According to the Ottoman census of 1543, the Aintab subdivision of the governorate-general of Aleppo contained all Turkmen fifteen tribes.Similar to the Armenians, the ethnic Turkish population of Aintab, the history of which goes back to the Beylik of Dulkadir, increased in the sixteenth century, as groups of Turkmen tribes (also known as Barak Turkmens) from Anatolia were forced to settle in the nearby villages, some of which gradually settled in the town, further Turkifying the ethnic makeup of the region.