AKP Versus Alevi?
It has been alleged that the beating of a shopkeeper in Keciören, a suburb of Ankara, for selling alcohol after 11 pm has another side: AKP discrimination against Alevis. The shopkeeper is an Alevi living in an AKP-run neighborhood where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also resides. Other Alevis have complained about discrimination and threats from the municipality and police. Alevis are a syncretistic Muslim sect whose members have often supported left-leaning parties as well as Ataturk’s secularist reforms, which Alevis hoped would free them from Sunni Muslim oppression dating back to Ottoman times. There are estimated to be around 20 million Alevis in Turkey. Many Kurds are Alevi. The mayor of Keciören denies that there is targeting of Alevis or that alcohol is banned in his district. (click for mayor’s response)
Excerpts from original article (click here for full article) :
In Keciören, with a population over 800,000, there are no restaurants selling alcoholic beverages, with a mere 163 shops selling alcohol allowed to remain open only until 11:00 p.m. In 1994, there were 14 restaurants serving alcohol, but all of them were shut down a few years after the election in 1994 of [Mayor Turgut] Altinok, who is affiliated with the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
Locals said, however, that what was reflected in the media about the recent incident was just the tip of the iceberg of the discriminatory municipal practices. “There is a municipality-motivated polarization and discrimination in the region, which was almost divided into two sections — where the leftists, including Alevis, are gathered and where the AKP electorate lived,” said Haci Ali Gölpinar, an executive member of the Freedom and Democracy Party, or ÖDP, and Keciören Solidarity Center director. “The municipality makes a great investment in the areas where their electorates live, ignoring the others parts… where people with leftist ideas reside.”
Gölpinar also said the alleged “A Team,” a group of people working under the authority of the municipality, beat couples for holding hands and attacked shop owners who sold alcoholic beverage after 11:00 p.m…
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