https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8409-3045
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ABSTRACT
This article evaluates the Turkish state’s relations with the Alevi community through a securitization theory framework. It first examines the issue in its historical context, comparing Kemalist and more recent policies, and highlights that despite the ideological differences between the previous governments and the current AKP government, for Alevis much has remained the same. It then turns to the securitization of the Alevis by successive regimes, and demonstrates that the period of de-securitization begun under the AKP did not end the practice, and that political expedience led to the issue’s re-securitization.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Professor Ihsan Yilmaz is a Research Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies and Intercultural Dialogue at the Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. His research is focused on Turkish politics, especially the issue of religion and the secular state, along with research into political participation and legal pluralism in Muslim minority communities, particularly in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Dr James Barry is an Associate Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. His research is on the intersections of ethnicity, religion and identity among minority groups. Specifically, he has researched ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, as well as the role of ethnicity and religion in Iran’s regional policies.
ORCID
Ihsan Yilmaz http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8409-3045
James Barry http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8965-5665
Notes
1 Buzan, Waever, and De Wilde, Security, 25.
2 Buzan and Hansen, The Evolution, 136.
3 Austin, How to Do Things with Words, 63.
4 Buzan, Waever, and De Wilde, Security, 26; Buzan and Hansen,The Evolution, 136.
5 Shipoli, International Securitization, 5; Shipoli, Islam, Securitization and US Foreign Policy, 71.
6 Shipoli, Islam, Securitization and US Foreign Policy, 85.
7 Buzan, Waever, and De Wilde, Security, 26.
8 Bilgin, “Securityness of Secularism,” 593.
9 Buzan, Waever, and De Wilde, Security, 36.
10 Austin, How to Do Things with Words, 63.
11 For more detail, see Yilmaz, “HomoLASTus”; Yilmaz, Kemalizm’den Erdoğanizm’e; and Yilmaz, “Islamic Populism.”
12 For more detail, see Yilmaz and Barry, “Instrumentalizing Islam”; Yilmaz, “HomoLASTus”; and Yilmaz, Kemalizm’den Erdoğanizm’e.
13 Cagaptay, Islam, Secularism and Nationalism, 160.
14 Ibid.
15 Lord, “Rethinking,” 54.
16 For information on the religious characteristics of Alevism and Alevi identity see Ateş, Yurttaşlığın Kıyısında Aleviler; Dressler, Writing Religion; Lord, “Rethinking”; Massicard, Türkiyeiden Avrupa’ya Alevi Hareketinin Siyasallaşması; Shankland, Alevis in Turkey; and Zeidan, “Alevis of Anatolia.”
17 Lord, “Rethinking,” 54.
18 Yilmaz, “HomoLASTus,” 107.
19 Tekdemir, “Constructing a Social Space,” 34.
20 Tunçay, “Kemalism.”
21 For more detail, see Köker, Modernlesme, and Toprak, Islam and Political Development.
22 Yilmaz, Muslim Laws, 89.
23 Tunçay, “Kemalism.”
24 Karakaya-Stump, “AKP, Sectarianism and the Alevis’ Struggle,” 55.
25 Carkoglu and Bilgili, “A Precarious Relationship,” 353.
26 Ibid., 354.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Tepe, “Turkey”s AKP,” 69.
31 Saraçoğlu and Demirkol, “Nationalism and Foreign Policy Discourse,” 307.
32 Tepe, “Turkey”s AKP,” 76.
33 Taşkin, “AKP’s Move,” 55.
34 Ibid., 54.
35 Ibid., 55.
36 Saraçoğlu and Demirkol, “Nationalism and Foreign Policy Discourse,” 305.
37 Ibid., 306.
38 Ibid., 307.
39 Yilmaz and Bashirov, “AKP After 15 Years,” 3.
40 Ibid., 2.
41 Ozbudun, “From Political Islam to Conservative Democracy,” 543.
42 Ter-Matevosyan, “Armenian Community and the AK Party,” 99.
43 Lord, Religious Politics in Turkey, 243.
44 Soner and Toktaş, “Alevis and Alevism,” 422.
45 Aktürk, “One Nation under Allah?” 5.
46 Çinar, “Turkey”s Western or Muslim Identity,” 2.
47 Tekdemir “(Post-)Kemalist Secularism in Turkey,” 10.
48 Pinar, “Religion–State Relation,s” 518.
49 Alaranta, “Turkish Islamism.”
50 Kaya, “Islamisation of Turkey,” 47. See also in detail, Yilmaz, “Islamic Populism.”
51 Borovali and Boyraz, “The Alevi Workshops,” 145.
52 Bardakçı et al, Religious Minorities in Turkey, 354.
53 Borovali and Boyraz, “The Alevi Workshops,” 145.
54 Aktürk, “One Nation under Allah?” 18.
55 Özkul, “Alevi “Openings” and Politicization,” 84.
56 Borovali and Boyraz, “The Alevi Workshops,” 356.
57 Ibid., 353.
58 Bardakçi, “The Alevi opening of the AKP Government,” 355.
59 Lord, “Between Islam and the Nation,” 280.
60 Nawa, “Turkey and the Alevis.”
61 Lord, “Rethinking the Alevi Openings,” 284.
62 Carkoglu and Bilgili, “A Precarious Relationship,” 355.
63 Yilmaz and Barry, “Instrumentalizing Islam,” 8.
64 Subaşı, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, 49–50.
65 Lord, “Between Islam and the Nation,” 59.
66 Özkul, “Alevi “Openings” and Politicization,” 85.
67 For more on the success and failures of the Democratic Opening towards the Alevis, and how it generated more sources of conflict pelase see: Ozkul “Alevi “Openings.”
68 Çarkoğlu and Toprak, Religion, Society and Politics; Erder, Türkiye’de Siyasi Partilerin; and Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey.
69 Çarkoğlu, “Political Preferences,” 286.
70 Karakaya-Stump, “The AKP,” 56.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Lord, Religious Politics in Turkey, 158.
74 Karakaya-Stump, “Alevizing Gezi.”
75 Ibid.
76 Karakaya-Stump, “The AKP,” 56.
77 Ibid., 57.
78 Ibid., 62.
79 Lord, Religious Politics in Turkey, 157.
80 Ibid., 158.
81 Ibid.
82 Bardakçi, “Alevi Opening,” 365.
83 Nawa, “Turkey and the Alevis.”
84 Cagaptay, “An Alevi Tide.”
85 CHP'”s Presidentail candidate, Muharrem Ince, announced this through his twitter feed: https://twitter.com/vekilince/status/1051820915489742848 (last accessed: October 24, 2018).
86 Karaca, “Özel.”
87 Erdoğan, “Karacaahmet Cemevi bir Ucubedir.”
88 Kingsley, “Turkey’s Alevis.”
89 Erdemir, “AKP Eyes Alevi Voters.”
90 Lord, “Between Islam and the Nation,” and Rabassa and Larrabee, Rise of Political Islam.
91 Tombuş and Aygenç, “Kemalist Secularism,” 75.
92 Rizvi, The Safavid Dynastic Shrine, 4.
93 Cumhuriyet, “Diyanet'ten skandal soru.”
94 Cumhuriyet, “İçişleri Bakan Yardımcısı.”
95 Erdemir, “AKP Eyes Alevi Voters.”
