A string of attacks on places of worship and a community leader of Turkey’s largest Alevi community has roused fears that a surge in nationalism is stoking ethnic tensions ahead of next year’s elections. The attacks prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit an Alevi temple for the first time since he became president to assure the community that the culprits would be brought to justice.

The president broke the fast with the members of the Alevi community at the historical Huseyin Gazi Cemevi — the Alevi place of worship — on their holiday Ashura on Aug. 8. The day marks the anniversary of the death of Imam al-Hussein, killed in the year 680 AD during the Battle of Karbala in what is now Iraq. Some members of the community declined to be present on the grounds that the visit was a political show, according to media reports.

On Aug. 5, two men attacked Selami Saritas, the leader of a cemevi in Istanbul’s Kartal district. Saritas explained that two men on a motorcycle stopped him to ask for directions while he was in his car. But once he opened his car window, they attacked him. “One started shouting insults at me, all the while trying to punch me,” he said, explaining that he kept the car horn pressed the entire time to call for help.

The attack on Saritas on Aug. 5 comes after five different Alevi institutions in the Turkish capital of Ankara were attacked and vandalized last week, raising fears of a flare-up in the Sunni-Alevi rift. The timing coincides with the beginning of Muharram, a holy month for Alevis, heterodox Muslims who make up as much as 20% of the 80-million-plus population of Turkey. During this month, believers mourn the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and fast — often breaking their fast with large communal meals.