Prosopography: Alawites, Yazidis, and Armenians of Syria (Coursework Sample)

Prosopography
Alawites
Alawites are geographically situated in Syria with few of them in Turkey and Lebanon. They make up about 12% of Syria’s population. They are Sunni- Muslims like the majority of Muslims. They practice slightly different Islamic doctrines from the rest of the Sunnis. They follow Shiite interpretation for example that power should follow succession of bloodline. Alawites are more inclined to the Assad regime. Assad is an Alawite and built his government with people he trusted Alawites. At the onset of clashes Alawites rallied behind the Assad regime. The Alawites do not a have a good relationship with the ottomans. This was because they were trying to convert them to Sunni Muslims. In around the First World War, Alawites plotted to evacuate the French from their land. They fought for some time but Alawites maintain a good relationship with the French than the Germans (Rosen, 2011).
Armenians
There are about 100 thousand Armenians in Syria. About 60,000 live together. They are divided to three religions with the main religion being the Apostolic Armenians. Most Armenians live in urban areas concentrated in Aleppo then other cities like Latakia, Damascus, Qamashli etc. Some Armenians also belong to the catholic Christians and evangelical Armenians. The Armenians had a very bad experience with the ottomans. Over a million were killed in genocide before migrating and getting safety with the Arabs. Since then Armenians have had a good relationship with the Arabs. Though the Assad government received some support of Christians, apparently the relationship is no more. Armenians have reported being attacked by the government people and harassed (Collard, 2015).
Yazidi
Yazidi is an ethnic and religious group of people facing prosecution of ISIL as devil worshippers. There are about 10 000 Yazidis in Syria. Originally they were in Iraq around Sinjar. The world populations makes to about 700,000 people. They are of the Kurdish ethnic group. They are religious and follow Yazid...