02/17/2023

Turkey earthquake

Systematic discrimination against Alevi regions

The Alevi communities in Pazarcik and Elbistan in the south-east of Turkey are complaining that they are systematically discriminated against with regard to aid supplies, emergency relief, and recovery operations – as reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) based on information from Alevi-Kurdish sources as well as the Federal Chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, Ali Toprak. “According to eyewitnesses, emergency response units did not reach the Alevi villages around Pazarcik until several days after the earthquake. The villages, where many people were buried under the rubble, were systematically ignored. Further, civilian aid measures are still blocked,” stated Tabea Giesecke, STP expert on ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, in Göttingen today. “This is a clear example of how the Turkish government is instrumentalizing the catastrophe to annihilate the country’s minority groups.”

Since the earthquake occurred, there are more and more Alevi-Kurdish initiatives that provide relief supplies and emergency aid – and bring donations from abroad to the affected areas. “The peoples’ trust in the Turkish government is deeply shaken. Now, the civil society is providing necessary help which the state is systematically holding back – and even that is a thorn in the side of the state,” Giesecke added. Thus, the governor of Maraş (Kahramanmaraş) in the Alevi community in Pazarcik had confiscated relief supplies and demanded civilian helpers to stop working. Now, a government administrator is supposed to organize the distribution. “This is a slap in the face of the Alevi community. The needy are deprived of aid that was intended for them. This shows how pervasive these discriminatory practices are,” Giesecke criticized.