Turkey’s Alevis on edge after homes vandalized
More than a dozen Alevi homes were recently marked with red paint, setting off alarm bells for Turkey's largest minority group, which has a long memory of sectarian violence.
![TURKEY-PROTESTS/ Alevi demonstrators shout anti-goverment slogans during a protest against the latest violence in Okmeydani, a working-class district in the center of the city, in Istanbul May 25, 2014. Two people died last week after clashes between Turkish police and protesters in Okmeydani, a working-class district of Istanbul, stirring fears of further unrest as the anniversary of last year's anti-government demonstrations approaches. Okmeydani is home to a community of Alevis, a religious minority in mainly Sunni Musli](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2017/11-1/RTR3QS65.jpg/RTR3QS65.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=YDcoflyG)
Members of the Alevi religious community are on edge after vandals targeted several homes in eastern Turkey, recalling earlier violence against the country’s largest minority and rousing fears that a surge in nationalism is stoking ethnic tensions.
Late last week, assailants painted an ominous red “X” on 13 homes in the predominantly Alevi district of Cemal Gursel in Malatya, a conservative city of nearly 800,000 people, said the head of a local Alevi group, adding police had yet to make any arrests.