Alevis in Europe

Voices of Migration, Culture and Identity

Tözün Issa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317182641
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

The Alevis are a significant minority in Turkey, and now also in the countries of Western Europe. Over the past century, many of them have migrated from rural enclaves on the Anatolian plateau to the great cities of Istanbul and Ankara, and from there to the countries of the European Union. This book asks who are they? How do they construct their identities – now and in the past; in Turkey and in Europe?

A range of scholars, writing from sociological, historical, socio-psychological and political perspectives, present analysis and research that shows the Alevi communities grouping and regrouping, defining and redefining – sometimes as an ethnic minority, sometimes as religious groups, sometimes around a political philosophy - contingently responding to circumstances of the Turkish Republic's political position and to the immigration policies of Western Europe. Contributors consider Alevi roots and cultural practices in their villages of origin; the changes in identity following the migration to the gecekondu shanty towns surrounding the cities of Turkey; the changes consequent on their second diaspora to Germany, the UK, Sweden and other European countries; and the implications of European citizenship for their identity.

This collection offers a new and significant contribution to the study of migration and minorities in the wider European context.

Part I

Alevism: Roots and practices

1An introduction to Alevism: Roots and practices

Hayal Hanoğlu¹

Akan dört ırmağın gözün sorarsan
Serçeşme’ den gelir suyun durusu

—Aşık İsmail²

If you ask the source of the four flowing rivers
the limpid water comes from Serçeşme³

Introduction

This chapter explores Alevism as a faith of multi-ethnic Central and Eastern Anatolian communities and stresses its distinction from Islam – not as a heterodox branch but, in contrast, as a unique belief system. Despite the discussions that touch debates around the ethnic origin of Alevism, this chapter will explore roots and practices as an introduction to Alevism through fundamentals of historical trajectory and the essential rituals.

Although the chapter focuses on Alevism in Turkey⁴, it is useful to mention that Alevis are a wide population in the Middle East and Anatolia and a minority faith group in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. Alevis from Anatolia and those from Syria/Lebanon are different in their practice of the religion, so Anatolian Alevis do not associate themselves with those in Syria and Lebanon. Alevis in Turkey could not express their religious identity openly until the 1980s, so the exact number of population is still unknown; however, an estimated one-third of the general population in Turkey are Alevis (Shindeldecker 1998).

Making generalisations about Alevism is difficult. There are many diverse Alevi communities in parts of Turkey. Rituals and practices of these communities are different from each other because of the ethnic or geographic, cultural distinctions, thereby the roots of Alevism is a hotly debated area. In the last decades, Alevism started to be widely discussed in the public sphere as to whether it is a sect of Islam or a separate faith from Islam. There are varied viewpoints: some of them think ‘Alevis are genuine Muslims’, and others defend it by saying ‘Alevism is not a religion, it is a way of life’. There are even a number of Alevis who prefer to answer the question of their ethnic origin as ‘I am Alevi’.

Alevism originated long before Islam in Anatolia and Mesopotamia (Bayrak 2004; 2013; McDowall 2003); however, the Islamic world has ignored it in their ‘mutual’ region, and the followers have been considered as ‘infidels’ or ‘heretics’, simply because they do not believe and practice in the same way. Due to its ‘prohibited’ status, Alevism as a belief system secretly lived in Anatolian communities, and belief and teachings transmitted only through traditional oral elements, as manifested in deyiş and nefes⁵.

Despite the influence of Islam, Alevism has retained its unique belief system and teachings. Unlike this claim, most of the scholars have seen Alevism as a heterodox form of Islam, or as part of one of the two major sects of Islam. However, both belief systems show clear fundamental differences and have been in tension since the spread of Islam. The historical background of Alevis that consists of struggling for survival, and of suffering discrimination and a threat of extermination from Sunni Islam, is crucial for understanding the formation of Alevi population around the world.

Until recently, the origin of Alevism was a censored topic in Turkey because of its close association with social and political debates. Differing viewpoints regarding its origins are partly due to its perception as an unrecognised and oppressed faith, preventing open discussions. However, as Alevism could not be visible as a faith throughout history, it became conceived as a ‘world view’, as in their struggle for recognition many of them aligned themselves with a leftist political ideology. Alevis did not always agree and even challenged leftist ideology for its lack of understanding of identity issues beyond that of ‘class struggle’ and ‘anti-­religious positioning’, albeit providing significant support for the leftist parties and organisations during the political struggles. Such ambiguity played a primary role in the social identity formation of Alevis that created a dilemma between religious peculiarities and atheist discourse. Although this chapter concerns the historical trajectory until the founding of the Turkish Republic, social and political formation of Alevism in modern times should be also explored⁶. For a clear understanding of Alevism, many components need to be explored in a wider perspective than the scope of this chapter.

