Alevi workshop submits roadmap to government

The coordinator of the initiative, State Minister Faruk Çelik, told reporters after the meeting that they had invited everyone. “We are open to criticism, but we hope everybody appreciates the efforts of the government,” he said, adding that the end of the workshops does not mean the end of dialogue and efforts.

Çelik underlined that they will submit the results of the workshop to the government on Monday but that the detailed reports concerning all seven workshops which were held within the framework of the Alevi initiative will be submitted to the government at the end of February.

At the latest meeting, participants agreed that religious education should be divided -- topics that are related to religious philosophy should continue to be compulsory, but education regarding religious worship should be elective.

As stated in the Constitution, religious education is compulsory in Turkey during primary school. The Council of State last year ruled that students should not be required to attend religious courses that focus solely on Sunni Islam. The Ministry of Education made slight changes to the curriculum offered to primary school students and added a few pages of information on Alevism in religion books. Some Alevis are arguing that compulsory religious education should be abolished with a constitutional amendment.

At the Alevi workshop another consensus was on the recognition of legal status for cemevi, Alevi houses of worship.

Some Alevi organizations demand that the cemevi should be recognized as a place of worship, but the workshop suggested that a technical investigation should be conducted whether there will be any problem if the cemevi is given the status of a place of worship.

Another suggestion of the workshop was to turn the Madimak Hotel, where 37 Alevis were killed in 1993, into a park.

During the Alevi Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural and Literary Festival in July 1993, many participants who were staying at the Madımak Hotel in downtown Sivas found themselves besieged by an angry mob. The guests took refuge in the hotel, and the rioting crowd set surrounding cars and the hotel ablaze. When the fire was finally extinguished, 37 people were found dead, including two members of the mob and two hotel workers. The Madımak Hotel is still operating as a hotel, part of which serves as a kebab house.

Some Alevis demanded that the Madimak Hotel be turned into a museum, but the Alevi workshop suggested that the hotel and the surrounding area be turned into a park that also includes a memorial.

The suggestions of the workshop are not binding but will be submitted to the government as a suggested roadmap.