Turkish minority demands rights, not mosques

Harold's List

ISTANBUL, Sept 21 (AFP) - The Alevis of Turkey, a religious minority that comprises about 15 percent of the population, will file 2,000 complaints against Turkish officials Friday to protest the government's refusal to grant them official status, the community said Wednesday.

The move followed the government's refusal last month to grant the Alevi prayer houses the status of religious establishments, a defacto means of recognizing the community. (HR NOTE: The Alevis might acutally be more than 25% of the population, i.e., about 20 million out of the the total 75 million... SOME MINORITY!)

The nine or 10 million Alevis are broadly descended from Shia Islam, but do not go to mosques and reject the principle of male control over women. They have also been linked with the religious brotherhoods to which belonged the Ottoman Janissary guards, who were made up of Christian boys captured in Bosnia.

The Alevis, or Alawites, meet in private prayer halls called cemevleri, where they cultivate a rich tradition of folklore and music.

Izzettin Dogan, president of the Alevi Cem Foundation, accused the government of going against the constitution and the law. The prime minister's office rejected the Alevi appeal on the grounds that concessions to religion, which include subsidies given to officially recognized mosques, apply to all Muslims, regardless of doctrinal differences. The vast majority of Muslims in this 99-percent Islamic nation are Sunnites.

Dogan said the government's reply meant that "if the Alevis are Muslims, they have only to go to the mosque.

"Until today, the budget of the religious affairs department has been exclusively dedicated to Sunni Islam," he added, despite "the constitutional principle of equality for all citizens, regardless of their confession."

Dogan said the community is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if its action against the government is unsuccessful.