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The settlement of tunisian immigrants in Syria in the beginning of the 20 century... 377

transportation, building their houses, giving agricultural land for them
to farm, and finally supplying agricultural tools and equipment. Until
this process took place they were hosted in various private and public
buildings.
The period when the immigrants came to the Ottoman lands was
coincided with a period of great economic and political depression for the
Ottomans. This situation can be also followed from the Ottoman policies
of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the beginning of the 19th century,
when immigration began to intensify, the immigrants were exempted
from military service and taxes for up to 25 years. But these exemptions
followed a course in parallel with the deterioration of the state in
economic and military terms. In other words, these exemptions gradually
decreased to 2 years. Of course, in this case, it the immigrants sufferred
the most. Specific to Syria, the exemptions have decreased from 25 to 6
years similar to the other parts of the empire.
In addition, there are other immigrants who came here during the
settlement of Tunisian immigrants to Syria. As mentioned before,
Syria was one of the Ottoman lands where settlement activities were
intense, and many immigrants from the Balkans, Caucasus, Libya,
Hejaz, and Algeria, along with Tunisian immigrants, were included in
the Syrian immigration history and demographic structure in the 20th
century.

Conclusions

Tunisia, which had an important position in terms of both Mediter-
ranean influence and trade between the two continents of Europe and
Africa, had been under the sovereignty of many states throughout its
history. The Ottoman State, becoming stronger in the 16 century and
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wanted to dominate the Mediterranean, entered into a great struggle
with Spain to control Tunisia. The Ottoman State succeeded in con-
quering the region in 1574, ruled the region for more than three hun-
dred years, until France occupied Tunisia in 1881. Muslims living
there would preferred to migrate to the Ottoman Empire instead of
living under the French regime. Therefore, the Ottoman State then had
to deal with the immigration of the Muslims from Tunisia as well as
losses caused through the loss of Tunisia. The arrival of long-term im-
migrants from Algeria as well as Tunisia has been showing the effects
of French policies in the region since 1830 . The Ottoman government
55
sent some of the refugees from Tunisia to Syria, thinking that the ge-
ographical and climate conditions would be suitable for these refugee

55 N. Amara, Faire la France en Algérie cit., p. VII.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Agosto 2023
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)