Well, ladies and gents,
I think the time has come to wrap up this topic. I think that from the ample material posted in here by all participants, anyone can draw his/her conclusions of whether the Alevi issue will/can be the next “Kurdish problem” of Turkey.
But before concluding my posts I will answer two questions asked by stpier.
1. How can the Alevis not be Turkish but be Kemalists and leftists?
2. Are the Sunni and Alevi Turks or “Turks” one and the same in Turkey?
Well, the answers to both are included and analyzed in the two articles-sources below. But before I submit the links to them, I will make two comments of my own.
It is self understood that ALL minority groups in Turkey, many of which are also religious minorities (Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Alevis, Alawites, Syriacs etc) would rather live under a secular/Kemalist regime, than under an Islamic one, which the likes of Erdogan would like/try to impose. Need I explain why? I don’t think so.
In any event, the particular case of the Alevis is analyzed below.
As to the question of, how can the Alevis NOT be Turks if they are leftists, well, apart from laughing hard I would ask. Are the Marxist and leftist PKK members Turks?
Now then, here are the articles I was referring to. I will quote here just some paragraphs from each one:
Alevis and the Turkish State:
………
“The cemetery is the only place where discrimination ends,” says a man
from an Alevi foundation in Eskişehir, although Eskişehir is one of the cities
where least discrimination is reported. These social pressures date old:
Alevis were given different names with deragatory meanings (rejectionist,
irreligious, unbeliever, and red head–Kızılbaş) since the Ottoman times,
because, the Ottoman state perceived Alevis as a threat, fearing that they could
shift their loyalty to the Safavid Empire, whose main religion was Shi’ism.7 The
deeply-rooted prejudices stood time, and as the Sunni Islam remained the officially
recognized belief in the Turkish state, contempt for Alevism continued”
and
……….
“According to the Alevi federations, while the “Alevi Opening” started as a step
towards reconciliation, the process and the end report turned out to be just another futile effort of the State to create “their own” (meaning, loyal) Alevis.
(You hear that stpier?)
Whole article here in pdf
http://www.turkishpolicy.com/article/67 ... nter-2012/And here in plain text
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... clnk&gl=grAnd last but not least, the very famous devotion of Alevis to kemalism and…leftism!
Turkish Alevis: The Missing Voice on Sectarianism and the Syrian Conflict
By admin
Apr 22, 2013 • 6:05 pm No Comments
By Senay Imre
……………………….
“Alevism and Kemal Ataturk’s roads intersected during Ataturk’s efforts to build a secular Turkish state toward the late 1920s. Ataturk’s reformation created new institutions. The Society for the Study of Turkish History was influential in shaping Turkish identity today. The society’s first and foremost sensational work was the Turkish Historical Thesis. The thesis argued that Turks originally lived in Central Asia and had to migrate to China, Europe and the Near East due to famine and drought. Turks were actually the founders of the first civilizations: Sumerians and Hittites in the Near East. Further, Atilla and Ghengis Khan were Turkish warriors, and Anatolia was the land of Turks years before the Ottoman Empire claimed it for itself. Ataturk used this thesis as a tool to build a national identity united under a proud common heritage and separate from the Ottoman identity.
In search of the “model Turk” Turkish Historical Thesis researchers turned to the secular, liberal and democratic Alevis. During their research, ethnologists found the Alevism and Bektashi order in Anatolia. They found a relationship between Alevism and Haci Bektas Veli, and Veli with the first known poet who wrote in Turkic dialect: Ahmet Yesevi. Yesevi lived in Central Asia, primarily in Horasan and Turkistan; the homelands of Turks. As a result, Alevis emerged as the model Turk for the “Turkification” project. They were secular, they had a liberal ideology, they had loose Islamic sensitivity, they were in harmony with the Republic’s perspective and they had the needed historical ties that went back to Central Asia and Anatolia.
Detaching the Turkish identity from its Ottoman cultural and traditional roots was Ataturk’s main objective and the Alevi faith proved instrumental in achieving this goal. However, while Alevis were identified as model Turks and representatives of secularism initially, their position was not static. When Kurdish Alevis protested against the Ankara government, they inadvertently changed the conception of the Alevi identity, causing tension between Alevis and other faiths, such as the Sunni majority. The Dersim Uprising of 1937-1938 turned the Turkish government’s understanding of Alevis upside-down. Alevis became identified with Kurds, many of which were anti-Turkification. (Kurds make up 20 percent of Alevis living in Turkey today.) No longer were all Alevis considered Turks or Turkic, and they began to face extreme hostility, oppression and discrimination.
Dedication to secularism, modernism and the republican ideology influenced many Alevis to take part in the radical leftist movements in Turkey throughout the last 50 years. It could be argued that their current support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is connected with their deep interest in the leftist ideology.”
...............
Erdogan’s constant Islamic and anti-secular speeches are not helping to defuse the sectarian tension accelerated after the Syrian crisis. The media’s role in this matter also should not be taken for granted. Headlines such as “Alevi officers are massacring the civilians” or “Alevis in Turkey are organizing to fight next to Alevis in Syria” are all serving the same purpose: stirring up sectarian tension. While Alevi leaders are denying any kind of unity against Syrian opposition groups, they don’t hesitate to express that Alawites in Syria needs protection. “Our rituals are different but we have strong spiritual bond between us” says one Alevi leader who remembers the shameful crimes committed against Alevis in Turkey. For Alevis, AKP renewal of sectarian tension brings back memories of the Dersim Massacre in 1937, Malatya Massacres in 1960s and ’70s, the Maras Massacre in 1978, the Corum Massacre in 1980s and the Sivas Massacre in 1993 for Alevis. When remembering all of these painful memories, it seems natural if Alevis empathize and sympathize with a minority group somewhere else.
See full article:
http://thenewcontext.milanoschool.org/t ... -conflict/
Exactly what part of this statement can't you understand? They are Kemalists, they are supporters of TRNC, brothers of Turkish Cypriots and enemies of enosis dreamers.
TURKS UNITED against the enemy.
