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Notes de lecture

Ahmet Kerim Gültekin and Çakır Ceyhan Suvari (eds.), The Ethno-Cultural Others of Turkey: Contemporary Reflections

“RAU Yerevan Oriental Series”, vol. 5, Yerevan: Russian-Armenian University Press, 2021, 271 p.
Annika Törne
p. 225-230
Référence(s) :

Ahmet Kerim Gültekin and Çakır Ceyhan Suvari (eds.), The Ethno-Cultural Others of Turkey: Contemporary Reflections, “RAU Yerevan Oriental Series”, vol. 5, Yerevan: Russian-Armenian University Press, 2021, 271 p.

Texte intégral

1This anthology questions what remains in the social fabric of the contemporary Turkish nation state of the Ottoman legacy of ethnic and linguistic diversity for which the empire was once famous. Focusing not only on legally recognized minorities, but rather on ethno-cultural Others, each of the ten chapters is dedicated to one of the ethno-religious groups, examining its integration processes and exclusion mechanisms.

2In the foreword (pp. 3-18), editors Ahmet Kerim Gültekin and Çakır Ceyhan Suvari draw a continuum from the rise of Turkish nationalism at the end of the Ottoman Empire through to the present day. They argue the movement manifests in perpetuated discrimination and assimilation politics against non-Muslim, heterodox and non-Turkish groups in the form of state-induced Sunnification and Turkification campaigns (p. 9). In particular, they scrutinize the ruling AKP’s policy of “opening” and rhetoric of “tolerance” (p. 10). As Gültekin and Suvari underline, under the AKP’s conservative-democrat rule, four of the book’s contributors “were criminalized, dismissed from the academy, and forced to exile” due to their research on ethno-religious groups (p. 19).

3Martin von Bruinessen’s prologue (pp. 21-34) gives a historical overview of the “marginalization and disappearance” (p. 31) of non-Turkish, heterodox and non-Muslim population groups throughout the Turkish Republic, whereby annihilating, discriminatory and assimilatory politics have forced affected groups into emigration, self-denial and conversion. According to Bruinessen, the current “unveiling of hidden ethnic identities” (p. 34) may pose another risk to these hitherto marginalized groups since the admission of diversity at the side of majority society is unwanted. He further provides an abridgement of relevant research in Turkey, which has emerged and been published under the AKP regime.

4The first chapter, “Kurdish Alevis: A peculiar cultural identity at the crossroad of multiple ethno-politics” (pp. 39-69), by Ahmet Kerim Gültekin, analyzes “modern Kurdish Alevi identity” with a focus on Dersim (p. 41). Gültekin presents this identity as being shaped by the reinvention of the tradition of the Rae Haq (The Way of Truth) religion and their experience of “victimization” for over a century (p. 53). Following the violent suppression of their religious leaders, the raybers (guides), and their laymen, talips (followers of the path), are gaining influence. Gültekin argues that laymen are reinventing traditions at sacred places, mobilizing support by invoking environmentalist discourse.

5In the second chapter, “The Arab Alevis (‘Alawis) in the Republic of Turkey: an Overview” (pp. 71-96), Hakan Mertcan compares the situation of the Arab ‘Alawis or Nusayris to that of the Anatolian Alevis in Turkey. He shows that both groups are unacknowledged and have undergone intensive assimilation politics since the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Both Alawis and Alevis were supportive of Kemalist politics in anticipation of an improved situation with less suppression (p. 91), and anti-laic politics of the AKP have since revived and reinforced this support. Mertcan argues that the future of Alawis lies in the contention and decision between Turkish and Arab nationalism (p. 92).

6The third chapter, “The Yezidis in Turkey – A Stigmatized Identity” (pp. 97-119) by Victoria Arakelova, discusses the Yezidi ethno-religious community and the Sharfadin religion as it has evolved from a mystical Sufi, non-dogmatic Islamic milieu since medieval times (p. 100). Yezidis are a Kurmandji-speaking, non-proselyte, endogamous community of oral tradition, and “among the most vulnerable groups” in their historical homeland since the genocide of 1915 (pp. 113-114). Another genocide was committed against Yezidis by the Islamic State in August 2014, around Sinjar. Yezidis fled to Turkey, where they continue to be persecuted, and to countries in the European Union. Caught between a rock and a hard place, between Kurdish and Turkish nationalist politics in Turkey and neighboring Iraq, Yezidi residents and refugees have been forced to leave their native Turkey, with little prospect of returning to their holy lands and shrines in Northern Iraq.

