The president's visit to the predominantly Alevi city of Tunceli has been received with great enthusiasm by representatives of the Alevi community, with most stating that the president's message was very important for establishing social peace and mutual confidence. For years, the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate has not granted cemevis the status of place of worship. According to Metin Tarhan of the İstanbul Erikli Baba Cemevi, Gül's visit was a historic moment.
“Tunceli is a very important center for the Alevi community. The president’s visit is very important and pleasing for the Alevi community. The president’s message on equality has really excited and caught the interest of the Alevi community because the concept of equality is central to Alevi culture and the president had grasped that really well.” Tarhan said in that respect, the president’s visit had contributed to the desire of Alevis to live together with other individuals in society, establishing social peace. “I believe this has been a historic visit. The president is a very respectful and polite person. Taking his shoes off upon entering the cemevi shows that he is aware of Alevi traditions.” Tarhan said the visit had boosted the community’s morale.
‘Words should turn into deeds’
Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association Chairman Fevzi Gümüş agreed, but said the concrete results of the visit are yet to be seen. “The president’s words are very good, but these should change into realities. I also would like to invite the prime minister to the demonstration we are holding on Nov. 8 for equal citizenship.” He said earlier that Süleyman Demirel, who regularly visited the annual Hacı Bektaş festival -- a major event for the Alevi community -- had failed to stop discrimination against Alevis. “This approach and his words are important, but it is more important that they are applied.”
Workshop to focus on media representation of Alevis The next workshop in a series currently being held by the government in an attempt to understand and address the problems faced by Turkey’s Alevi communities will focus on the perception and representation of Alevis in the media. Some of the participants have said the workshops mark the first time that the government is taking serious steps concerning the problems of Alevis. The next workshop will take place in İstanbul on Nov. 11. Representatives from 45 media organizations will be participating. Habertürk Television Editor-in-Chief Yiğit Bulut, who will be joining the workshop, stated that for the first time in Turkey a government was taking serious steps to deal with the problems of Alevis. Ali Bulaç, a journalist and an author who will also join the workshop, said the media have misrepresented the relationship between Alevis and Sunnis. “The Alevi question is not a problem between Sunnis and Alevis but between Alevis and the state. For this reason, it is very wrong to depict these problems as they exist between two segments of society.” Agos newspaper Editor-in-Chief Etyen Mahçupyan said, “I believe that there will be differences of opinion among Alevis themselves, and there will be a platform for discussion there.” He stated that Alevis have been subject to various human rights violations, noting that these had to be addressed first. Some of the media representatives who will join the workshop include Ali Bulaç, Ali Kırca, Ahmet Hakan, Ali Bayramoğlu, Can Dündar, Emre Kongar, Erdal Şafak, Ergun Babahan, Ertuğrul Özkök, Etyen Mahçupyan, Fehmi Koru, İsmail Küçükkaya, Mehmet Ali Birand, Mehmet Barlas, Mustafa Karaalioğlu, Oral Çalışlar and Ömer Laçiner. |
The president’s visit to an ethnically and religiously unique city like Tunceli was an important step according to Şenol Kaluç, head of the Alevi-Bektaşi Research Center of the Liberal Thought Society. “Instead of making this step a subject for politics, we should see it as a contribution to Turkey’s societal peace. Although it is a late step, it is still an important achievement that the president opened the academic year in a university here and listened to the local people’s problems. It is also very important as far as the government’s ‘democratic initiative’ and the ‘Alevi initiative’ are concerned that he stated that Tunceli is different from all other places. It is extremely important that he visited a cemevi and accepts this difference. Since the president and the prime minister come from the conservative segment of society, I think that this segment will also be more positive in supporting this initiative. This visit, from a legal viewpoint, amounts to the highest state official recognizing Alevis. The state has always ignored [Alevis] until today. … This is the removal of a psychological barrier.”
The head of the Hacı Bektaşi Federation, Ali Balkız, also expressed his opinion that the president’s visit was tacit acknowledgement of the state’s negligence of Alevis for years. “There are serious demands from Alevi Bektaşi organizations to grant cemevis a legal status. There are workshops going on as part of a process launched by the government. We expect the president to continue encouraging these efforts.”
Celal Karagöz, head of the Association to Spread the Hacı Bektaşı Veli Culture, which operates the cemevi Gül visited in Tunceli on Thursday, said the president’s visit had two significant messages. “One is that, our president lit a candle like all the other residents and made a wish [in the cemevi]. The second meaning was the acceptance of Alevi demands that cemevis are recognized as places of worship. This was tacitly confirmed, saying ‘this is a place of worship.’ This was very important. We also had the opportunity to request the establishment of an Alevi academy,” Karagöz said, speaking to the NTV channel.
In response to a question on whether the cemevi rituals had been explained to the president, Karagöz said: “No, we didn’t tell him anything. He showed great respect and sensitivity. Earlier, we had been told to bring in chairs, but he ordered that the chairs be taken out, he took his shoes off and he asked for the candle himself. Honestly, we did not expect this; we were surprised. He was most kind to us.” He said Gül did not directly reply to requests stated by his association, but returned these with a smile. “I told him [our demand for cemevi status], but the opportunity to get a response did not arise. We also asked for an Alevi academy in Tunceli. The main problem with Alevis is their failure to express themselves.”
He also said that Gül’s visit had proven moot an earlier statement by the Religious Affairs Directorate that cemevis are not places of worship. “The head of state came here and saw it. We are hoping that the Religious Affairs Directorate will withdraw this statement.” Gül’s visit came at a time when the government has been organizing a series of workshops that aim to find solutions to problems faced by Turkey’s Alevi population. Karagöz said, “We hope that this visit will accelerate the workshop process.” However, he criticized the workshops saying: “We haven’t really gotten the point with these workshops. Is it that Alevi demands are so heavy that they needed workshops, which weren’t held even with the southeastern [Kurdish] initiative. The demands of Alevis haven’t been resolved in the past five workshops. We hope this will play a role in the solution.”
President Gül in Elazığ
After his visit to Tunceli, President Gül went to Elazığ, where he attended a dinner organized by Elazığ Governor Muammer Erol. Speaking during this event, Gül said Turkey’s neighbors would no longer dare support the separatist terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In his speech, he emphasized Turkey’s recent successful growth, noting the country’s gross national product (GNP) had neared $1 trillion, making Turkey the sixth biggest economy in Europe. He also said Turkey’s democracy was maturing and that Turkey was a shining star in the international arena. “We need to handle, finish all these [problems.] Did the terrorist organization grow by itself? Who helped it? Even our closest allies, our neighbors helped it. … They would use any weakness a country has against it. But today we are in a good place. The whole world has understood that Turkey is valuable as a friend and being an enemy of Turkey works against oneself. For this reason, this [terror] will not be allowed in the region. Both Iraq, northern Iraq, Syria, the US and the EU now understand this.”
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