Joint mosque-cemevi project will contribute to peace in Turkey


Date posted: September 10, 2013

Protests against a joint mosque-cemevi (Alevi house of worship) complex project are meaningless because the project will help alleviate tensions between Alevis and Sunnis in Turkey, Alevi community leaders said on Monday.
During the groundbreaking ceremony of the complex in Ankara on Sunday, a group of nearly 500 people protested against the project, clashing with the police and throwing stones at them.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Professor İzzettin Doğan, the head of the CEM Foundation, one of the partners of the project, warned people against provocations, saying those who do not want peace took part in the protest against the project but they are not aware of the fact that they are being used as part of provocations.

“Who would be hurt if a mosque and a cemevi are built next to each other?” Doğan asked, arguing that the protesters are unaware of what the Alevi faith is about. According to him, those who do not support the project will remain a marginal group.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Erdoğan Toprak urged everyone to embrace the project, saying such a project should belong to the entire society. “In both the Alevi and Sunni faiths, love and tolerance are important. We have to unite against those who want to divide Turkey. Such a project will also lay the grounds for unification.” While encouraging the spread of such projects across Turkey, Toprak urged the state to grant cemevis official recognition and to complete the Alevi opening process.

CHP Ardahan deputy Ensar Öğüt said he found the project a very positive step, congratulating all those who contributed to the project. “I wish there were similar examples all over Turkey,” Öğüt stated, pointing out the importance of properly explaining the project to society. “Everyone should be told that this project is independent of politics and aims to strengthen the brotherhood between the Alevi and Sunni faiths,” he said.

CHP Sivas deputy Malik Ecder Özdemir, on the other hand, said such a project will not bring about the expected results unless the state delivers Alevis’ demands. “It looks a little like a forced unification,” he commented.

The president of the Anatolian Alevi-Bektaşi Federation, Cengiz Hortoğlu, said he observed a high level of support for the project in the Alevi community. Calling the protesters “marginal,” Hortoğlu said, “If these people are Alevis they should know that there is no violence and hatred in the Alevi faith.” According to him, those who are disturbed by the project are those who do not want peace in society.

In a similar comment, Confrontation Society President Cafer Solgun believes that the people on both sides who conduct politics based on polarizing society are uncomfortable with the project. “Such a civil society initiative becomes much more important in an atmosphere in which the state remains indifferent to Alevis’ demands,” Solgun further commented. He finds the Alevis’ fears of assimilation baseless. “We have not been assimilated for centuries despite brutality, discrimination and pressure from the state. Are we supposed to be assimilated when a mosque and a cemevi are built next to each other?” he asked.

Turkmen Alevi-Bektaşi Association President Özdemir Özdemir also described the initiative as a peace project, saying some bad forces are against the project because it will ruin their plans for society. According to him, those who wish to bring in the sectarian divide from the Middle East into Turkey are opposing the project. Özdemir said the complex is the hand of peace that Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen extended to Alevis for love and brotherhood.

Özdemir said the protesters do not represent the sensible Alevi community and that the large crowd who attended the groundbreaking ceremony is proof of the support for the complex.

*İbrahim Doğan contributed to this story from İstanbul

Source: Today's Zaman , September 09, 2013

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Democracy tree grows in Abant as Turks and Kurds bond

ABDULLAH BOZKURT It was in 2000 that liberal and conservative intellectuals in Turkey came together for the first time to address difficult questions in a highly civilized and respectable manner. To mark the occasion, they planted a pine tree in the backyard of the famous Abant Palace resort hotel near the northwestern city of Bolu. […]

The story of the government media’s smear campaign against Hizmet

The pro-government media — or more correctly the “government media,” as it has become apparent that they have been bought by businessmen under orders from the prime minister — has manufactured and published lies about the Hizmet movement, which has a four-decade proud history in Turkey, in an attempt to create the perception that it is a criminal organization.

Threats and fear used to intimidate business world

In one of the eastern provinces, members of a business association believed to be close to the Hizmet movement, a CSO, were visited by the managers of another association that the government seeks to promote. They were told that a police operation might be launched against their association and that they would face serious tax audits and commercial problems if they continued their membership in their current association.

Woman says husband abducted after losing job in post-coup crackdown

A recently established Twitter account claims in a series of tweets that Turgut Çapan was abducted in Turkey’s capital of Ankara. While the reason for the alleged abduction is yet to be known, earlier tips submitted to Turkey Purge as well as a number of other media articles reported on several mysterious incidents of abduction involving Gülen followers.

Turkish daily Taraf accused of ‘spying’ and ‘terror acts’ for publishing state document

Daily Taraf, which published a document from a 2004 National Security Council (MGK) meeting about a state action plan against the activities of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement, has been charged with “spying” and “terrorism,” in an investigation launched by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor.

Couple offering wedding feast to Syrian refugees surprised by feedback

A Turkish couple who have made their way onto major newspapers around the world for spending their wedding day feeding 4,000 Syrian refugees in the southern province of Kilis on the Syrian border have said they never thought they would receive so much positive feedback for their action.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Terrorist Bahoz Erdal calls on families to protect their children from the Gulen Movement!

‘Well, you were saying Hizmet is a religious movement?’

Acclaimed Russian academic praises Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen

Turkish experience in Sudan: making a difference

Once, it was democracy that brought Erdogan and Gülen together

Government allegedly plots to blame Bingöl attacks on Hizmet movement

Fethullah Gulen: From Izmir to the Global Hizmet Movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News