Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: TUR30295 Country: Turkey Date: 28 July 2006 Keywords: Turkey – Ethnic Syrians – Identification of Syriacs This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. Is there an identifiable Syrian ethnic minority group in Turkey? 2. How are members of such minority group identified within the general population? 3. Are members of any Syrian minority in Turkey discriminated against or harassed either individually or as a group within society? 4. Any other details about the existence of a Syrian minority in Turkey. 5. Please provide information on the Syriacs in Turkey. RESPONSE 1. Is there an identifiable Syrian ethnic minority group in Turkey? 2. How are members of such minority group identified within the general population? 3. Are members of any Syrian minority in Turkey discriminated against or harassed either individually or as a group within society? 4. Any other details about the existence of a Syrian minority in Turkey. A search of the sources consulted found little reference to information about an identifiable Syrian ethnic minority group in Turkey. There is mention of a Syrian ethnic minority community in Turkey in an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada response to information request dated 19 May 2000. The response to information request indicates that Kurds constituted Turkey’s “largest ethnic minority” and that “Other ethnic minority communities referred to in the sources consulted include Armenians, Syrians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Romani and Caucasians”. However, the response to information request also mentions the Syrian Orthodox Christians in Turkey when referring to reports describing “the situation and treatment of specific ethnic groups in Turkey”, and may be referring to that group when mentioning Syrians in the list of ethnic minority communities in Turkey (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 2000, TUR34438.E – Turkey: Treatment of non-Kurdish, non-Alevi ethnic minorities, 19 May – Attachment 1). A report by missio, the Pontifical Mission Society, dated 2002 notes that as at 1990, the Turkish population was comprised of “70% Turks, 20% Kurds, 2% Arabs, 0.5% Cherkassians, 0.5% Muslim Georgians, among others”. The report includes the following detailed list of ethnic groups in Turkey: Turks (Sunni), Turks (Alevi), Turks (Yuruks (Sunni)), Turkmen (Sunni), Turkmen (Alevi) including Tahtaci, Abdal; Turks (Azerbaijani (Shiite)), including Karapapachi (Sunni); Uigurs (Sunni, Hanefite); Kyrgyz (Sunni/Hanefite); Kazakhs (Sunni/Hanefite); Uzbeks (Sunni/Hanefite); Uzbek Tatars (Sunni/Hanefite); Crimean Turks/Crimean Tatars (Sunni/Hanefite); Nogai Tatars (Sunni/Hanefite); Balkarians/Karachais (Sunni/Hanefite); Bulgarian immigrants (Sunni/Hanefite; Alevi; among the Gagausians some Bulgarian Orthodox Christians); immigrants from other Balkan countries (Sunni/Hanefite; Alevi; Serbian Orthodox Christians); Dagestanis (Sunni Hanefite + Shafiite); Sudanese (Alevi ?); Kurds (Sunni/Shafiite (+ Hanefite)); Kurds (Alevi); Kurds (Jezidi); Zazas (Sunni/Shafiite); Zazas (Alevi); Ossetians (Sunni); Armenians (Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Armenian Protestant Christians); Chemshinli (Sunni); gypsies/Roma (Islam??); Greeks (Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Greek Protestant Christians); Greek-speaking Muslims (Sunni!?); Arabs (Sunni); Arabs (Nusairian = Alevi); Arabs (Arab Christians/Melchites); Jews; Aramaeans (Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Catholic Christians, Chaldeans, Nestorians); Cherkassians (Sunni/Hanefite); Georgians (Sunni/Hanefite + Georgian Orthodox Christians?); Lasians (Sunni/Hanefite). The above-mentioned list does not specifically refer to a Syrian ethnic group, although it does mention the “Aramaeans (Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Catholic Christians, Chaldeans, Nestorians)” (Oehring, Otmar 2002, ‘Human Rights in Turkey – Secularism = Religious Freedom?’, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk e.V. website, p 2 http://www.missio- aachen.de/Images/MR%20T%C3%BCrkei%20englisch_tcm14-11238.pdf – Accessed 14 November 2005 – Attachment 2). However, a submission dated 10 August 1999 in relation to Syrian Orthodox Christians by the Syrian Orthodox Federation of Australia indicates that the use of “Syrian” in describing the Aramean people should not “be confused with Arab Syrians of today”. According to the submission: The use of the name “Syrian” (not to be confused with Arab Syrians of today) to describe the Aramean people was widely used after the conversion of many of the Arameans to Christianity. The term Syrian was also used before