of the citizens of Syria were included in the new civil registers. The remaining, which included 100,000 Kurds, were registered as foreigners (or "ajanib") in special registers. Many others did not participate in the census through choice or other circumstances; they are known as "maktoumeen", meaning "unrecorded". Since then,
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