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Syrian Turkmen have had a presence in Syria since the 11th century. The first recorded entry of free Turkmen troops into Syria was in 1064 when the Turkmen prince Ibn Khan and 1,000 of his archers entered Aleppo. He came at the request of the Arab Mirdasid emir Atiyya ibn Salih to assist him against his own Banu Kilab tribesmen who backed a rival Mirdasid emir, Mahmud ibn Nasr. Turkmen rule in the region began with the Seljuk conquests in the Middle East. The Seljuk Turks opened the way for mass migration of Turkish nomads once they entered northern Syria in 1071, and took Damascus in 1078 and Aleppo in 1086. By the 12tn century the Turkic Zengid dynasty (a vassal of the Seljuk Empire) continued to settle Turkmes in the wilayah of Aleppo to confront attacks from the Crusaders. In return for their military service, the Turkic rulers distributed fiefs in the area to the Turkmen.