then to describe the Aramean peoples located in the area known as greater Syria, which covered much of the Middle East of today (Syrian Orthodox Federation of Australia 1999, Submission on Human Rights Abuses on Syrian Orthodox Christians, Submission No 77, 10 August – Attachment 3). The previously mentioned report by missio also refers to an Arab ethnic group in Turkey, mentioning “Arabs (Sunni); Arabs (Nusairian = Alevi); Arabs (Arab Christians/Melchites)” (Oehring, Otmar 2002, ‘Human Rights in Turkey – Secularism = Religious Freedom?’, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk e.V. website, p 2 http://www.missio- aachen.de/Images/MR%20T%C3%BCrkei%20englisch_tcm14-11238.pdf – Accessed 14 November 2005 – Attachment 2). A paper on Turkey’s minorities dated 2001 mentions that the Arab population in Turkey was “heavily concentrated along the Syrian border”, and notes that most Alevi Muslims in Turkey “have family ties with the Alevis living in Syria.” However, the paper does not specifically mention a Syrian minority ethnic group in Turkey. It is stated in the paper that: The Arabs are heavily concentrated along the Syrian border. Almost all of the Arabs in Turkey are Alevi Moslems,… and most have family ties with the Alevis living in Syria. They are a distinct religious community from the Turkish Alevis but have in common reverence for Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law. The Arabs of Turkey believe they are subjected to state- condoned discrimination. Fear of persecution actually prompted several thousand Arab Alevis to seek refuge in Syria following the incorporation of the Hatay province into Turkey in 1939. Since the mid-1960s, the Syrian government has tended to encourage educated Alevi to resettle in Syria, especially if they seem likely to join the ruling Baath Party. Alevi Arabs have uneasy relationships with Sunnis and are more comfortable with Christians. There is also a community of Sunni Arabs living in Turkey. Unlike the Turkish Sunni majority its members belong to the Shaji’i tradition (which they share in common with most Sunni Kurds). They are denied the opportunity to use their language Arabic officially, e.g., in education and broadcasting. Finally the Christian Arabs are about 10,000. They call themselves Nasrani and like other Turkish Arabs, they feel under pressure, to ‘Turkicize’ (Karimova, Nigar and Deverell, Edward 2001, ‘Minorities in Turkey’, Occasional Papers No. 19, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs website, p 15 http://www.ui.se/texter/op19.pdf – Accessed 11 November 2002 – Attachment 4). The above-mentioned paper refers to the incorporation of Hatay province into Turkey in 1939, and an article dated 23 October 1998 notes that the province was once part of France’s “League of Nations Mandate over Syria-Lebanon.” The article provides historical background regarding the province, which was previously a region known as the Sanjak of Alexandretta. The article notes that the region had “long been ethnically mixed, Arab and Turkish, with Armenians as well.” Following World War One, “France won the inclusion of the Sanjak of Alexandretta in its League of Nations Mandate over Syria-Lebanon.” In 1936, with Syria “slated for independence under the mandate”, Turkey claimed that the majority of the region’s population was Turkish “and that it should revert to the Turkish Republic.” In an attempt to stop Turkey aligning itself with Germany, “efforts were made to accommodate the Turks.” In 1938, the region “elected a Turkish President and renamed itself the State of Hatay.” In June 1939, with war in Europe approaching, “France signed an agreement on mutual assistance with Turkey and separately ceded the Hatay to Turkey. Turkey took over, and pressured non-Turks who would not accept Turkish citizenship to leave.” Hatay’s incorporation into Turkey was not recognised by Syria (‘Syria and Turkey: Many Roots to the Recent Quarrel’ 1998, The Estimate, Volume X, Number 22, 23 October http://www.theestimate.com/public/102398.html – Accessed 22 June 2006 – Attachment 5). A country study of Turkey dated 1996 by the US Library of Congress Federal Research Division refers to close links between the Alevi Muslim Arabs in Hatay province and the Alevi living in Syria. It is stated in the country study that: The Arabs are heavily concentrated along the Syrian border, especially in Hatay Province, which France, having at that time had mandatory power in Syria, ceded to Turkey in 1939. Arabs then constituted about two-thirds of the population of Hatay (known to the Arabs as Alexandretta), and the province has remained predominantly Arab. Almost all of the Arabs in Turkey are Alevi Muslims, and most have family