President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan broke his fast at a cemevi with the Alevi community to mark Ashura day in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday.
Erdoğan arrived at the Hüseyin Gazi Cemevi shortly after attending a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The attendees of the fast-breaking dinner included representatives of the Alevi and Bektashi associations, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
The word "Ashura" means "10," referring to the date of the holiday in the Islamic calendar, in the month of Muharram.
The president commemorated the anniversary of the historical "martyrdom" of Imam al-Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad who was killed in the year 680 during the Battle of Karbala in what is now Iraq.
"I hope the Day of Ashura and the (Muslim) month of Muharram, which are symbols of unity and solidarity, will be auspicious for the entire Muslim world," Erdoğan said on Twitter.
Erdoğan added: "On the anniversary of his martyrdom, I commemorate Imam al-Hussein, the lord of the martyrs and the grandson of the Prophet, and all the martyrs of Karbala with mercy and reverence."
Al-Hussein, along with 72 loyal companions, was killed in the infamous Battle of Karbala in year 61 of the Islamic calendar by the forces of Umayyad Caliph Yazid I on the 10th day of Muharram.
Last month, Turkish officials condemned attacks targeting cemevis, including three in Ankara and one in Istanbul’s Kartal district.
Alevis, who make up the second-largest religious community in the country with approximately 20 million followers, have a list of concerns about various issues, including the public recognition of their identity, the legal status of cemevis – their houses of worship – and funding, as well as the prerogative for Alevi students to be excluded from compulsory religion classes in elementary and high schools.
The cemevis are currently regarded as foundations under Turkey’s Interior and Culture and Tourism Ministries, rather than recognized as houses of worship, which would legally entitle them to receive state funding like mosques, churches and synagogues of recognized religious minorities in the country. Some 80% to 90% of all cemevis in the country were built during the successive AK Party governments since 2002, according to former Minister Lütfi Elvan.
