Özgür Özel, leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), in a speech on Friday said the Alevi community was being subjected to ongoing discrimination, the Kronos news website reported.
Speaking at the International Hacı Bektaş Veli Commemoration Ceremony and Cultural Arts Festival, Özel highlighted that members of the Alevi community were not treated as equal citizens. They faced discrimination and social exclusion, and their legitimate demands were ignored by the authorities.
“Turkey has failed to grant equal citizenship rights to Alevis, maintaining a form of discrimination that deeply wounds the nation’s conscience,” Özel said.
Alevis have historically been the largest religious minority group in Turkey, making up as much as 20 percent of Turkey’s 85-million-strong population. Incorporating Shiite, Sufi, Sunni and local traditions, Alevism is a strain of Islam that emerged in the Middle Ages.
Addressing the status of cemevis, Özel called for their official recognition as houses of worship for Alevis. “Cemevis are houses of worship for Alevis. They will also be houses of worship for us,” he said.
Turkey has long denied the demands of Alevis for state recognition, and cemevis — a place of worship and community gathering for the followers of Alevism — are not officially recognized by the state.
The Turkish government had launched an initiative called the “Alevi opening” in 2009, aimed at achieving a better understanding of the problems of Alevis through a series of workshops and enacting reforms based on that understanding. Yet, the government failed to follow the recommendations in a report based on the outcome of the workshops and only took some symbolic steps. Such promises as officially recognizing cemevis and changing the law regarding compulsory religious education classes were not kept.
Moreover, hate crimes against Alevi communities are common. Cemevis have occasionally been vandalized, with foul language and insults put on their walls.
