PM Erdoğan revives dormant Alevi effort
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 14, 2008 00:00
ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has restarted the dormant Alevi initiative prior to local elections. A new proposal has opened the way for the state to define Alevi Cemevis as places of worship and thereby allocate a budget to them, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday.
Erdoğan began work on the issue, together with State Minister Said Yazıcıoğlu and the Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, only Alevi deputy, Reha Çamuroğlu, while the Alevi-Bektaşi Foundation prepared for the Alevi rally held in Ankara last Sunday. Alevis are a liberal sect of Islam.
Alevis held the demonstration last Sunday, protesting against compulsory religious education classes and then state’s failure to pay the upkeep of cemevis.
According to the new proposal, a budget allocated for cemevis will be transferred to the Culture and Tourism Ministry under the framework of "supporting belief cultures." Under this scheme, electricity and water bills of cemevis will be paid by the state. The salary payments of cemevi staff are still being discussed.
Erdoğan and Yazıcıoğlu agreed with Çamuroğlu, who said the Department of Religious Affairs’ current legislation does not allow for recognition of cemevis as a place of worship.
The government decided to initiate a simple legal amendment, rather than a more difficult constitutional amendment, a measure not completely agreed upon within the AKP, such as an amendment that would remove obligatory courses on religion.
Atatürk’s reforms
Erdoğan and Yazıcıoğlu tried to find a proposal that would not run counter to a law passed in 1925 as part of Kemal Atatürk’s social reforms, shutting down dervish lodges and small Islamic monasteries.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s meeting with Çamuroğlu has been perceived as Çamuroğlu’s return to his post. Çamuroğlu previously served as a consultant to Erdoğan on the Alevi issue, but resigned when the government did not keep its promises on the Alevi Initiative. However, Erdoğan did not accept his resignation and did not ask for his office to be vacated.
Alevis held the demonstration last Sunday, protesting against compulsory religious education classes and then state’s failure to pay the upkeep of cemevis.
According to the new proposal, a budget allocated for cemevis will be transferred to the Culture and Tourism Ministry under the framework of "supporting belief cultures." Under this scheme, electricity and water bills of cemevis will be paid by the state. The salary payments of cemevi staff are still being discussed.
Erdoğan and Yazıcıoğlu agreed with Çamuroğlu, who said the Department of Religious Affairs’ current legislation does not allow for recognition of cemevis as a place of worship.
The government decided to initiate a simple legal amendment, rather than a more difficult constitutional amendment, a measure not completely agreed upon within the AKP, such as an amendment that would remove obligatory courses on religion.
Atatürk’s reforms
Erdoğan and Yazıcıoğlu tried to find a proposal that would not run counter to a law passed in 1925 as part of Kemal Atatürk’s social reforms, shutting down dervish lodges and small Islamic monasteries.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s meeting with Çamuroğlu has been perceived as Çamuroğlu’s return to his post. Çamuroğlu previously served as a consultant to Erdoğan on the Alevi issue, but resigned when the government did not keep its promises on the Alevi Initiative. However, Erdoğan did not accept his resignation and did not ask for his office to be vacated.