The case of Alevis in Turkey: a challenge to liberal multiculturalism

KARADEMİR A., ŞEN M.

SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN AND BLACK SEA STUDIES, cilt.21, sa.1, ss.147-165, 2021 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 21 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/14683857.2020.1857075
  • Dergi Adı: SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN AND BLACK SEA STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Historical Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.147-165
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper investigates how and why Alevis in Turkey have insisted that they are not a minority community and have been reluctant to formulate their religio-cultural demands in the framework of minority rights, thereby challenging what is often called liberal multiculturalism. Inquiring into the type of minority community Alevis form, alongside Turkey's minority rights history, it explains why the case of Alevis necessitates a certain revaluation of liberal multiculturalism, as well as a reformulation of group-specific minority rights. We argue that the liberal multiculturalist understanding of minority rights may force minorities to lead a socially isolated and apolitical life, with no possibility to participate in a pluralistic reconstruction of the mainstream symbolic framework in society, which is contrary to the aims of Alevis in Turkey.