The Muslim Minority: Alevism
- Osman Birinci
- 20 Haz 2020
- 5 dakikada okunur
Minority groups have been always marginalized by the majority. It can be said that marginalization is the most common issue between different religious groups. In Turkey, the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim. However, Alevism is one of the biggest Muslim subgroups but it is not enough for them to be in a privilege position. Sunni institutions like cami, cemaat or religious affairs administration in Turkey oppress the Alevi community everywhere in daily life and also in politics. There are many stereotypes that people use for the Alevi community like, deserving to die, theorists, not worshipping, not believing in God like Sunni Muslims, etc.
In short, this paper will include the media examples of how Alevi communities are marginalized and what are the stereotypes that Sunni Muslim institutions and political institutions have about the caliph of Ali. First, an offensive comedian, second, a caricature and third, news about Gezi Park will be discussed.
An Offensive Comedy Show Media Representative Example 1:
First example, is a video example of a comedian who makes some jokes about stereotypes of Alevi community. At the beginning, the comedian says that Alevi people believe they will go to heaven even without doing anything. Furthermore, she mentions news about attacks to Cemevi. Moreover, the comedian adds that it is impossible to see any Alevi people die from these attacks and the reason is that there aren’t any Alevi people in any Cemevi. She also says that attackers go to Cemevi more than Alevi people and if Alevi people want so much they can go to a tavern or they can go to a hotel and burn it up. Then she laughs to her joke about the massacre of Sivas.
At first, it can be understood as the comedian is against the Alevi community, but then some other parts of the video show that she was trying to do dark humor. After the show, the comedian stated that she was an Alevi too and explains that she was making dark humor. However, for most of the people, she failed. She was disrespectful and rude. Moreover, he comedian used some stereotypes. First, she mentioned, Alevi people believe, they will go to heaven by only being Alevi. Second, she mentioned that it is believed that Alevi people are all leftists or anarchists. According to Ertan (2019), the attackers identify Alevis with the leftists and that is the reason which caused the massacres to happen. Third, Alevi people never go to Cemevi, which is their place of worship. The third stereotype is one of the most common stereotypes of Alevism. People think that Alevi people do not worship. However, it is not true and Alevi people worship as much as other religious groups or subgroups as in their ways.
As can be seen above, it is a very hard issue to make a dark comedy about tragic life events. According to Tatum (2013), dominant groups do not have any idea about subordinated life experiences. (Adams et al. 2013, p.8). So, people may think differently while watching this comedy show. Most of the people found her jokes offensive. She tried to mention stereotypes that media institutions have about the Alevi community. However, the contrary happened, Alevi people, and Cem institution, found her jokes as a threat to their religion and want her to apologize.
Media Source:
Sosyal Medya Gundem. (2020 March18). Pınar Fidan'in Aleviler Hakkındaki Sözleri Sosyal
Medyanın Gündeminde [Video]. Youtube.
Resources:
Ertan, M. (2019), The latent politicization of Alevism: the affiliation between Alevis
and leftistpolitics (1960–1980). Middle Eastern Studies, 55(6), 932-944.
Tatum, B.D. (2013). Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castañeda, R.C, Hackman, H.W., Peters,
M.L. & Zuniga, A. (Eds.), The social construction of difference (pp. 15-20). New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415- 892940
The Discriminating Caricature Media Representative Example 2:
As can be seen above, there is a caricature that includes some Sunni Muslim people and an imam. People ask imam that if burning Alevi people break the fast or not and imam says it can break the fast only if they smell the smoke.
Johnson (2013) indicates that being privileged gives people the authority to judge minorities. (Adams et al. 2013, p.20). Accordingly, this striking caricature shows us that the privilege groups decide if a person deserves to live or not. The caricature also shows that Sunni Muslim institutions see the Alevi community as a threat because it is believed that people will be distant from being a Sunni Muslim if there are any other Muslim subgroups. So, Sunni Muslims stereotype the Alevi Muslims as bad people who do not deserve to live. Moreover, according to Ceylan (2015), Alevism has always been tried to define by privileged institutions, not on their own. So, people start to stereotype the Alevism in the way that they want. In other words, Alevi people do not have opportunities to define themselves and it also causes stereotyping. To conclude, majorities and privileged religions afraid of subordinated groups and want them to die or to be assimilated to not losing any followers.
Media Source:
Kaya, T. (2013). Karikaturler Biz.
Resources:
Ceylan Y.(2015). Türkiye’de Çok Kültürlülük Tartışmaları ve Anadolu Aleviliği. The
Journal of International Social Research, 8(37), 571.
Johnson, A.G. (2013). Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castañeda, R.C, Hackman, H.W., Peters,
M.L. & Zuniga, A. (Eds.), The social construction of difference (pp. 15-20).
The News About Gezi Park Protest Media Representative Example 3:
The last example is from a newspaper and about the Gezi Park protest. It is mentioned in the news that, Gezi Park protest was started because of some decisions of government about Gezi Park and then became a significant protest against all political decisions of government. People from all around Turkey went on the streets and protests the government's politics. Then, the police attacked protesters. People from all around Turkey have participated in the protest. However, seventy-eight percent of Gezi Protest detainees were Alevis.
It can be seen that political institutions see minority groups as a threat to the state, because, it is believed that, minorities are always creating tension by desiring some rights. Lastly, according to Tatum (2013), dominants label subordinates as insufficient in vital ways. (Adams et al. 2013, p.6). It can be understood that labeling legalizes the stereotyping. So, police and government stereotype Alevis as terrorists and evil. According to political institutions, Alevi people deserve to die. So, in Gezi Park protests, all of the protestors that police killed were Alevis and people believe that it is not a coincidence. So, the government thinks that it is necessary to imprison or to kill the Alevis. However, Onder (2017) indicates that it is needed to see the differences between different subgroups of religions as a potential power, not a threat. In other words, it is needed to understand that living together with differences gives people power.
As can be seen above, there are vital media examples against the Alevi community. Some media representations of the stereotypes against the Alevi community were discussed and it was found that Alevi people are mostly stereotyped as bad people who do not deserve to live, evil and terrorists. However, no one is doing anything about this discrimination. In contrast, political and religious institutions continue to labeling the Alevi community. As can be understood that political and religious institutions afraid of being a part of subordinating groups by defending them. In short, if people continue to be silent about the stereotyping, assimilating and seeing minorities as a threat to their communities, the discrimination will increase day by day.
Mary Deniz Erdede
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