That Picture…

I ran into that Picture in the social media. Within the scope of the Dersim visit, Prime Minister Davutoğlu visited Tunceli Djemevi with his wife Mrs. Sare and the committee accompanying them. The committee was welcomed by Ali Ekber Yurt, whose grandfather is Alevi and the President of the Djemevi Foundation, and together their photos were taken in front of the Pir Sultan Abdal statue. Afterwards, they entered the Djemevi. While the fact that for the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey to have his photo taken in front of the Pir Sultan Abdal’s statue is a historic and symbolical move all by itself, something completely different happens after exiting the Djemevi.

An elderly man, who has a walking stick in his hand and who turns out to be an Alevi grandfather, bends forward in order to kiss Prime Minister Davutoğlu’s hand. The “Hodja” absolutely doesn’t allow this, and this time he bends forward in order to kiss the hand of the elderly man. The man also doesn’t allow it and eventually decide to have a chat after hugging and shaking hands. As for the background, you can see the Djemevi building, which is covered with the picture of His Holiness Ali and some citations from Pilgrim Bektaşi Veli. I think this photo is summarizing the transformation, which should pave the way in everyone’s minds with the occasion of the Alevi opening, for us.

In yesterday’s group meeting, the Prime Minister summarized his  behavior as follows:

We should accept that, since the Ottomans, an Alevi hostility, which had been flared up by the Safavid-Ottoman rivalry and from time to time leads to racism, is the point in question. Today, there are evangelized and internalized prejudices, which range from the fact that Alevi settlements are built in the hind end of villages outside the cities to the “candle has gone out” slander. By taking action with the “God forbid anything bad being said about my neighborhood” tribalism, and thus, disregarding this, is neither Islamic nor humane, at the most it is an instinct.

In the same manner, the attempt to make Sunnism the “outer founder” of the Alevi identity, which had been constructed by the Republic era, had yielded fruit.

The Alevi subjectivity, which thinks that as long as they are the carriers and representatives of the “secular, modern, Atatürkist regime’s guardian” identity, they will get close to the government level, is also in need of being diagnosed and criticized. This type of subjectivity at the same time becomes alienated to their own cultural codes and resources, for example, by showing hostility towards headscarves. Nowadays, an Alevi vein, which affiliates with Sunnis or performs religious duties like praying and fasting in Ramadan, accuses and labels the Alevists for “being assimilated” “without an Ali”, had been added to this line, which, doesn’t have much difference than the official ideologists that try to shape Alevism.

In my opinion, while entering this mined field, the following should be the perspective we should adopt; Our Lord who is Al-Qudduz, is excluded from all the errors and shortcomings. However, the servants are not, no matter if they are Alevis or Sunnis. Thus, ragged attitudes like racism can grow in any communal group. The important thing is to make the correct diagnosis regarding this and start the treatment.

Additionally to this, we should keep in mind that Sunnism is not a teaching that is found acceptable by the regime until today, but rather a belief they want to transform into a bird by shaping it. Throughout the Alevi workshops, our Alevi siblings, who conducted the “The state should identify us” rebuke, should remember that the state had identified Sunnism for the past 90 years and transformed it into a threat. Today, it’s the civil society’s duty to put an effort into the point of communizing the demands of freeing the religion field, which had been rising from the ranks of both communal segments, from the state. An Alevi grandfather  attempted to kiss the Prime Minister’s hand, out of obstinacy to the ones who label anyone getting close to AK Party with the “collected Alevi” label. And the Sunni Prime Minister attempted to kiss that old man’s hand out of obstinacy towards the people, who say, “The food cooked by an Alevi is dirty and cannot be eaten”. Both of these gestures are indicating the data of the mental transformation that we need.