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REACHING OUT TO THE ALEVI COMMUNITY
Sabah Daily, Turkey
Oct 27 2014
Dogan EÅ~_kinat
27 October 2014, Monday
Last week, Turkish authorities rolled out their latest roadmap for
democratization that entails, among other things, the de-militarization
of the gendarmerie, which has jurisdiction over the country's most
remote areas. Despite major improvements that the government has
made over the past decade, the gendarmerie had been a particularly
problematic component of the Armed Forces due to their long history
of human rights abuses throughout the 1990s. Meanwhile, there is
talk in the backrooms of the Turkish capital that the government
will also take additional steps to alleviate the pressing problems
of the Alevi community, which constitutes roughly 15 percent of the
country's population, including the recognition of the cemevi as a
house of worship.
Daily Sabah readers have, of course, been aware of the Turkish
government's plans for some time. Speaking to this newspaper ahead
of the March 30 local elections, then-Deputy Prime Minister BeÅ~_ir
Atalay stated: "The state should embrace all its citizens and treat
them equally. ... The key point is the status of Cem houses [and]
we are working on this matter." Later, in April 2014, Ali Unal,
Daily Sabah's chief correspondent in the Turkish capital, authored a
follow-up story about the details of the government's reform agenda:
"Sources claim that ... the key point in the reform package will be
the status of cemevis. Currently, the cemevi, which literally means
a house of gathering, is not officially acknowledged as a place of
worship despite persistent demands on the matter from the country's
Alevi community." Again in July, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who was at the time campaigning for his current position, met with
the leaders of Alevi NGOs, which this newspaper identified as "a
sign that [he] will quickly pursue the Alevi opening ... if he takes
the presidential seat." Finally, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc
provided a timeline for the Alevi reforms during a live interview with
A Haber, a local news channel, and indicated that the government will
take concrete steps regarding the matter by year's end.
At a time when certain groups have eagerly seized the opportunity
to declare the end of the Kurdish reconciliation process in Turkey,
to which the Turkish authorities and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,
who is currently serving a life sentence on İmralı Island, remain
committed, the government's commitment to promote equal citizenship and
willingness to expand the reconciliation campaign beyond the Kurdish
community represents a crucial step toward a brighter future. It was
also noteworthy that the announcement came around the same time as
the appointment of Etyen Mahcupyan, a Turkish-Armenian journalist,
as chief advisor to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The greatest challenge ahead, of course, remains the threat of
reactionary groups and radicals within each community - something
that Ali Ä°hsan Å~^ahin, who serves as president of the Universal
Alevi-BektaÅ~_i Association, warned against in May 2014: "Such people
[the radicals] put Alevi-BektaÅ~_i designations in their organizational
names and exploit religious sentiments." Fuat Mansuroglu, an activist
who leads the European Ahl-al-Bayt Alevi Federation, concurred:
"We won't be deceived this time." Unwilling to let a small group of
extremists put an end to a long period of reform and democratization,
the authorities must present the people with a healthy blend of
freedom and security. The moderate majority among the Kurds, the
Armenians and the Alevis, in turn, should have the courage to speak
up and engage the proposals in a constructive manner.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/dogan-eskinat/2014/10/27/reaching-out-to-the-alevi-community
Sabah Daily, Turkey
Oct 27 2014
Dogan EÅ~_kinat
27 October 2014, Monday
Last week, Turkish authorities rolled out their latest roadmap for
democratization that entails, among other things, the de-militarization
of the gendarmerie, which has jurisdiction over the country's most
remote areas. Despite major improvements that the government has
made over the past decade, the gendarmerie had been a particularly
problematic component of the Armed Forces due to their long history
of human rights abuses throughout the 1990s. Meanwhile, there is
talk in the backrooms of the Turkish capital that the government
will also take additional steps to alleviate the pressing problems
of the Alevi community, which constitutes roughly 15 percent of the
country's population, including the recognition of the cemevi as a
house of worship.
Daily Sabah readers have, of course, been aware of the Turkish
government's plans for some time. Speaking to this newspaper ahead
of the March 30 local elections, then-Deputy Prime Minister BeÅ~_ir
Atalay stated: "The state should embrace all its citizens and treat
them equally. ... The key point is the status of Cem houses [and]
we are working on this matter." Later, in April 2014, Ali Unal,
Daily Sabah's chief correspondent in the Turkish capital, authored a
follow-up story about the details of the government's reform agenda:
"Sources claim that ... the key point in the reform package will be
the status of cemevis. Currently, the cemevi, which literally means
a house of gathering, is not officially acknowledged as a place of
worship despite persistent demands on the matter from the country's
Alevi community." Again in July, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who was at the time campaigning for his current position, met with
the leaders of Alevi NGOs, which this newspaper identified as "a
sign that [he] will quickly pursue the Alevi opening ... if he takes
the presidential seat." Finally, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc
provided a timeline for the Alevi reforms during a live interview with
A Haber, a local news channel, and indicated that the government will
take concrete steps regarding the matter by year's end.
At a time when certain groups have eagerly seized the opportunity
to declare the end of the Kurdish reconciliation process in Turkey,
to which the Turkish authorities and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,
who is currently serving a life sentence on İmralı Island, remain
committed, the government's commitment to promote equal citizenship and
willingness to expand the reconciliation campaign beyond the Kurdish
community represents a crucial step toward a brighter future. It was
also noteworthy that the announcement came around the same time as
the appointment of Etyen Mahcupyan, a Turkish-Armenian journalist,
as chief advisor to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The greatest challenge ahead, of course, remains the threat of
reactionary groups and radicals within each community - something
that Ali Ä°hsan Å~^ahin, who serves as president of the Universal
Alevi-BektaÅ~_i Association, warned against in May 2014: "Such people
[the radicals] put Alevi-BektaÅ~_i designations in their organizational
names and exploit religious sentiments." Fuat Mansuroglu, an activist
who leads the European Ahl-al-Bayt Alevi Federation, concurred:
"We won't be deceived this time." Unwilling to let a small group of
extremists put an end to a long period of reform and democratization,
the authorities must present the people with a healthy blend of
freedom and security. The moderate majority among the Kurds, the
Armenians and the Alevis, in turn, should have the courage to speak
up and engage the proposals in a constructive manner.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/dogan-eskinat/2014/10/27/reaching-out-to-the-alevi-community