How the Alevi community came to thrive in Germany
The Alevis make up the fourth largest religious community in Germany today. What are the main tenets of their faith? And how are they preserving
The Alevis make up the fourth largest religious community in Germany today. What are the main tenets of their faith? And how are they preserving their unique culture? Alevis make up around 13% of Muslims living in Germany today. Members of this religious community once predominantly lived in rural Anatolia, Turkey, passing on their spiritual beliefs and rites orally. When Turkey began experiencing a rural exodus from the 1950s onwards, along with increasing urbanization and migration to Europe, many Alevi village communities disappeared — and with them the knowledge of their faith in many places. Alevism developed from the 13th century onwards. Today, Alevis constitute the second largest religious community in Turkey after Sunni Islam. Alevis include Turks, Kurds and members of other ethnic minorities such as the Zaza. The Alevi faith grew out of a combination of Central Asian shamanism, Shiite Islam and Muslim mysticism. Alevis venerate the Prophet Muhammad, alongside his cousin and son-in-law, the first Imam Ali, and the Twelver Shiism, while also emphasizing ethical and mystical teachings. Alevis practice their faith in Alevi cemevi, the central space of Alevi worship. Their religion honors values such as humanism, equality and tolerance, which are traditionally passed on to the community through parables, stories and songs. Alevism differs from Sunni Islam in its rituals, which include the Cem ceremony, celebrated by both men and women, as well as the Semah ceremony, where believers dance in circles to the sounds of a long-necked lute.
These differences from Sunni Islam caused Alevis to suffer persecution in the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922), the predecessor state of today's Turkey. Today, Alevis still face mistrust in modern-day Turkey, which is dominated by Sunni Islam. This also applies to the Bektashi, the followers of one of the largest mystical Alevi dervish orders from Anatolia, whose philosophy is strongly influenced by the veneration of Caliph Ali. Tens of thousands of Alevis were killed and their villages destroyed in the 1937/38 Dersim massacre perpetrated by the Turkish army. A turning point for Alevis Numerous pogroms against Alevis throughout the 1990s — especially the 1993 Sivas arson attack which killed 35 people — marked a turning point in Alevi self-organization, sparking a surge in political associations being established in Istanbul but also in German cities like Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin, which are home to many migrant workers from Turkey. Today, there are around 200 Alevi organizations across Germany. Most are subsumed under the Alevi Community Germany (AABF, Almanya Alevi Birlikleri Federasyonu) umbrella organization. The Alevi religious community is fully recognized in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, which grants it certain rights and obligations. The Alevi-Bektashite Cultural Institute in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, is a non-governmental organization seeking to create a space to practice science and honor cultural traditions. Gülizar Cengiz is working to promote Alevi culture Image: Gülizar Cengiz Gülizar Cengiz, member of the Bektashi order, chairs the institute.
The BriefWire