| Basatin al-Assad بساتين الأسد Bisitîn [1] (Beseteen - بساتين) | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
  Basatin al-Assad | |
| Coordinates: 35°7′55″N35°57′26″E / 35.13194°N 35.95722°E | |
| Country |  |
| Governorate | Tartus |
| District | Baniyas |
| Subdistrict | Baniyas |
| Population (2004) [2] | |
| • Total | 3,228 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Basatin al-Assad (Turkish : Bisitîn, [1] Arabic : البيضة, translit. Basateen) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located north of Tartus. Nearby localities include Baniyas to the north, Kharibeh to the southeast and al-Bayda to the south. It is situated just east of the Mediterranean coast.
Turkish, also referred to as Istanbul Turkish, is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around ten to fifteen million native speakers in Southeast Europe and sixty to sixty-five million native speakers in Western Asia. Outside Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official language, even though Turkey is not a member state.
The romanization of Arabic writes written and spoken Arabic in the Latin script in one of various systematic ways. Romanized Arabic is used for a number of different purposes, among them transcription of names and titles, cataloging Arabic language works, language education when used in lieu of or alongside the Arabic script, and representation of the language in scientific publications by linguists. These formal systems, which often make use of diacritics and non-standard Latin characters and are used in academic settings or for the benefit of non-speakers, contrast with informal means of written communication used by speakers such as the Latin-based Arabic chat alphabet.
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon to the southwest, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians, Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Isma'ilis, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Yazidis, and Jews. Sunni make up the largest religious group in Syria.
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Basatin al-Assad had a population of 3,288 in the 2004 census. [2] The inhabitants of Basatin al-Assad, as well as Baniyas city, al-Bayda and Marqab, are predominantly Sunni Muslims, in contrast to much of the area which is largely inhabited by members of the Alawite community. [3]
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is the statistical agency responsible for the gathering of "information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions" in the Syrian Arab Republic. The office is answerable to the office of the Prime Minister and has its main offices in Damascus. The CBS was established in 2005 and is administered by an administrative council headed by the deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
Margat, also known as Marqab from the Arabic Qalaat al-Marqab, is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. It is located around 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the Mediterranean coast and approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Baniyas. The castle remained in a poor state of preservation until 2007 when some reconstruction and renovation began.
The Alawis, also rendered as Alawites, are a sect of the Ghulat branch of Shia Islam, primarily centred in Syria. The eponymously-named Alawites revere Ali, considered the first Imam of the Twelver school. However, they are considered to be ghulat by orthodox Shia Islam. The group is believed to have been founded by Ibn Nusayr during the 9th century and fully established as a religion. For this reason, Alawites are sometimes called Nusayris, though the term has come to be used as a pejorative in the modern era. Another name, "Ansari", is believed to be a mistransliteration of "Nusayri".