Origins of Alevism

As the term ‘Alevism’ covers various interpretation and practices of the belief system, the vast majority of the Alevi population in Turkey are of Kizilbash or Bektashi origins. Mélikoff (2007) defines the distinction through the old Ottoman period and distinguishes these two societies as nomadic or semi-nomadic Kizilbashis, and Bektashis those settled in Tekkes⁷. Loyalty to Haji Bektash Veli is a characteristic point that brings Kizilbashis and Bektashis under the umbrella of Alevism. Both Kizilbash and Bektashi groups believe in virtually the same faith, however, structured separately through history. Bektashi belief is presumed to have its origins in Central Asian Turcoman culture (Melikoff 2005), while the rising debates emphasise the origin of Kizilbash Alevism around Mesopotamia and Anatolia (Bayrak 1997; Kutlu 2007; McDowall 2003).

Zeidan (1999) defines Kizilbash as the former name given to Alevis, which included different tribal and linguistic⁸ communities which traditionally inhabited rural areas of Central and Eastern Anatolia. Despite the ongoing debates that seek to make a generalisation around ethnic origin, Kizilbash Alevism covers wider ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The term ‘Kizilbash’ emerged in the second half of the fifteenth century, during the period of Sheikh Haydar, who was the father of Shah Ismail⁹. It was used firstly to define the groups whose members wore twelve-gored red headgear, named ‘Tac-ı Haydar’, and later explained as Batıniyya¹⁰ communities in Anatolia who aligned with Safavids (Melikoff 2007). Moosa (1987) identified Kizilbashis as Turcoman and Kurdish tribes that became adherents of the Safawi Sufi Order of Persia. Kizilbashis are divided into several subgroups living in many parts of Turkey. These subgroups are known by different names (such as Tahtacı [Takhtaji] or Çepni [Chepni]). Although they share the common name of Kizilbash in some parts of Turkey, they also call themselves Alevi, which connects them to the Bektashis.

A significant part of multicultural Alevi population settled widely in Central Anatolia, where Haji Bektash Veli lived and became a symbol of Alevi belief and teachings. It has been suggested that Haji Bektash was a Sufi dervish belonging to a Turcoman tribe, who came to Anatolia after the Babai Revolt¹¹ at the beginning of the thirteenth century (Mélikoff 2007). Haji Bektash Veli spent all his life around Karacahöyük Dervish Lodge since he arrived in Anatolia (Çınar 2009a). He conducted a life of ‘holiness and mediation’; he founded no order; he was not a theologian; however, he was a mystic who was ‘born among the people and remained near people’ (Mélikoff 2005, 2–3). He was considered as an ulu [great leader] and fountain of the spiritual path in Alevi communities; thus he became identified as the characteristic icon of Anatolian Alevism.

However, Haji Bektash Veli is not the only source of Alevism. Throughout history, because of his Turcoman background, his name deliberately became a headline in Alevi belief and teachings, while Dersim-centered links were deliberately omitted from official state discourses. Dersim is the centre of Kizilbash Kurds, where a 7,000-square-mile area lies in the upper Euphrates valley, mostly between the Fırat River and the Murad River (Molyneux-Seel 1914). Until World War I, the whole area was populated by multiethnic groups, Kurds and Armenians, who made up the majority¹². In the last decades, scholars point out religious practices of Kizilbash Kurds through their distinction from Islam and similarities with the Yazidi and Yârsân-Ahl-e Haqq religion (Bayrak 1997; Gezik 2000)¹³.

Dersim has an important place in Kizilbash Alevi faith because of its cultural geography. This is not only because Alevis are the majority here, but it is also because of the location where Seyyid Ocaks¹⁴ placed. Therefore, the depths of Alevi teachings have manifested themselves through these leadership institu­tions in Dersim. As Ocaks are the central authority for the Kizilbash Alevis’ religious knowledge and identity (Zeidan 1999), with the Dersim Genocide in 1937–1938, the preserved cultural sources of Alevism were significantly destroyed (Gezik 2000).

The structures of Seyyid Ocaks were mostly organised around ethnic ­background; thus Kurdish and Turkish Alevis were followers of different Seyyid lineages. Kurmanci- and Zazaki-speaking Alevis were mostly talip [followers] of the Bamasûr/Baba Mansur, Axucan/Ağuçan, Qureyşan/Kureyşan, and Dewrêş Cemal/Derviş Cemal Ocaks¹⁵ in Dersim, while Turkish Alevis were affiliated with Dede Gark and Haji Bektashi Veli¹⁶. Some Abdals and Roman groups were also affiliated with Haji Bektashi Veli (Gezik 2000; Keles J 2014).

Dersim was known as ‘Land of Kirmanciye’¹⁷ (Cengiz 2000) where Alevism has grown naturally within its sphere; numerous mountain and river sites are considered as sacred, situated all over Dersim’s landscape (Çem 2000; Munzuroğlu 2000). Kizilbash Alevis in Dersim define their belief as ‘Raa Haqq’ [the path of God/Truth] (Aksoy G 2006; Çakmak H 2013); scholars signal the form of Alevism in the Dersim region (McDowall 2003) and the vital role of cultural geography of Dersim in creation and transmission of Alevi oral literature and heritage (Kahraman and Kahraman 2003). Moreover, the beliefs and practices of Kizilbashis in Dersim were open and consequently protected from Islamic influence (unlike all other Alevis in Anatolia), therefore especially the central part of Dersim (also known as Inner Dersim)¹⁸ can be considered as ‘a live museum’ of Kizilbash Alevism¹⁹.

