Ethnic groups in Syria

See also: Languages of Syria and Religion in Syria

Arabs represent the major ethnicity in Syria, in addition to the presence of several, much smaller ethnic groups.

Ethno-religious makeup of Syria, 1935.
Map from La cartothèque de l'Ifpo (Institut français du Proche-Orient)

Ethnicity, religion and national/ideological identities

Ethnicity and religion are intertwined in Syria as in other countries in the region, but there are also nondenominational, supraethnic and suprareligious political identities, like Syrian nationalism.

Counting the ethnic or religious groups

Since the 1960 census there has been no counting of Syrians by religion, and there has never been any official counting by ethnicity or language. In the 1943 and 1953 censuses the various denominations were counted separately, e.g. for every Christian denomination. In 1960 Syrian Christians were counted as a whole but Muslims were still counted separately between Sunnis and Alawis.

Ethnic and religious groups

The majority of Syrians speak Arabic except for a minority of Aramaic (Syriac) speakers, Kurdish speaking Syrian Kurds and Turkish speaking Syrian Turkmens who altogether form 5-10% of the population. Syrian Arab Sunni Muslims form ~70-75% of the populace, Christians altogether around 10%, Alawites at less than 10%, and the remaining ~5-10% consist of minor ethnoreligious groups including the Druze, Isma'ilis, and Twelver Shiite Muslims. However, these percentages are only indicative.

Arabs

The majority of Syrian Arabs speak a variety of dialects belonging to Levantine Arabic. Arab tribes and clans of Bedouin descent are mainly concentrated in the governorates of al-Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and eastern Aleppo, forming roughly 20 to 30% of the total population and speaking a dialect related to Bedouin and Najdi Arabic. In Deir ez-Zor a dialect of North Mesopotamian Arabic is also spoken, reminiscent of that of medieval Iraq prior the Mongol invasions in 1258.

• Arab minority groups
  • Arab Christians (predominantly Melkite Orthodox and Catholic Christians)
  • Druze
  • Sunni Muslim and Christian Palestinians
  • Arab Twelver Shias
  • Arab Ismailis

Non-Arabs

Syrian Kurds form 5 to 10% of the Syrian population, the largest non-Arab minority. Other non-Arabic-speaking Muslim groups include Syrian Turkmen, who had settled Syria in Mamluk and Ottoman times, Syrian Circassians and Syrian Chechens who settled in the 19th century, Syrian Bosniaks who settled in the 1870s and Greek Muslims who were resettled in Syria following the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Assyrians in Syria form a small minority and mainly speak Eastern Aramaic dialects.

• Muslim minority groups
  • Kurds (Sunni, Yazidi)
  • Arabic-speaking or Turkmen Alawis

• • Sunni and Alevi Turkmens
  • Sunni Chechens
  • Sunni Circassians
  • Syrian Bosniaks
  • Sunni Muslim Greeks
  • Muslim Ossetians
  • Black people of Yarmouk Basin
• Christian minority groups
  • Assyrians
  • Armenians
  • Greeks
  • Italians
• Other groups
  • Romani people of various creeds
  • Mizrahi Jews
  • Mandeans
  • Arameans (Syriacs) in the Anti-Lebanon mountains. The small communities of Maaloula and Jubb'adin speak Western Neo-Aramaic and are not to be confused with the Aramean identity of modern Assyrians.

See also

• Demographics of Syria
• Languages of Syria
• Religion in Syria
• Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War
• Federalization of Syria

External links

• Sectarianism in Syria (Survey Study)
• "Syria". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Minority Rights Group International.
• "Guide: Syria's diverse minorities". BBC. 2011.