Space as an Identity Struggle and Intervention Symbol at Urban Areas: Djemevis in Turkey (original) (raw)
After centuries under pressure by the government and Orthodox-Sunni authorities, Alevi people could migrate to cities and became apparent in Turkey just only as from 1950’s. Alevi people, cohabitated with Sunni majority in cities, have encountered difficulties on keep their belief and culture. One of these difficulties is “djemevi” problem (Alevi place of worship) in urban areas. Due to the fact that djem – Alevi worship- was prohibited, Alevi people didn’t have independent places of worship in villages where they lived isolated from the society and government. They prayed secretly in some big rooms at houses or some big-closed places as barns or lairs. When they migrated to cities, they needed formalpublic places of worship in urban areas. The state of Turkey adopts Alevis not as a religious but as a cultural group only. Because of that djemevis are still not been legalized and recognized officially. So, as a space unit, djemevi has become a symbolic struggle object for protecting Alevi belief and cultural identity in urban areas. Main purpose of this study is to deal Alevi’s djemevi struggle in Turkey from the point of space-identity arguments and equality on public services. Djemevi is not only a place of worship of a faith group in 2014’s Turkey but also a political symbol that determine the form of relation between government and citizens. For Alevi people, this prayer place symbolizes the struggle of identity maintenance on the face of discrimination and exclusion by the government and mass of society. On the other side, djemevi means of historical prejudices and politically-religiously restrain Alevi people in Turkey for the government.
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