Instead of correcting a wrong, we try to put a right into the wrong. Personally, I do not understand the Alevis who ask from the state not merely "recognition," but also representation and patronage. A group of Alevis close to the government is working on a model that will incorporate Alevi religious leaders and institutions into the state bureaucracy. A new directorate-general for Alevi affairs is planned to be established under the Prime Minister's office. And they call it a representation of the Alevi faith in the state. Does Turkey have a system of "corporatism" along with various religions and sects? Why not then have a representation of Christians, Catholics, Protestants, and others with Turkish citizenship? What about Muslims who think that the Religious Affairs Directorate does not represent them in the state and instead have some other institutions or individuals in mind?
Are the Alevis aware of the patronage to be established by incorporating the Alevi sect in the state bureaucracy? Will the Alevis be happy to find themselves in a position in which the state determines what the Alevi faith is, what the Alevi rituals are, who their proper religious leaders are?
The government should, of course, be responsive to the problems and demands of the Alevi community, but should refrain from establishing a system of patronage like the one that we already have for Sunni Muslims, namely, the Religious Affairs Directorate. Governing religious affairs is not the business of the state and it should be left to the people. What a secular state is supposed to do is treat each faith equally and refrain from interfering in religious affairs if it expects non-intervention from religion into government affairs.
Some Alevi groups are against the government's plan for a separate directorate for Alevi affairs on the grounds that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government plans to infiltrate the Alevi community. But they still demand their share from the Religious Affairs Directorate budget. As Alevis ask for government resources to finance their institutions, personnel, and activities, they invite state intervention.
They may have financial difficulties, but the current form of Alevi organizations as part of civil society is a better model than state-ruled Alevi religious affairs. Are they not capable of running their own religious affairs?
Alevis with their current volunteer-based social networking sit at the right place to ask for proper separation of religion and state and oppose the interference of one with the other. They have survived and flourished in the civilian sphere without state support -- in other words, without state intervention. Instead of asking for inclusion into a state-dominated religious sphere, they can work for proper separation of religion and state by demanding social-volunteer based organization of Sunni Islam, too.
Instead of asking to be part of this awkward secularism, Alevis should deliberately remain outside the state patronage of religion and question the place of the Religious Affairs Directorate in a secular state. With this, the Alevis may play a significant role in the transformation of Turkey into a genuine secular system.
Alevi identity should be recognized by the state and seen as legitimate by the Sunni majority, but the Alevis should remember that this requires recognition of other religious identities like Sunni Sufi orders and other forms of religious networks. That is to say, Alevis should stop supporting radical secularism that stigmatizes and marginalizes other religious identities and communities.
26.11.2007
Are the Alevis aware of the patronage to be established by incorporating the Alevi sect in the state bureaucracy? Will the Alevis be happy to find themselves in a position in which the state determines what the Alevi faith is, what the Alevi rituals are, who their proper religious leaders are?
The government should, of course, be responsive to the problems and demands of the Alevi community, but should refrain from establishing a system of patronage like the one that we already have for Sunni Muslims, namely, the Religious Affairs Directorate. Governing religious affairs is not the business of the state and it should be left to the people. What a secular state is supposed to do is treat each faith equally and refrain from interfering in religious affairs if it expects non-intervention from religion into government affairs.
Some Alevi groups are against the government's plan for a separate directorate for Alevi affairs on the grounds that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government plans to infiltrate the Alevi community. But they still demand their share from the Religious Affairs Directorate budget. As Alevis ask for government resources to finance their institutions, personnel, and activities, they invite state intervention.
They may have financial difficulties, but the current form of Alevi organizations as part of civil society is a better model than state-ruled Alevi religious affairs. Are they not capable of running their own religious affairs?
Alevis with their current volunteer-based social networking sit at the right place to ask for proper separation of religion and state and oppose the interference of one with the other. They have survived and flourished in the civilian sphere without state support -- in other words, without state intervention. Instead of asking for inclusion into a state-dominated religious sphere, they can work for proper separation of religion and state by demanding social-volunteer based organization of Sunni Islam, too.
Instead of asking to be part of this awkward secularism, Alevis should deliberately remain outside the state patronage of religion and question the place of the Religious Affairs Directorate in a secular state. With this, the Alevis may play a significant role in the transformation of Turkey into a genuine secular system.
Alevi identity should be recognized by the state and seen as legitimate by the Sunni majority, but the Alevis should remember that this requires recognition of other religious identities like Sunni Sufi orders and other forms of religious networks. That is to say, Alevis should stop supporting radical secularism that stigmatizes and marginalizes other religious identities and communities.
26.11.2007
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