Turkey’s first Alevi high school part of ruling AKP’s assimilation efforts, say officials

Officials from Turkey’s Alevi community have dismissed the country’s first high school set to teach the main tenets of the Alevi and Bektashi faith as an effort by the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to assimilate the Alevi community.

“This project is a continuation of the policies against Alevis since the Ottoman era. It is the Ministry of Education that will be authorised to select the books and appoint the teachers in this school. They will shape the cirriculum according to their own mindset,’’ independent news site T24 quoted head of the Alevi Bektashi Federation Hüseyin Güzelgül as saying.

The Hacı Bektaş Veli High School in İstanbul’s Halkalı district is the first school in the country’s Republican history catering to Turkey’s Alevi community, which makes up approximately 20 percent of the population.

Alevism is a branch of Islam that combines Shi’ite, Sufi, and Sunni traditions; however because many Alevis believe in secularism and drink alcohol, many groups in Turkey refuse to see them as Muslims. The group has long demanded legal recognition of their places of worship known as cemevis.

The chairman of the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association Gani Kaplan maintains the project is far from the secular and scientific education that Alevis are seeking.

“This school is in violation of both secularism and the principals Alevi associations strive for. We are opposed to this imitative,’’ Kaplan said.

“We want schools where everyone can express themselves freely and education is effective. We are opposed to cemevis in schools, just as we are against mosques located in schools,” Chairman of the Alevi Associations Federations Celal Fırat said.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the special status Hacı Bektaş Veli High School took place in 2015.

The school will host 600 students, with facilities for 300 boarders.

Source: Ahval