ORSAM INTERVIEWS ON REGIONAL AFFAIRS ORSAM INTERVIEWS NO.16, JULY 2015 on REGIONAL AFFAIRS No.16,No.23, july MART 2015 2015 ABDURRAHMAN MUSTAFA: TURKMENS’ SURVIVAL CAN BE ENSURED BY SYRIA’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY Abdurrahman MUSTAFA Abdurrahman Mustafa was born in Aleppo in 1964. After he graduated from Aleppo University, he had to move abroad due to the political oppression. During 1988-2010, he worked as a manager in the private sector in Libya and Saudi Arabia. With the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, he ended his professional career and returned to Syria. He has played an active role in Turkmen organizations in Syria in the years 2011 and 2012. He was elected as the president at the second meeting of the Syrian Turkmen Assembly in May 2014. He still serves as the president of the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, which is the one and only legitimate repre- sentative body of Syrian Turkmens. ABDURRAHMAN MUSTAFA: TURKMENS’ SURVIVAL CAN BE ENSURED BY SYRIA’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY ORSAM: President of the Syrian governments who took Syrian Turkmen Assembly office after the downfall of the Mr. Abdurrahman Mustafa, Ottoman Empire have always we would like to talk to you thought that the Turkmen about Syrian Turkmens, people and Turkish people a topic that came up now have the same roots; therefore and again but not very they put a lot of pressure on well known in Turkey. Turkmens. This situation has gained momentum following Would you mind telling us Gamal Abdel Nasser’s efforts about the presence of the after 1958 which made Arab Turkmens in Syria even Nationalism very popular. Af- though there is not an of- ter Ba’ath Party seized power ficial record documenting and especially during the pres- their presence since the idency of Hafez al-Assad and foundation of Syria? Could Bashar Hafez al-Assad, Turk- you tell us how many mens were put under a lot Turkmen there are, where of pressure. Throughout the they live in Syria and how presidency of Hafez al-Assad they make their living by and his son, Turkmens have considering the situation been seen as a component of before and after 2011? the Syria-Turkey relations and the pressure on the Turkmens Abdurrahman Mustafa: have become systematic ever The Syrian Turkmens’ pres- since. Particularly when the ence dates back to 11th cen- relations between two coun- tury. They have been living tries were “tense”, when the in Syria for a thousand years. problems of water, PKK and They regard Syria as their motherland and they have Hatay escalated, Syria has im- ruled Syria at different peri- plemented harsh policies to- ods from the Seljuk Empire wards Turkmens. in Syria until the downfall As it is stated in the OR- of the Ottoman Empire. As SAM field research report it is well known, Turkmens of 2011, about 3.5 million were abandoned to their fate Turkmens live in Syria. Dur- after the First World War in ing the oppressive and dicta- 1918 followed by the collapse torial regimes like in Syria, of the Ottoman Empire. Re- the existence of minorities is public of Turkey was so over- denied. All ethnic and nation- whelmed by its own problems al groups are considered as that it had to neglect Syrian Syrian Arabs according to the Turkmens. However, Syrian constitution. However, this governments have never for- situation changed after 2011. gotten them. That is to say, On my ID card, it is written 2 ORSAM INTERVIEWS ON REGIONAL AFFAIRS NO.16, JULY 2015 that I am a “Syrian Arab”. be more precise just like I do. When Arab nationalists, the I did not get an education in Ba’ath Party and Nasser were Turkey. My mother tongue is in power, one of their main Turkish, I learned it in Syria. goals was to eliminate all eth- Turkmens in Aleppo speak nic groups under the influ- Kilis and Antep dialect; those ence of Arab nationalism. in Tell Abyad and Al-Raqqah speak Urfa dialect; those in Mr. Mustafa, so you are Bayır Bucak speak Hatay/ saying that there are about Yayladağı dialect. Turkmens 3.5 million Turkmens in in Aleppo, Bayır Bucak, Tell Syria. It is evident that Abyad and Al-Raqqah have never forgotten their moth- Syria has implemented de- er tongue and culture, they liberately oppressive pol- still abide by their traditions. icies towards Turkmens However, it is those living in Turkmens in in order to assimilate Aleppo who stuck to Turkish Aleppo, them throughout history. identity and culture the most. Generally the minority However, Turkmens in Bayır Bucak, Tell groups who are subject to Homs -a region very far Abyad and such oppressive policies from the Turkish border- are Al-Raqqah have either lose their