Cyprus-Forum.com

[repulsewarrior]

It is not much as news, but then so little is written about the migrants themselves; they are mostly numbers, a big 'problem', instead of people.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... 9-93108473

...interesting article.

What comes to mind is that as time goes by, more and more of these people will seek Citizenship as they are entitled to, after 5 years...

[repulsewarrior]

Turkey: Container Cities, Uprooting Alevis, Fear of Infiltrating Jihadis

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7922/ ... ner-cities

...wrong place, on purpose?

"This is a policy of forcing Alevis to immigration and dissolving the Alevi population," said Gani Kaplan, the head of the Pir Sultan Abdal Alevi Cultural Association. "We are not against immigrants, but it is impossible for us to live alongside jihadists in the same village."

The province of Sivas is also a terrible choice by the government to build another container city for "refugees": Alevis in Sivas have already been exposed to a deadly attack there at the hands of Islamists.

"After the attempt to build a refugee camp in the middle of the Alevi villages... where the [1978] massacre happened -- is it a coincidence that you are building yet another refugee camp in the predominantly Alevi town of Divrigi in Sivas -- where the [1993] massacre... took place? What is the objective of all of that?" — Zeynep Altiok, an MP from the Republican People's Party (CHP).

The denial of the Alevi faith seems to be an effective way of assimilating Alevis into the Islamic culture or making them "invisible." There are also other methods -- such as trying to change the demographic character of the predominantly Alevi places by building container cities in the middle of Alevi villages.

[repulsewarrior]

...interesting reading,

The sociologist, however, is concerned about the impact of the state of emergency law on Alevi communities of eastern Turkey. He said, "One of my colleagues in Dersim, an Alevi of about 60 years of age, told me, 'People of Istanbul or Izmir do not know what emergency law means, but for us, all of our life will be altered.' Now the city faces a double-edged sword with multiple areas announced as 'special sections' where your freedom of movement is significantly curtailed. Particularly people who are engaged in farming or raising livestock are quite bitter because their livelihood is directly affected by these regulations. They are angry against the government as well as the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party]. … They also fear Islamic State [IS] attacks. There are rumors that Syrians settled in nearby areas are indeed IS supporters and that their first goal is to attack Dersim. Streets are deserted, people are scared to hold gatherings."

There are several issues that deeply worry the Alevi community. Alevis are not a homogenous group. While most are Turkish and some are quite nationalistic, there are those who are ethnic Kurds. But all are secular, so the intensification of Islamic rhetoric since July 15 scares Alevis.

Both on the day of the coup and thereafter, Erdogan's and other government officials' first reaction to terror attacks has been "the call to prayer will not stop." As comforting as this may be to some residents of Turkey, Alevis have suffered for decades of Sunnification. Building mosques and sending imams to Alevi towns have been a time-honored tradition of the Turkish government.

Now, Dersim suffers from this effort in another way, as a resident of Dersim told Al-Monitor. "They have put loud speakers into the mescit [prayer section] of the university, and now the whole city has to listen to the call to prayer five times a day. It is torture for us. We cannot hold our festival or visit our holy places due to security concerns. It is as if they would like us to leave our town. But if we go, we will be forced to assimilate so we stay where we can practice our faith," said the resident.

In addition, it has been all over the news that different Sunni religious orders have been allowed to perform their dhikr (devout Sufi chanting) ceremonies at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, just as they have been openly performing them at the democracy rallies since July 15. These performances could be enchanting for the believers of a religious order, yet worrisome for others. Considering members of such religious orders openly brag about naming Istanbul's new bridge that opened on Aug. 26 after Sultan Selim the Grim, who was notorious for his Alevi massacres in Anatolia, the ruling Justice and Development Party's [AKP] insistence on this name has alienated Alevis once more. Meanwhile, any talk about Alevi demands, such as the legal status of their prayer houses and exceptions to compulsory religious education for their children, are muted under the emergency law.



Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... z4KGSjMhzU