The latent politicization of Alevism: the affiliation between Alevis and leftist politics (1960–1980)

Ertan, Mehmet

doi:10.1080/00263206.2019.1591276

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The years 1978 and 1980 witnessed a series of anti-Alevi pogroms in small towns in Turkey, such as Malatya (1978), Corum (1980), Sivas (1978) and Maras (1978). Studies show that Alevi alignment with leftist politics, 90 Kurdish Alevis' support for the emerging Kurdish anti-colonial movement 91 as well as the upward mobility of Alevis in these towns 92 were among the reasons that rendered Alevis killable in the eyes of nationalist and Islamist populations. It is also important to acknowledge the state's role here as an enabler, if not an initiator.…”

Section: Lethal Forms Of Collective Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sectarianism as racism: the collective punishment of Alevi communities in Turkey

Yonucu

2023

Race & Class

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Drawing on the case of state-sanctioned violence and discrimination against Alevis, a historically stigmatised and persecuted ethnosectarian community in Turkey, this article shows that sectarian identities can also be raced. The case of Alevis in Turkey not only indicates how sectarianism can function as a form of racism but also offers an example of the connection between the production of race and the politics of death. Approaching racism as a punitive mechanism and form of collective punishment that punishes racialised communities at different levels and that constantly reminds them of the possibility of what Gilmore terms ‘premature death’, the article offers a new and nuanced understanding of the multiple modalities of racism in Turkey. Rather than viewing racism in Turkey as merely an imitative form of European racism, this article shows that racism in Turkey is also informed by the country’s own imperial past. Turkey provides fertile ground for examining both western and non-western forms of racism and the intersections between the two.

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Section: Lethal Forms Of Collective Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sectarianism as racism: the collective punishment of Alevi communities in Turkey

Yonucu

2023

Race & Class

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“…The Thrace Pogrom of 1934 targeted the Jewish community, the Istanbul Pogrom of 6-7 September 1955 targeted non-Muslims, especially Greeks who lived in Istanbul (Güven, 2005). Alevis, particularly Kurdish Alevis, were another target of the Turkish paramilitary forces, extreme right-wing militias, and vigilantes, especially after the 1960s (Ertan, 2008;Sinclair-Webb, 2003;Tunç, 2015). In the 1970s, leftist groups, trade unions, Kurdish organisations, and the Alevi community all made significant progress in terms of their (political) organisation (Aydın & Taşkın, 2014).…”

Section: Paramilitarism: a Very Kurdish Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Violence and the Kurds: Introduction to the Special Issue

Işık

Üngör

2021

Kurd. Stud.

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The Kurds’ experience with modern mass violence is long and complex. Whereas Kurds lived under the Kurdish Emirates for centuries in pre-national conditions in the Ottoman and Persian empires, the advent of nationalism and colonialism in the Middle East radically changed the situation. World War I was a watershed for most ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire, such as the Kurds, and some political minorities such as Armenians and Assyrians suffered genocide – including at the hands of Kurds. Moreover, the post-Ottoman order precluded the Kurds from building a nation-state of their own. Kurds were either relegated to cultural and political subordination under the Turkish and Persian nation states, or a precarious existence under alternative orders (colonialism in Syria and Iraq, and communism in the Soviet Union). The nation-state system changed the pre-national, Ottoman imperial order with culturally heterogeneous territories into a system of nation-states which began to produce nationalist homogenisation by virtue of various forms of population policies.

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“…21 In this sense, the 1970s witnessed "not the politicization of Alevism as an independent politics of identity, but rather the politicization of Alevis through their affiliation with leftist politics." 22 In this era, a specific confluence of social factors led to the alliance between the Alevis in urban space and revolutionary movements: while the socialist groups embraced Alevis as "proto-communist" 23 due to their historical opposition to the establishment, on the other hand, Alevis as a socially and economically marginalized group became more open to the possibility of Marxist ideologies-especially the young generation-solving the historical problems of oppression; and "for the most part identif[ied] themselves with the universalistic worldviews offered by socialism and Marxism," 24 bringing about an attraction and overlapping between the social-political culture of Alevis and the political agenda of revolutionary movements. Political Alevi youth, however, were integrated into revolutionary movements in the way that many disowned the traditional aspects and institutions of Alevism, such as dedelik, 25 as remnants of the feudal order, and predominantly glorified Alevism as a rebellious social order thanks to its history replete with revolts against the state.…”

Section: Ethnographic Context: Okmeydanı and Alevismentioning

confidence: 99%

Visibility through invisibility: Spatialized political subjectivities of Alevi youth

Özata¹

2020

New Perspect. Turk.

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This article investigates Alevi youth subjectivities in a neighborhood of İstanbul, Okmeydanı, in which mainly Alevi people live, through the youth’s self-positionings in revolutionary groups, which has deeply marked the highly politicized history of the district. The grievances of Okmeydanlı Alevi youth have grown increasingly complex, stemming from experiences of violence, family legacies of victimhood, and, in recent years, new forms of exclusion. Coupled with generational ruptures between youth and their families in experiencing Alevi identity, Alevi youth have created a political identity and collectivity in the sphere of revolutionary politics. In this politicization, Okmeydanı becomes a spatialization of resistance which gives the youth a sense of power to achieve solidarity and find intimacy to defend themselves and their rights. Moreover, for the youth, engaging in a revolutionary political identity enables them to define themselves and redefine Alevi identity in contrast with, and sometimes against, the perceptions of their families. I argue that it is through this performativity that Okmeydanlı Alevi youth achieve self-empowerment and identity construction; and through this performativity in street politics that the youth render their agencies and self-representations visible on public space.

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The latent politicization of Alevism: the affiliation between Alevis and leftist politics (1960–1980)

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Sectarianism as racism: the collective punishment of Alevi communities in Turkey

Sectarianism as racism: the collective punishment of Alevi communities in Turkey

Mass Violence and the Kurds: Introduction to the Special Issue

Visibility through invisibility: Spatialized political subjectivities of Alevi youth

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