Alevis see no solution before the elections

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu meets with representatives of the Alevi communities in Istanbul late March 21. AA Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with representatives of the Alevi communities in Istanbul late March 21, after which many of the representatives stated they did not expect concrete solutions to their problems before the upcoming elections in June.

The Alevi communities voiced their concerns and discussed potential solutions in a dinner with Davutoğlu at the Dolmabahçe office of the prime ministry in a meeting which lasted about 3.5 hours.

İzzettin Doğan, the chairman of the Cem Foundation, said they mainly discussed the primary concerns and the legal status of Alevis in a press conference after the meeting.

“We discussed the problems of Alevis and how these problems can be solved in general and exchanged ideas. The prime minister spoke positively and said that several arrangements on the issues will be made,” said Doğan.

In addition, Hızır Düzgün, the chairman of the Baba Mansur Association, said the main concern of the Alevis is their legal status, hoping that they will eventually get positive results.

“The most primary concerns of Alevis are to gain official status for cemevis and issues on religious classes. We discussed the main concerns such as the allocation of money from the government budget for Alevis. The prime minister leans towards our problems. Hopefully, we will get a positive answer. Our studies are going on and we will get concrete results,” said Düzgün.

Meanwhile, Fevzi Gümüş, the Alevi-Bektaşi Federation (ABF) head, said the problems should be resolved in a democratic platform, adding the government has currently no will to solve the problems.

“[…] Political power’s will is not in the direction of resolving these problems. We mentioned that the Republican People’s Party [CHP] presented proposals to the parliament and they can be solved in a quick legislative activity. There are two rulings of the European Court of Human Rights on compulsory religion classes. They indicate that it should not be compulsory. We also said that the proposals should be embraced and the problem should be solved. As far as I am concerned, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has no desire to solve these problems at the moment,” said Gümüş.