Turkey: Alevis are disadvantaged – even without a state of emergency

The state of emergency in Turkey was lifted, but the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns that this is not to be seen as an improvement regarding human rights and minority rights in the country. After decades of aggression and repression against the Kurdish population inside and outside the country, it is now the religious community of the Alevis that is under increasing pressure. They fear that Turkey is heading towards a “total Islamization”.

“Apart from that, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s policy of Islamization might also lead to more conflicts between Sunni Muslims and Alevis in Germany,” stated Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen on Thursday. The Alevis oppose of a radical interpretation of the Qur’an as propagated by Erdogan’s AKP party (and as is imposed on school children in religious education). Their idea of religious practice is quite liberal, containing several elements that are similar to Islam.

“The Turkish government is planning to have Alevi clergymen trained by the government’s Bureau for Religious Affairs, Diyanet, so that they can lead Alevi communities in both Turkey and Germany,” Sido stated. The Alevi community is furious about these plans of the government in Ankara. Aziz Aslandemir, deputy chairman of the Alevi community in Germany, stated: “Religion is a conscience decision. No one should be able to force someone else to follow a certain religion or denomination against his will – and religion should never be instrumentalized in politics.”

As an example of discrimination against the Alevis in Turkey, Sido mentioned the treatment of Alevi political prisoners. In Turkish prisons, they are not allowed to speak to Alevi clerics. In early July, the prison authorities in Silivri, a district of Istanbul, rejected the request of former Alevi MP Eren Erdem to contact an Alevi cleric. Instead, he was told that he could talk to a Sunni imam of Diyanet. “What the Turkish authorities are doing is an affront to the Alevis,” Sido emphasized. Alevis should have the right to talk to an “Ana” or a “Dede” – a female or a male clergy.

There are about 20 million Alevis living in Turkey, and up to 800,000 in Germany. There are Kurdish, Turkish, and Arabic-speaking Alevis. Their religion is based on the principle of oneness with God, as a means for man to strive for perfection – while Sunni Muslims emphasize the difference between God and man. Striving for perfection, it is important for many Alevis to support each other within their religious community, while Sunnis are focused on the individual goal of reaching paradise by fulfilling one’s duties. For Sunnis, the Alevi community’s belief that the soul is immortal is mere superstition – while Alevis oppose of the Islamic Sharia law. To them, the five pillars of Islam are irrelevant.

Header Picture: President of the Russian Federation via Wikimedia Commons