Turkey promises greater rights to Alevis

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced that his government will grant legal status to Alevi places of worship, part of an “action plan” presented to Parliament by his government on Thursday.

Turkey’s Alevis follow a brand of Shiite Islam that sets them apart from Turkey’s majority Sunni sect. They have long complained of discrimination and have demanded rights such as having recognized “cemevis,” or Alevi houses of worship.

“The exact size of the Alevi population in Turkey is not known, but they constitute the second-largest religious community in the country after Sunni Muslims,” Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency said in its report about the promise to the Alevis.

The Alevis, who are considered by some Muslims as a heretical sect, are believed to comprise an estimated 10 to 20 percent of Turkey’s Kurdish and Turkmen populations. 

“Traditional religious, cultural schools and cemevis will be granted legal status,” Davutoglu said. He said the government would also work on solving the “problems of our Roma citizens”.

Davutoglu said that the legislation remaining from Turkey’s coup periods would be revised and that anti-democratic provisions would be removed.

The Turkish premier also called on all party leaders in Turkey to come together and “deposit to history” the constitution left over from the country’s military coups.

Turkey’s ruling AKP party has been a fervent advocate of constitutional reforms, primarily because it stands behind plans by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change the country from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential system.

Doing that would make the ambitious Erdogan the most powerful Turkish president since Kemal Ataturk, father of the Turkish Republic.