7Chapter Four, written by Eberhard Werner on “The Zaza People – A Dispersed Ethnicity” (pp. 121-143), describes the Zaza as an ethnic group based on the Zazaki language as their primary identity marker. In terms of religion, Zazaki-speaking communities have three denominations: Sunni-Hanafi, Sunni-Shafi Islam and Alevism (p. 128). Apart from the Zaza homeland in Eastern Turkey, Werner explores the diaspora, offering an overview of their integration process in EU-countries (pp. 131-135). He sees amongst Alevi Zazas a historical political affinity with the CHP-AKP political continuum (p. 136), yet further argues that since the attempted coup in 2016 renewed repressive state measures against the Kurdish language and identity in general, and against the Zazaki language and non-Muslim Zazas in particular, have eroded that support (pp. 137-138).

8Nilüfer Taşkın examines the “Laz: The Good Citizens of Multicultural Turkey” in the fifth chapter (pp. 145-162). Historically settled in the Artvin and Rize provinces along the Black Sea coast, the Laz were subjected to assimilation under the Turkish Republic as a Muslim non-Turkish ethnic group. Based on her critique of the multiculturalism discourse in Turkey under AKP rule, Taşkın observes that the once strongly-held stereotype of the “cunning/stupid Laz” was replaced by a more “acceptable” cultural identification – thanks to the flourishing Laz music industry since the 90s and especially the popularity of Kazım Koyuncu since the 2000s. Taşkın acknowledges that “through musical performance the Laz present an acceptable locality that can be consumed” (p. 157). She critiques that this newly gained credibility is conditional on not claiming any further cultural rights or reckoning with a violent history, only on “performing songs peacefully today in Turkey” (p. 159).

9The sixth chapter on “The Rums – or Greek-Orthodox Christians – in Turkey” (pp. 163-182), by Aude Aylin de Tapia, recounts the diminishing in status of the Millet-i Rum in Ottoman times to a Greek minority under the Turkish Republic. As with all other non-Muslim groups, the number of Rum has reduced constantly since the founding of the Republic (p. 164). Most Rum have emigrated due to economic and social discrimination, and due to physical violence experienced during the exchange of populations in 1923 and the Istanbul Pogrom of 1955 (pp. 174-175). De Tapia points out that the last of the Rum remain in Istanbul despite increasing difficulties, “to keep alive their cultural heritage and the collective memory in situ” (p. 178).

10Chapter Seven by Erdoğan Boz is dedicated to the “The Circassians of Turkey: Others from Outside” (pp. 183-209). Originating from the narrow strip along the eastern Black Sea coast, Circassians began to inhabit the Ottoman Empire after their violent expulsion from their homeland by the Russian Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century (p. 192). From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, they were exploited as slaves by both the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate (pp. 194-195). Boz provides a detailed account of Circassian political organizations in Turkey today and their influence on the old homeland. The infamous role of Çerkes Ethem since the genocide of 1915 is not explained, only mentioned as the reason for the “indisputably negative image” (p. 198) associated with Circassians in the Turkish Republic.

11In Chapter Eight, Çakır Ceyhan Suvari investigates “Molokans in Kars: From Soviet Spying to Our Beautiful Old Neighbours” (pp. 211-222). In 1880-81, the Molokans, a Russian Orthodox sect, were exiled and sent to Kars, where some of them remained in the Republic of Turkey following the Soviet Revolution through to 1962. Suvari asserts that, in public discourse and recent publications, relations between Molokans and the majority of Muslim society are depicted as overly harmonious (p. 216). This portrayal stands in contrast to accounts of the decades-long discrimination against them as communists, Russian allies, and a “threat to the dominant culture” (p. 221). Suvari suggests this persecution led to their emigration to Russia, the US and Canada.

12Marcello Mollica and Benedetta Panchetti contribute Chapter Nine on “Tragic Memories Encountering Ethno-Religious Revival in Contemporary South-Eastern Turkey: The Case of the Assyrian Church of the East” (pp. 223-247). Having researched the Assyrian religious community’s historical presence in its homeland, Tur Abdin, Mollica and Panchetti discuss prolonged persecution in the Sayfo region as part of the genocide of 1915 (pp. 234-237), the recent role of the diaspora in the “revitalization” of abandoned settlements, and the insurmountable socio-legal challenges of returning to Turkey (p. 240).

