Turkey’s Sunni-Alevi Fault Line
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s democratization package will need to dampen sectarian tensions.
The Sunni-Alevi divide has historically been one of Turkey’s most sensitive fault lines. It still has the potential to explode violently as a number of horrific experiences in recent history have shown. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) is said to be working to increase rights for Alevis. Press reports indicate that it will announce a “democratization package” soon which will incorporate steps to the benefit of Alevis.
In the meantime, the foundation for a building complex that will house a mosque and a “cemevi,” the Alevi house of worship, was ceremonially laid last week in Ankara.
The project is the brainchild of Fetullah Gulen, the influential Turkish imam who lives in self-exile in the United States, and who wields a strong hold over Turkish Sunnis.
The “mosque-cemevi project” is also supported by Izzettin Dogan, an influential leader of Turkey’s Alevis who number anywhere between 12 million and 15 million in a population of more than 75 million. Despite the good intentions that this project is attempting to reflect, and regardless that some Alevi organizations have welcomed it, a large number of Alevi organizations have refused to endorse it.
