Turkey’s Arabs are in need of support for preserving their cultural identity, Shukri Kirboga, president of an Arab-Turkish cultural association, told Arab News.
“Many of these residents know nothing of their original language,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is a prominent Islamic country that can play a big role in helping Arab minorities in several societies reconnect with their native mother tongue.”
“This is precisely why I chose to visit the Kingdom,” he said. “I came to appeal to Saudi leaders to provide support to the Arab community living in Turkey.”
There are more than 7 million Arabs living across 12 cities in Turkey, said Kirboga. “These communities, unfortunately, have no cultural support from Arab countries.”
Five million of these Arabs have supported more than 1 million Syrian refugees through providing humanitarian aid, while several Arab-Turkish tribes support the Free Syrian Army, he said.
Similarly, many Arab-Turks have strong ties with Arab tribes living in the northern regions of Syria.
Turkish Arabs, predominantly Muslim, mostly live along the southeastern border with Syria and Iraq in the Urfa, Batman, Bitlis, Gaziantep, Hatay, Mardin and Adana provinces of Turkey. In fact, most of Hatay’s residents are Arab.
Arabs on the eastern side of the border consist of Bedouin tribes, in addition to other Arabs who settled in the region before Turkic tribes — a collection of ethnic groups that live in central Asia, northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe — settled in Anatolia in the 11th century.
Arab society in Turkey is generally well-integrated into the Turkish population. Many still speak Arabic, in addition to Turkish.
“The current Turkish government allowed Arabic to be taught at Turkish schools and also allowed us to establish our association to preserve Arabian culture,” he said. “This government is unlike previous governments, which were anti-Arab and took action to take away our ethnic identity.”
One Turkish study estimates the Arab population to be anywhere between 1.1 percent and 2.4 percent of the total population, while an American estimate in 1995 pegged the figure at between 800,000 and 1 million residents.
A Turkish study conducted in 2006, however, concluded that less than one percent of the total population of Turkey is ethnically Arab.
Half a million Turkish residents spoke Arabic as a first language in 1992, according to another study.
By contrast, around 365,340 Turkish citizens, one percent of the total population in 1965, had Arabic as their mother tongue. In fact, more than half of this population could speak only Arabic at the time.
Turkey’s Arabs losing their identity
Turkey’s Arabs losing their identity
Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026
“I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem,” Milei said in a speech in the Israeli parliament during an official state visit.
Argentina’s embassy is currently located near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Several countries, including the United States, Paraguay, Guatemala and Kosovo, have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, breaking with international consensus.
Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, later annexing it in a move not recognized by the international community.
Israel treats the city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state.
Most foreign embassies to Israel are located in the coastal hub city of Tel Aviv in order to avoid interfering with negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
In 2017, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.
The United States transferred its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.
Syrian, Egyptian foreign ministers hold talks at Oslo Forum
- Lawmakers exchange views on challenges to regional security
LONDON: The foreign ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic and Egypt held talks on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum 2025 in Norway.
Asaad al-Shaibani and Badr Abdelatty discussed ways to improve collaboration between their countries and exchanged views on the challenges to security and stability in the region, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan also met Abdelatty on the sidelines of the forum to discuss bilateral relations and the escalating situation in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
The Oslo Forum is an annual event organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland. It provides a platform for global leaders, decision-makers and conflict mediators to share their experiences and discuss pathways to peace.
Smotrich’s move to cut bank ties risks Palestinian supply crisis
- The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism
JERUSALEM: An Israeli move to cut off cooperation with Palestinian banks could halt the supply of essential goods such as food and fuel to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said on Wednesday.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.
This move risks the Palestinian banking system, trade, and overall economy. Israeli banks Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank work with Palestinian banks.
Some 53 billion shekels ($15.2 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, official data show.
BACKGROUND
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the cancelation of a waiver on cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks on Tuesday.
Canceling the waiver would require approval by Israel’s security Cabinet. No date for a vote has been set, and it was not clear whether it would pass.
The PMA said it was following developments and warned that such disruption posed a serious threat to Palestinian access to basic goods and services.
It noted it has ongoing coordination with the political leadership and international community to safeguard correspondent banking relationships.
“These efforts are vital to ensuring the continuity of commercial transactions and the payment of essential imports and services, including food, electricity, water, and fuel,” the PMA said.
Smotrich said his decision came against the “delegitimization campaign” by the Palestinian Authority against Israel globally.
The waiver had allowed Israeli banks to process shekel payments for services and salaries tied to the Palestinian Authority, without the risk of being charged with money laundering and funding extremism.
Without it, Palestinian banks would be cut off from the Israeli financial system.
The PMA said depositors’ funds within the Palestinian banking sector are secure and that the banking system remains integrated with the global financial network through a broad range of correspondent banks and continues to provide services to individuals and businesses domestically and internationally.
Smotrich, under US pressure, had in late 2024 signed a waiver to extend cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks through November 2025.
In the past, Smotrich sought to end the waiver but ultimately signed it due to pressure from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His latest decision came hours after the UK and four other nations imposed sanctions on him and another far-right minister, accusing them of inciting violence in the West Bank.
The sanctions included a freeze on assets and travel bans.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the action by the five countries was “outrageous.”
Egypt backs ‘pressure on Israel’ but says Gaza actions need approval
- Foreign ministry says foreign delegations seeking to visit border area with Gaza must receive prior official approval
CAIRO: Egypt said on Wednesday that it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel” to lift its blockade on Gaza, but added that any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval through official channels.
Egypt “asserts the importance of putting pressure on Israel to end the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip,” the foreign ministry said as hundreds of activists in a Gaza-bound convoy head to the Egyptian border on their way to the besieged Palestinian territory, but added “we will not consider any requests or respond to any invitations submitted outside the framework defined by the regulatory guidelines and the mechanisms followed in this regard.”
Israeli strike kills one in Lebanon’s south
- Health ministry says Israeli drone strike hit the town of Beit Lif
BEIRUT: One person was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon, the health ministry reported, the latest deadly attack despite a November ceasefire.
“The raid carried out by an enemy Israeli drone on the town of Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in one martyr and three people injured,” read a statement from the ministry.
The official National News Agency said the strike targeted a house’s courtyard in the town, adding that a missile hit the homeowner’s car.
Israel has regularly bombed its northern neighbor since the November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with militant group Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.
The agreement required Hezbollah fighters to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle all military infrastructure to its south.
It also required Israel to withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in five positions it deems “strategic.”
