Türkiye’s Alevi community is celebrating a year of care and services under the Cemevi Presidency, set up in November last year to address the problems of Alevi citizens.

The presidency, launched with a presidential decree under the Culture and Tourism Ministry, has processed demands for maintenance and repairs from a total of 620 cemevis and took on the lighting fees of 605 cemevis since November 20222, according to its operational reports.

It has also organized various events to commemorate Haji Bektashi Veli, conducted field reports to determine the Alevi community’s needs and requests and held conferences, symposiums and meetings while funding academic research for the protection of Alevi-Bektashism.

The Alevi faith is defined as a combination of Shiite Islam, the Bektashi Sufi order and Anatolian folk culture rather than a separate religion.

In Türkiye, Alevis make up the second-largest religious community with approximately 20 million followers.

The community has a list of concerns about various issues, including the public recognition of their identity, the legal status of cemevis 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 the 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 ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments since 2002.

The 2022 move to establish the Cemevi Presidency was a landmark decision for Türkiye as it was enshrined in legislation by Parliament to officially address the needs of the Alevi community for the first time in the republic’s history.

The law also granted cemevis the right to receive discounted or free access to water, provided by municipalities and their subsidiaries.

There had been previous attempts at improvement.

In 2009, the first Alevi initiative was launched during the term of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Alevi leaders and representatives attended several workshops with the government over a six-month period.

Later in 2011, Erdoğan issued an unprecedented apology on behalf of the Turkish state for the Dersim Massacre. The tragedy took place in 1937 when 13,806 people were killed following a military campaign after the predominantly Alevi Zaza Kurdish tribes opposed the 1934 Resettlement Law passed by the Republican People's Party (CHP) during the single-party regime.

The discussion process was interrupted during the Gezi Park riots in 2013, but an "Alevi opening" initiative was launched in 2014, and a council was formed to discuss issues in 2016.

But no concrete developments followed until 2021 when Erdoğan’s government began conducting visits to some 1,585 cemevis across the country for an extensive report and the "research of Alevi-Bektashi culture and conducting business and operations related to cemevis" has added to the duties and authorities of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Last week, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced that a specialization library would be opened in February 2024 as part of efforts to protect and preserve Alevi-Bektashism.