EU lends support to mosque-cemevi project


Date posted: September 12, 2013

The European Union, which has been closely following the rights of Alevis in Turkey for years, has lent its support to a mosque-cemevi project to be built in Ankara. The European Commission said it supported dialogue that led to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence, calling these principles the “hallmark of the EU.”

Peter Stano, the spokesperson for European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Füle, underlined that it was up to religious communities to decide how to build their places of worship. “The European Commission supports dialogue between all religious communities leading to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence, this being the hallmark of the EU.”

“It is for religious communities to decide what, where and how to build,” he said.

Drawing attention to the exclusion of cemevis from Turkish state funds, Stano said the commission had made it clear on various occasions before that cemevis should be recognized as places of worship and benefit from provisions of relevant legislations.

The EU Commission has shown keen interest in the rights of Alevis and non-Muslim groups in its yearly Turkey progress reports published every autumn. In its last report published in October last year, though the commission had welcomed an official apology by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the Dersim Massacre of 1937, it strongly criticized the lack of improvement regarding the rights of Alevis.

“Concrete follow-up of the opening made in 2009 to the Alevis is lacking. Cem houses were not officially recognised and Alevis experienced difficulties in establishing new places of worship. Alevis were concerned by the marking of many houses of Alevi citizens in a number of provinces and by incidents against them. Complaints were submitted to the prosecutors’ offices by Alevi associations; judicial and administrative investigations are continuing. A demand to open a cem house in the parliament was rejected on the grounds that Alevi MPs could go to the mosque. Several commemoration ceremonies by Alevis were prevented by police, some through the use of force as was a demonstration against the closure of the Madimak court case. Some Alevis encountered job discrimination in the civil service,” the report said.

The project to be built in the Mamak district of Ankara envisages a mosque and a cemevi built together in a bid to end the enmity between the two sects of Islam.

Source: Today's Zaman , September 11, 2013


Related News

Turkish school shelters locals in earthquake-hit Nepal

The Meridian International School in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu, founded by Turkish businessmen and educators in 2002, has opened up its premises to locals after the city was hit by a powerful earthquake on Saturday that killed thousands, with several thousand others injured and seeking medical treatment and help.

The Gulen Institute Youth Platform has announced its fifth international essay contest

The Gulen Institute Youth Platform, which is located in Texas, has announced its fifth international essay contest, which is open to all high school students in grades 9th through 12th currently enrolled in public or private schools from all over the world.  Students are invited to address global challenges and propose potential solutions based on […]

668 babies – children in Turkey’s prisons

In August 2017, the news outlet TR724 revealed that there are 668 children under the age of six in Turkey’s prisons. 149 of these children are under twelve months old, and there are many others under the age of eighteen. These statistics are even more appalling when one considers the horrible prison conditions and extent of torture in post-coup Turkey.

Turkey’s ‘black box’ must be opened

The recent debate on tutoring centers and private prep schools and the shocking revelations on the dirty warfare used in the 1990s against the Kurdish population are certainly parts of this pressure-cooker-like mood. It is obvious that “Erdoğan’s Way” of running the country is based on keeping tension just under control, so that it will serve his own ambitions to cement personal power.

How to Fix Turkey’s Fall From International Favor

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent attack on the West for “hate speech” and misattributing terrorism during the Paris attacks is ironic. Erdogan is erroneously doing both already: labeling the Gulen movement a terrorist organization and using hate speech to characterize it. In fact, Erdogan is cracking down on religious groups more heavily than ever before.

Turkey: Time the world intervened

In composing his famous tripartite epic poem, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri included in the first part called Inferno, what has since become one of the most meaningful quotes of all time, emphasising that “the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” The quote was made more popular by late American President J.F. Kennedy, who aptly used it very often in 50s and 60s.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Abundant accusations [against Hizmet], little evidence

Turkey seizes billions of dollars worth 691 companies over alleged ties to Gülen movement

‘Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons’

8-year-old cancer patient departs to Germany for treatment without parents due to ongoing travel ban

A Rabbi’s meeting with Hocaefendi Fethullah Gülen

Turkish community leader in Hampshire condemns Russian ambassador’s assassination

Turkish woman returned to prison immediately after giving birth

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News