Turkmen Terzi
The Turkish capital of Ankara has been witness to four attacks on Alevi houses of worship (cemevis) over the past weekend.
Hüsniye Şimşek, a lawyer representing the Alevi foundations targeted, says the chronology of the attacks indicates that the raids were “organised and planned beforehand”. Turkish police, however, maintain that a mentally unstable person was responsible for carrying out the attacks, dismissing the possibility of it having been a planned and co-ordinated attack.
Several Alevi leaders and opposition figures claim that the Turkish authorities are responsible for the attacks and that it is a ploy by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) which is sowing seeds of hatred among various groups in Türkiye, in the hope that creating a chaotic environment will provide a better chance of winning the election, as polls indicate that public support for Erdogan is declining.
Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ankara deputy Gamze Taşcıer, who visited the targeted Alevi associations, also expressed his doubts regarding the attacks.
“Nearly 10 hours elapsed between the first attack and the time he (the attacker) was caught. There is negligence here, but it’s the Interior Ministry that should investigate it,” he said.
Following the attacks, several Alevi federations and associations organised protests against the Turkish government in Ankara’s Mamak district where the attacks were carried out. The CHP and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) deputies, together with many civil society organisations, supported the Alevis’ protests.
Attacks against Alevis have increased in recent years. HDP lawmaker Ali Kenanoğlu posed a parliamentary question addressing Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu in October 2020, regarding the kind of legal proceedings the ministry has run against the assailants of the 36 publicly known hate crimes committed against Alevis during the past eight years.
Alevis are historically known as the largest religious minority group in Türkiye and they are known to carry out religious obligations and ceremonies, not in mosques, but in cemevis (a house or a place of gathering). Alevis make up as much as 20% of Türkiye’s population of 85 million. Türkiye is a majority Sunni country and millions of Türkiye’s religious, conservative masses view Alevis as apostates. Türkiye’s religious authority Diyanet does not recognise Cemevis as as places of worship. As a result, the mosques have civil servant imams and enjoy free electricity and water but Cemevis struggle to pay high energy bills as the Cemevis fall under the status of“commercial user” by municipalities and don’t have the government-paid clerics.
The Alevis’ situation in Türkiye has worsened since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. Turkish Alevis, historically and culturally, have strong ties with Syrian Alevis (Alawites). Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite sect and Türkiye’s Hatay city, bordering Syria, is home to a large number of Alevis who have family ties with the Alevis living in Syria.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has been opposing Erdogan’s support for opposition rebels groups against Assad. CHP deputies visited Assad to maintain relations with the Syrian government in the early years of the conflict as many CHP MPs and voters are known Alevis. Turkish Alevis, who are mainly supporters of the Left and pro-Kurdish HDP, oppose the AKP’s support for Syrian Sunni groups. Türkiye plays host to more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees who are mainly Syrian Sunnis, fuelling anger and fear over Turkish Alevis who are closer to Syrian Alevis. Turkish Alevis fear that the violence in Syria might spill over into Turkey since the bomb attack in Türkiye’s Reyhanli town, bordering Syria, killed 53 civilians in 2013.
Alevis have rioted several times against the Ottoman empire since the 15th century and they were persecuted many times for sympathising with Safavids, the dynasty responsible for converting Iran to Shia Islam. The Alevi faith is a branch of Shia Islam, and massacres by the Turkish state against the Alevi sect continued during the new Turkish Republic era as ten of thousands of Alevis were killed in 1937, following the Dersim (Tunceli) rebellion. Thousands of Alevis were killed in the Maraş Massacre of 1978, the Çorum Massacre of 1980 and the Sivas Massacre of 1993.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan launched an initiative called the “Alevi opening” in 2009, to understand and implement reforms and grant the sect religious rights. Notwithstanding this, the Alevis remain a religious minority group that has been one of the most negatively affected by AKP's authoritarianism since 2011. The sect has become increasingly vulnerable to all kinds of attacks in today’s toxic environment, fuelled by religious-ethnic tension that has been on the rise as the general elections to be held next year in Türkiye approaches.
The Star