Bayirbucak ( Turkish: Bayırbucak) is a region in the Latakia District of the Latakia Governorate in northwestern Syria. There is a considerable Syrian Turkmen presence in the area have strong cultural and historical ties with Turkey. [1] [2]
Bayirbucak's most distinctive mountain is Turkmen Mountain ( Arabic: جبل تركمان; Jabal Turkman, [3] Turkish: Türkmen Dağı)
Bayirbucak is a Turkish exonym, and not the official name for the region, which is Al-Rabiaa subdistrict. The word Bayırbucak comes from two different words in Turkish: bayır (en: hillside) and bucak (en: district). According to Ottoman archival documents, Bayir was the official name of the district (nahiye) in the Ottoman period. [4]
On 24 November 2015, two Turkish F-16s shot down one of two Russian Su-24 fighter jets, which violated Turkish airspace while in an operation to attack militia in Bayirbucak. One Russian pilot was killed by Turkmen forces. [5] [6] [7]
Russian aerial bombardments during the 2015–16 Latakia offensive resulted in a very difficult situation in the Bayirbucak Turkmen regions, causing almost all Turkmens to flee the region to Turkey. [8]