COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Turgut Oker, the president of the European Alevi Confederation (AABK), has resigned his post in order to run for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey’s June 7 parliamentary elections.
AABK has often accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of undermining the country's secular foundation and trying to Islamize it.
"It is a good idea that HDP and Alevis form an alliance. President Erdogan is the main enemy of the Alevis," Oker told Rudaw.
Since 2002 Oker, an ethnic Turk living in Germany, had been heading AABK, the largest Alevi organization, with 14 federations and 264 associations in Europe. In Turkey, approximately 10-20 percent of the country's population is Alevi. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of Alevis living in Europe, especially Germany.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of HDP, on Monday urged the Turkish electorate in Germany to be active in the upcoming elections. The HDP is keen for their support as it aims to surpass the 10 percent threshold needed for direct representation in the Turkish parliament.
“Germany will determine this victory,” Demirtas said last week in a speech at a Berlin neighborhood.
For generations Alevis, who were persecuted during the Ottoman period as “infidels,” have mostly voted for the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP). Its founder Kemal Ataturk, who also founded modern Turkey, abolished Islamic law in 1924. At the last Turkish elections in August 2014, most Alevi organizations criticized the CHP for nominating Ekmelettin Ihsanoglu, because of his Islamic background.
Oker explained that Alevis require their places of worships recognized by the state and a lifting of the ban on Alevism which -- along with other religious lodges -- has technically been banned in Turkey since 1925.
In addition, many Alevis want the religious affairs directorate, or Diyanet, to be abolished, since it interferes in politics. According to them, it serves only the Sunni majority in Turkey. HDP supports abolishing Diyanet while CHP does not.
"Our main objective is that Diyanet gets abolished. But the CHP doesn’t support this idea,” Oker said.
The HDP has a quota for Alevis in its electoral lists.
“The CHP, in contrast, is 50 years behind at this point,” Oker said.
Last week Veliyettin Ulusoy, a spiritual figurehead for millions of Alevis, told DIHA News Agency that the Alevis were disappointed at the CHP
"We contributed much to the Republic. We trusted it and gave everything,” Ulusoy said. “However, the Republic did not give us what we had hoped for. On the contrary, our places of worship were closed.”
Not all Alevis share the views of Oker. The president of the Tahtaci Alevi Association in Turkey, Yolcu Bilginc, said in a press release that his society will always respect "Kemal Atatürk and will never deal with organizations that do not pay this respect."
"HDP is more about Kurdishness than about Alevism. Therefore, we have never considered voting for HDP," Bilginc said.
Daniella Kuzmanovic, lecturer at Copenhagen University and an expert on Turkey, said that Oker's candidacy is important, but unlikely to convince many more Alevis to vote for HDP. "The Alevis who disagree with CHP would already vote for HDP," she told Rudaw.
Nevertheless, his candidacy is a “big win for HDP who have long wanted to draw a wider profile as a party for all minorities,” she stressed, noting that HDP was formed in 2012 as an umbrella party to encompass the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), leftist parties and the Alevis.
Some 52 million voters are expected to participate in the general elections on June 7.