13The tenth and last chapter is dedicated to “The Forgotten Armenians” by Philip O. Hopkins (pp. 249-265). Hopkins asserts that “there is more to the Armenians in Turkey than the 1915 Genocide” (p. 249), and explains why the continued lack of acknowledgement of the genocide by the Turkish state remains crucial. Giving an overview of the Hamidian Massacres and the 1915 Genocide, Hopkins states that the Armenians who survived 1915 and did not emigrate from Turkey count as the third-largest Christian community today, comprised of approximately 60,000 people who live almost exclusively in Istanbul (p. 258). Hopkins stresses the importance of Armenian religious institutions in maintaining group identity, while underscoring that the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople is closely aligned with Turkish hegemonic discourse (pp. 259-260).

  • 1 Derya Bayır, Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law, Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
  • 2 Peter Alford Andrews and Rüdiger Benninghaus, Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey, Wiesbaden: R (...)

14Overall, the volume provides valuable insights into current representations of non-Turkish, non-Muslim groups and communities in Turkey. It is a strong point of the volume that it observes the Kurdish struggle for recognition and cultural rights, and its encouraging influence on other ethno-religious groups, while also problematizing the negative impacts of the armed conflict between the PKK and the Turkish Army on Kurdish and non-Kurdish communities. The importance of denialist discourse and inter-group relations since the 1915 Genocide are touched on in the foreword and mentioned in passing in the chapters on Rum, Yezidis, Assyrians, and Armenians. Yet the collection would benefit from a more systemic discussion of recurring behavioral patterns towards marginalized groups and communities, as nourished by deep-seated convictions of superiority and ideological continuity from the late Ottoman times through to Republican Turkey. Tracing back exclusionary discursive systems would serve as an overarching “red thread” in the volume, enabling the reader to grasp the dynamic underpinnings of acceptance and rejection, and of the assimilation and discrimination policies adopted towards different population groups in modern Turkey. The diverse and delicately balanced social fabric of the late Ottoman Empire, to which this volume refers, was irreversibly and radically altered through a violent transformation process, epitomized by the Genocide of 1915 and perpetrated throughout the Turkish War of Independence until 1923. To reflect on the respective roles of other population groups, which were not targeted but took part in this collective violence during the foundation years of the imagined nation, would have highlighted crucial questions regarding the self-perception and external perceptions of these groups merely hinted at in the chapters on Circassians, Laz, Zaza and Kurds. The present volume focuses on the struggles for recognition of minority status and rights of various marginalized groups, but overlooks the downside of the “minoritization”1 process of non-Muslim population groups and communities in the nation state of Turkey, which assigns them the legal status of minorities but fails to guarantee their protection. Given that compilations of this kind are rarely published, focus on even less recognized and hence strongly assimilated groups such as the Romani, Dom, Bosha, but also the Hemshin – as covered in the seminal work by Peter Andrews and Rüdiger Benninghaus which inspired the present volume – would have been welcomed.2 Nonetheless, the volume sheds light on the internal divisions so characteristic of marginalized groups in their struggle to find a common voice. It is a timely reminder of the fascinating variety of both recognized and non-recognized ethno-religious communities and groups in Turkey, which continue to persist against all odds today. At the same time, the volume warns of the ever-diminishing space for expressions of difference, which they all face as a common challenge.

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Note de fin

1 Derya Bayır, Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law, Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.

2 Peter Alford Andrews and Rüdiger Benninghaus, Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey, Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1989.

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Annika Törne, « Ahmet Kerim Gültekin and Çakır Ceyhan Suvari (eds.), The Ethno-Cultural Others of Turkey: Contemporary Reflections »Études arméniennes contemporaines, 14 | 2022, 225-230.

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Annika Törne, « Ahmet Kerim Gültekin and Çakır Ceyhan Suvari (eds.), The Ethno-Cultural Others of Turkey: Contemporary Reflections »Études arméniennes contemporaines [En ligne], 14 | 2022, mis en ligne le 16 janvier 2023, consulté le 20 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/eac/3089 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/eac.3089

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Annika Törne

University of Basel

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