According to "The Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics", the Turkish language is the third most widely used language in Syria (after Arabic and Kurdish). It is spoken by the Turkmen minority mostly in villages east of the Euphrates, north of Aleppo, and on the northern coast of the country, along the Syrian-Turkish border. In addition, there are Turkish language islands in the Qalamun area and the Homs area. Moreover, Syrian Arabic dialects have also borrowed many loanwords from Turkish. Mustafa Khalifa claims that, Turkmen are divided into two groups: Rural Turkish-speaking Turkmen, constituting 30% of Syrian Turkmen, and Urban Arabic-speaking Turkmen.