mother slightly different from the tongue or national and others. Those have managed never forgotten ethnic consciousness under to preserve their national their mother the influence of Arab cul- identity, yet they are very tongue and ture. Can you categorize bad at Turkish. Additional- those 3.5 million Turkmens ly, we have Turkmen villages culture. for us? In other words; of in the region called “Central the entire Turkmen popu- Homs” whose names are in lation how many are there Turkish. Al-Zarah Village, for who speak fluent Turkish instance. Most of the people or Syrian Turkish, who who live there have Turk- did not lose their Turkish ish surnames. In short, some identity? How many are Turkmens in Homs cannot speak Turkish whereas some there who have lost their can speak a little, but when mother tongue but not asked about their origins their Turkish identity or they say “I am Turkmen”. Let who have lost complete- me give you another exam- ly Turkish identity and ple. Turkmens in Damascus mother tongue? speak Turkish with an ancient 1.5 million people out of Yörük dialect which is differ- 3.5 million Turkmens speak ent from common Anatolian Turkish just like I do. Let me dialect. To sum up, what I 3 ABDURRAHMAN MUSTAFA: TURKMENS’ SURVIVAL CAN BE ENSURED BY SYRIA’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY just explained: Off all 3.5 have Arabian identity. In rural million Syrian Turkmens, 1.5 areas such as Homs, families million speak Turkish, have had to teach Arabic to their preserved their traditions and children instead of Turkish. national identity and live in To sum up, if we look for Aleppo, Bayır Bucak and Al- people of Turkish descent in Raqqah, whereas 2 million Syria and not Syrian Turk- cannot speak Turkish yet state mens, we deal with much big- that they are Turkmen such as ger numbers of people. People those in Homs. who are in the Syrian oppo- The number of Syrians sition have a lot of relatives who are of Turkish descent of Turkish descent. There are are more than the number big families who are of Turk- of Turkmens. While talking ish descent in Syria. When we about Syrian Turkmens I ex- talk about Syrian Turkmens cluded the Atasi, Çiçekçi and we refer to 1.5 million Turk- Kuvvetli families of Turkish mens who speak Turkish and descent who have ruled Syria stick to their national identity as prime minister or president and traditions and 2 million in the past. Because those Turkmens who call themselves families do not call themselves Turkmen, but cannot speak “Turkmen” anymore. The rea- Turkish. son of their assimilation is the As far as their geographical practices of repressive regimes distribution is concerned, Syr- in Syria. Among assimilat- ian Turkmens clustered most- ed Turkmens, there are those ly in Aleppo. There are 242 who had to lose their identity Turkmen villages in the rural and became Arabs. For exam- side of Aleppo, on the Turk- ple, if you want to rise in rank ish border and in the region in Syrian Army, you have to between Euphrates River and 4 ORSAM INTERVIEWS ON REGIONAL AFFAIRS NO.16, JULY 2015 Jarabulus. There are also Turk- then turned into a popu- men villages in central Syria lar uprising and ended up such as Homs, Hama and Tar- being a civil conflict. This tus, though not as crowded as crisis inevitably affects all Aleppo. There are Turkmen the peoples and communi- villages also in Bayır-Bucak, ties in Syria. Nevertheless, Damascus, Golan and Al- it is a well-known fact that Raqqah. Turkmens in Syria have suffered the most, com- Did policies about radio pared to the other groups. and television broadcast- On the one hand Turkmens ing in Syria after 1970 im- are faced with a regime prove Turkish speaking that has tyrannized among Turkmens? Did it them for years, on the oth- make Turkish language er, an opposition that is not more comprehensible? There are 242 so eager to meet Turkmens’ Turkmen villages Radio and television demands. So can we say broadcasting had a huge effect that the Turkmens had to in the rural indeed. Our ancestors spoke choose between the side of Aleppo, Turkmen, but were illiterate opposition and the Syrian and did not know Turkish on the Turkish alphabet. Thanks to TRT regime when the crisis border and in the (Turkish Radio and Television broke out? Association) after 1970, we The uprising started with region between learned standard Turkish by peaceful demonstrations at Euphrates River watching TV and improved it first. All of the Syrian people and Jarabulus. on our own. We already knew took part in that uprising. It Turkish, but we learned how was not an ethnic or a sectar- to read and write in Turkish. ian conflict. It was against a TRT helped us a lot.