아프리카ㆍ중동

The Purpose of this study is to analyze how the Alawites, as a religious minority, came in to power and have integrated the people in the Syria. Alawites are a secretive off-shoot of Shia Islam who reveres Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. The minorities were formed by ethnic and national factors but religion, language, customs and culture. Generally, people regard that the most of population are Arabs and Muslims in 속 middle East. It is a matter of course that the majority is Arab Muslims in the Arab world. In fact, however, there are different minorities which have it`s origin in ethnic, religion, and language. Therefore, before discussion about Arabs we should remember that the Middle East is not unitary religious or ethnic areas, on the contrary, many different minorities have played their role in the Middle East history. In addition, I can say that their role was far superior to Arab Muslims. Usually, when the relationship is unequal in a society or state, minority problems occurred. And the most of cases, generally, the minority is excluded from political decision-making processes and degraded to social weak. However, the Alawites in Syria have assert authority since seized political power through military coups in 1960th, despite they are always minority in history, and their population is just 11% of Syria. Indeed, vary small minority group rule with an iron hand the Arab Sunni Muslims, the biggest majority in the Middle East. It can be said the Alawites` success is due to three main factors, kinship, Ba`th Party and Military Power. In the chaos that followed the dissolution of the UAR, a coalition of left-wing groups led by the Ba`th seized power in 1963. On one side, Ba`th regime was a group of young military officers, mostly Alawites communities. And Hafiz al-Asad, the former Syrian president, is the center of Ba`th Party. Behind him - in the officer corps of the armed forces, the intelligence services, the palace guard and the ruling Baath Party command - stand thousands of his fellow Alawites, members of a minority religious sect who owe their fortunes and their influence exclusively to Asad family patronage. Since Asad grasped the power, Alawites` dominance is never openly discussed, however. It is a taboo in Syria to speak publicly about Alawites power or the power of any other minority. Syrian nationalism and Arab nationalism weresupposed to have erased sectarian identities, under the ruling philosophy of the Asad government. Indeed, the Syrian Regime presented itself as an Arab Ideological one, genuinely committed to its worldview and vision for future. At the present time, Syrian president Bashar al-Asad inherited the presidency in 2000 from his father who ruled with an iron grip for three decades. He worked hard to divert attention away from religious differences and drove home a message of Syrian unity. But social differences remained and many Alawites were abandoned by a state so closely associated with their sect in the minds of most Syrians. We have a real fear of the future. The regime in Iraq was made up of the minority, the Sunnis, and they ruled over the majority, the Shia. Look what happened after the fall of the regime.