Syria: Information on the Circassians Tribe
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 October 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SYR6717 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Syria: Information on the Circassians Tribe, 1 October 1990, SYR6717, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac0c5c.html [accessed 3 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to Syria: A Country Study, the Circassians are descendants of Muslim nomads who emigrated to Syria from the Caucasus after the Russian conquest (p. 60). This source further reports that about 55,000 Circassians live in the southwestern Hawran and that they are primarily farmers and also herd cattle (Ibid.).
There are different reports on the total population of the Circassians in Syria. The New Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that there are 35,000 Circassians in Syria (p. 326), the Encyclopedia Of The Third World, reports that there are 50,000 (p. 1881).
In his book The Struggle for Power in Syria, Nikolaos Van Dam notes that the Circassians are among the principal ethnic minorities in Syria (p. 15). He also points out that the Circassians are Sunni Muslim, and in that respect they belong to a majority of the Syrian population (Ibid.).
According to Syria: A Country Study, Syrians Arabs still somewhat distrust Circassians because they served as troops for the French during the French Mandate period. In spite of these difficulties the Circassians are gradually assimilating into the Arab population, a process facilitated because they are Sunni Muslim (p. 60).
Bibliography
The New Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 3, Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Encyclopedia Of The Third World, by George Thomas Kurian, vol. 3, Facts On Files Inc., New-York, 1987.
Syria: A Country Study, edited by Richard Nyrop, Washington: The Government Printing Office, 1979.
Van Dam, Nikolaos, The Struggle for Power in Syria, New-York: St. Martin's Press, 1979.
