The Alevi community in contemporary Turkey: An Alien from abroad in Aydin

This thesis is an attempt to describe what Alevism represents and what it means to be an Alevi in contemporary Turkey. From the 16th century, under the Ottoman Empire, the Alevis were marginalized and persecuted. Nowadays, they are still struggling for their recognition. Political and social events influenced the Alevi identity; therefore, it is still not clear whether it is a sectarian, an ethnic, a religious or a political group. The contemporary fragmentation of the Alevi communities and the lack of recognition of their religious affiliation by the Sunni based Republic of Turkey do not help in solving the Alevi issue. In order to reach my research objective, I conducted fieldwork and participant observation in Turkey, mainly in the city of Aydin and in close-by the village of Yenikoy. In addition, I conducted six semi-structured interviews and distributed nine questionnaires. Given the extremely sensitive topic of my research, informants have asked to remain anonymous. My sample shows that according to the Alevis I interviewed, Alevism represents both culture and lifestyle. Being an Alevi means being humane, tolerant, as well as open minded, secularized, respectful, available and caring. Alevis do not feel they are recognized by the state, which on the contrary is perceived as favouring Sunni groups through its policies and ongoing political rhetoric. Indeed, my results show that major tensions are precisely generated by the State, or by State policies. Moreover, as supported by contemporary studies, such an asymmetric relationship has a sort of a knock-on effect on the social interaction between Alevi and Sunni groups. Last but not least, my personal involvement and academic expectations have played a vital role throughout the fieldwork and in my research. Indeed, what in my case made the difference were the difficulties I experienced to get in contact with Alevi. Aydin is considered a progressive and open city and it has been described by my informants as ‘comfortable’ and ‘relaxed’. Nevertheless, it does not mean that all Alevis were willing to disclose their own identity and speak about Alevism. Indeed, even if discrimination in Aydin was not visible, some Alevi people were afraid to reveal their own identity. Given the importance those events have played in my research, I am going to include an additional section at the end of the second part of the Introduction, where I will articulate the methodological caveats and challenges with data collection I encountered