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<\/p>\nThe Alawite Towns That Support Syria\u2019s Assad \u2014 in Turkey<\/p>\n
Even as the regime’s Alawite support erodes, the President of Syria finds vocal support among his co-religionists in Turkey<\/p>\n
By Steven Sotloff \/ Antakya, Turkey | September 10, 2012 | 2<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An Assad carpet for sale in Harbiyya, on Sept. 6, 2012.<\/p>\n
Steven Sotloff<\/p>\n
A Bashar Assad carpet for sale in Harbiyya, Turkey, on Sept. 6, 2012<\/p>\n
While the Alawites of Syria may not be monolithic in their support of their fellow Alawite President Bashar Assad, the dictator can find near unanimous backing among members of the sect across the border in a region that is part of Turkey. In 1939, Syria\u2019s colonial master, France, ceded the Syrian province of Alexandretta and its population of over 120,000 \u2014 most of whom were Alawites, also known as Alawis \u2014 to Turkey. Known today as Hatay, the region\u2019s inhabitants are equally divided between Alawites and orthodox Sunnis, along with a small number of Christians. For decades, an uneasy truce reigned between the sects. But since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011, the Turkish Alawites, who number around 500,000, have increasingly taken to the streets to express their support for the Assad regime.<\/p>\n
In a carpet shop in the village of Harbiyya in Hatay, the rugs portray familiar personages: Turkey\u2019s first leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, with his penetrating eyes, next to the flowing curls of Ali, the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s cousin and son-in-law who is venerated by Shi\u2018ite Muslims, including the Alawites. But one carpet stands out among the lot \u2014 that of Syrian President Assad. In this Alawite village within Turkey, the beleaguered leader who has been labeled a war criminal by the West is more popular than Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\n
(PHOTOS: Syrians Flee into Turkey)<\/p>\n
The Alawite communities in Turkey and Syria have been torn by the latter\u2019s 18-month civil war. Sect members in Turkey have thrown their weight behind the Syrian regime even as Prime Minister Erdogan has denounced Assad\u2019s \u201cattempted genocide\u201d of defenseless civilians. Harbiyya residents have no qualms about their support for Assad. \u201cIn Syria, there is democracy,\u201d explains restaurateur Riyad Aslan Yurek. \u201cThere is a freedom there that is absent in other Arab countries.\u201d For Yurek, the allure of Syria lies in its secularism. He contrasts the liberties there with the austere Islam that reigns in Saudi Arabia, where he labored for five years. \u201cAfter Friday prayers, the Saudis would execute drug dealers and amputate the hands of thieves,\u201d he recounts. \u201cThis extremism does not exist in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alawite activists are vocal in their support of Assad in Hatay\u2019s capital. Every day in the city of Antakya, a group of students in their 20s collect signatures at a table located in the downtown pedestrian mall, calling for an end to the Syrian conflict. The men take turns shouting out slogans such as \u201cWe don\u2019t want America\u2019s imperial war!\u201d and \u201cNo to the shedding of blood in Syria!\u201d Some passersby ignore the loud cries, while others are curiously intrigued by the petition drive. When an American journalist stops to ask about the group\u2019s activities, though, a burly man in his 30s hisses him away, shouting, \u201cAmerica is funding terrorists in Syria!\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, one of the volunteers, Ilena Coksoyler, explains the group\u2019s frustrations. \u201cWe watch television at night and see the [rebel] terrorists hanging Alawi soldiers and yelling, \u2018God is Great!\u2019\u201d the 25-year-old education student notes. \u201cWe are afraid for the Alawis in Syria and afraid that the foreign terrorists will try to do the same here in Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n
(MORE: Eyewitness from Homs: An Alawite Refugee Warns of Sectarian War in Syria)<\/p>\n
Foreign fighters from countries like Libya and Saudi Arabia have indeed been spotted in the city. But last week the Turkish daily Today\u2019s Zaman revealed that a local organization is trying to recruit Turkish Alawites to fight on the side of the Syrian regime. Alawites in Turkey deny that any such mobilization has taken place, but they sympathize with the need to protect their brethren in Syria.<\/p>\n
Many in this city claim that the foreign fighters trickling into Syria are injecting fanatic ideas into Syrian society. \u201cBashar is fighting al-Qaeda, who want to create an Islamic emirate in Syria,\u201d explains Nizam Ozar. \u201cHe is killing terrorists who are threatening the security of the state.\u201d It is a refrain heard throughout the small tourist village dotted with hotels that welcome foreigners who go there to see the waterfalls. Residents assert that the Saudi Arabian and Qatari funds fueling the rebellion are being doled out to radicals who want to destroy the secular state the Assad family cultivated over 40 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Syrians are using the refugee camps [in Turkey, which house Syrians fleeing the conflict] to set up training bases,\u201d explains Ozar, before excusing himself to welcome some tourists to his trinket shop. \u201cAt night the fighters sneak into Syria and kill the soldiers,\u201d he comments when he returns. \u201cTurkey allows this and this makes us angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
MORE: Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Song of the One-Legged Revolutionary<\/p>\n
Related Topics:<\/p>\n
via Syria\u2019s Bashar Assad Finds Solid Support Among Alawites in Turkey | World | TIME.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Alawite Towns That Support Syria\u2019s Assad \u2014 in Turkey Even as the regime’s Alawite support erodes, the President of Syria finds vocal support among his co-religionists in Turkey By Steven Sotloff \/ Antakya, Turkey | September 10, 2012 | 2 An Assad carpet for sale in Harbiyya, on Sept. 6, 2012. Steven Sotloff A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":56901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[8366,8367,8368,3883,8369,8370],"class_list":["post-56899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-syria","tag-alawi","tag-alawite","tag-antakya","tag-bashar-al-assad","tag-civilians","tag-syria-conflict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}