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’s colonial master, France, ceded the Syrian province of Alexandretta and its population of over 120,000 — most of whom were Alawites, also known as Alawis — to Turkey. Known today as Hatay, the region’s 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. In a carpet shop in the village of Harbiyya in Hatay, the rugs portray familiar personages: Turkey’s first leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, with his penetrating eyes, next to the flowing curls of Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law who is venerated by Shi‘ite Muslims, including the Alawites. But one carpet stands out among the lot — 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. (PHOTOS: Syrians Flee into Turkey) The Alawite communities in Turkey and Syria have been torn by the latter’s 18-month civil war. Sect members in Turkey have thrown their weight behind the Syrian regime even as Prime Minister Erdogan has denounced Assad’s “attempted genocide” of defenseless civilians. Harbiyya residents have no qualms about their support for Assad. “In Syria, there is democracy,” explains restaurateur Riyad Aslan Yurek. “There is a freedom there that is absent in other Arab countries.” 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. “After Friday prayers, the Saudis would execute![]()
