ALEVIS AND THE NEW CENTRALIZATION POLICIES

Nil Mutluer 

 

ABSTRACT

 

Historically, from Ottoman to the Republican era, Alevis have been subjected to centralization policies which ignored and sought to homogenize the diversity of faith within the Alevi community. Even though the era of AKP represents a turning point in that the Alevi community has been recognized by the governmet as a player in the political field for the first time, it does not represent a disruption in the historic continuity of centralization policies. Using field data gathered from in-depth interviews, this article examines the new form that the centralization policies took in the AKP era, as well as Alevis' responses to those policies, in three particular issue areas, namely the transmission of belief, the attempts to restructure the dedelik institution, and the granting of the status of official house of prayer to cemevi.

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Keywords: Alevism, Centralization Policies, Belief, Dedelik, Cemevi.