Evolution of Alevism

Following the spreading of Islam, Kizilbash belief system and teachings began to transform into the current form that Subaşı (2010) describes as the period of social differentiation. In this respect, this section explores the evolution of Alevism through the influence of Islam on core beliefs, and of Turkish-Islamic synthesis on the social formation of Alevism. Hence the ‘contact’ of Kizilbash Alevism with Islam, and later with Turkish-Islamic synthesis, should be considered as two breaking points in the formation of Alevism.

Zoroastrianism²⁰ and Kizilbash Alevism have significant similarities in philosophical base and rituals of the faith, Pir/Dede²¹, which is nearly the same position as holy men in Zoroastrianism. They share similar functions and mission in their belief as in Kizilbash Alevism. The shift and adaptation of Kizilbash Alevism after the domination of Islam in Anatolia were mostly proceeded through Pir/Dedes (Bayrak 2013). The Seljuk Empire attempted to adopt Kizilbash Alevism into Islam by employing the leaders and affiliating them to the Palace. To create a link between Islam and Alevism, the Seljuk Empire used the cult of Ali, and accordingly Caliph Ali was located in the centre of their teachings (Korkmaz 2009).

As a result of this, the spiritual chain of Kizilbash Alevism that named Ewlad-ı Rae/Yol evladı²² translated to posterity that named Ewlad-ı Resul/Bel evladı²³ and built delegation and transmission on a holy lineage from Caliph Ali. Consequently, the root of Ehli-Beyt [household of Muhammad] was produced (Aydın E 2013; Bayrak 2013; Kutlu 2007). By doing this, Alevism separated from its ancient roots and was affiliated with Islam. Historically, this is regarded as the most important point in the history of Kizilbash Alevism and the process of transformation into its current form. Caliph Ali, the icon of the Shia, was projected as an ‘obvious’ and ‘natural’ connection between Alevism and Islam. However, ‘Ali’ and Oniki Imam [Twelve Imams] are only two common symbols between Anatolian Alevism and Shia; there is no further similarity. Arab Shia was built on advocacy of Caliph Ali during the power struggle between the caliphs²⁴. However, Alevis adopted Caliph Ali into the spiritual world of Kizilbash Alevism. Although it is an undeniable fact that the symbol of Caliph Ali has a historical role in the transformation of Alevism, it is also undeniable that he oriented into the spiritual world of Kizilbash Alevism as Şah-ı Merdan Ali²⁵, the essential point of the belief and teachings in today’s Alevism (Bayrak 2004). In the other words, the current symbolism and the meaning of Ali have far deeper significance to his followers than its traditional Islamic background.

The relationship between the Ottomans and the Bektashis also takes a prominent place in the evolution of Alevism. The Bektashis did not only accept and adopt the Islamic Ottoman Empire; they also supported the spread of Islam. The culture of Tekkes was compromised by the Ottoman Empire and became a part of the system. Indeed, proclaiming the Janissaries (who were recruited from young Christian boys) under the spiritual protection of Bektashi Dervishes appears as a remarkable development in Ottoman history. According to Melikoff (2007), Bektashi dervishes involved in the Ottoman conquests of Thrace and the Balkans gained conquered land and established Tekkes and Zawiyas as the symbol of Turkish culture and its beliefs. Barkan (1942) and Bulut (2007) assert that Bektashi dervishes have contributed to the colonisation process of Ottomans and even claim that the Tekkes were the bureaucratic instruments of Ottoman colonisation.

In the same period, the Qalenderiyya communities, such as Abdals and Torlaks living in the rural areas of Anatolia, were later involved with Tekke of Haji Bektash Veli under Ottoman pressure. Following the unification of the communities under Tekkes, only the Kizilbashis remained out of control. It has been suggested that after establishing the Tekke of Haji Bektas Veli, there were no more uprisings apart from Batıni rebellions that qualified as ‘Kizilbash Riots’ (Başgöz 1998; Melikoff 2007). While Bektashis were protected and supported by the Ottoman Sultans, and integrated into the Ottoman bureaucratic system, Kizilbashi groups remained out of it, subsumed under ‘the local cultures’ and identified as ‘infidels’, ‘rebellions’ and ‘separatists’ in the Ottomans documents (Melikoff 2007). It is under such historical uncertainties and exclusion surrounding the Kizilbashis in the Ottoman realm which may be put forward as a plausible argument for the devaluation of the name of Kizilbash and subsequent adoption of the name ‘Alevi’ later in modern history. Although the official government positioning of Alevism – either against or within Islam – developed during the Ottoman Empire, it has continued throughout history to the present day.

The ‘of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Tözün Issa: 7 September 1956–17 November 2015
• List of maps, photographs and illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary of Alevi terms
• Pronunciation of Turkish, Kurdish and Zazaki characters
• Introduction
• Part I Alevism: Roots and practices
• Part II The politics of identity in transformation
• Part III Dimensions of migration: Alevis in Europe
• Part IV Implications for educational policy and practice
• Notes on contributors
• Tözűn Issa: Previous works
• Bibliography
• Index