Kamil Pasha

In a seeming about-face from recent government overtures to Turkey’s Alevi minority, Professor Ali Bardakoglu, head of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs, issued a statement Wednesday that rejected a request by Alevis to have their cemevis acknowledged as places of worship. At present, they are considered cultural institutions and, as such, do not receive support from the Directorate, which controls and funds mosques. Also, formal acknowledgment by the Directorate would allow Alevism to be included in school curricula which, at present teach exclusively Sunni Islam.

The Alevi are a syncretistic minority sect of Islam that combine elements of pre-Muslim ritual and Shi’a Islam. They do not worship in mosques, but have their own distinct rituals of worship carried out in cemevis. Alevis have been persecuted by the Sunni Muslim majority since Ottoman times. Between 15 and 20% of Turkey’s population is Alevi; many of them are Kurds.

The Directorate’s Bardakoglu: “The cemevi is not an alternate place of worship to the mosque. It is wrong to present cemevis as an alternative to mosques, as this will turn Alevism into an independent religion and will lead to the alienation of Alevis, a majority of whom see mosques as their places of worship, from Islam.”

This shows complete ignorance of Alevism and its rituals. No Alevi would consider a mosque an alternate place of worship to a cemevi. The government should follow through on the implicit promises it made to the Alevi community during Ramazan when Prime Minister Erdogan attended an Iftar meal with Alevi leaders. At that time, the government indicated it would look favorably upon Alevi attempts to enter the mainstream by applying for formal status so that the Directorate would fund cemevis as well as mosques as places of worship. At the time, the Alevi community was split on this, some arguing that coming under the Directorate would allow the government more control over Alevi activities. They needn’t have worried. It seems they were never invited in after all. (click for article)

Tags: Education, Kurds, Religion, Rights //