Mosque and cemevi in the same complex

Last year deputies from the Republican People's Party (CHP) demanded the opening of a cemevi on the grounds of Parliament, and that demand created much controversy.

Now, another debate surrounding the construction of a mosque and a cemevi in one complex in Ankara's Mamak district has erupted. It is a joint project of the two groups and construction is to start on Sept. 8.

I hope President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be able to attend the opening ceremony of the complex. The opening of such a complex would be a proper and meaningful answer to those who want to create sectarian conflict between the Alevi and Sunni communities in Turkey.

Moreover, especially considering the timing of the project, it could be said that those who made the construction ¬of this complex possible, particularly Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have made a great contribution to the country's social peace.

Of course, there will be some people and groups who want to discredit this meaningful contribution, who will consider this effort insincere and who will criticize them. In fact, some Alevi institutions that do not have a strong social base started to criticize Mr. Gülen and Professor İzzettin Doğan, the head of the Alevi CEM Foundation, once news of the new complex was covered by the media. An Alevi columnist has written an article that goes far beyond the limits of legitimate criticism.

After harshly criticizing Gülen and Doğan, the columnist claims that a mosque and cemevi cannot possibly coexist.

It seems that some groups do not want to see the walls between the Alevi and Sunni communities broken down; they do not want to strengthen the bonds between the Alevi and Sunni communities.

Those who play politics with the rightful demands of Alevis think that they are losing their trump card. This is why they are opposed to the construction of a joint place of worship for Sunnis and Alevis.

Those who failed to turn the Kurdish issue that caused such great pain into a bloody civil war are trying to create a Sunni-Alevi conflict. This is not something new. In the past, several dark provocations have been staged in order to discredit Alevis, who are strongly committed to their culture and morals and whose beliefs disapprove of violence. The massacre in Kahramanmaraş, the mass killing in Çorum, the massacre in Sivas in 1992, and the mass killing in Başbağlar were conducted in order to create a conflict between the Alevis and Sunnis.

Now the same plot is again in the making in Turkey. Despite everything, they could not break the Turkish and Kurdish people's will to live together in peace. But the same circles are still trying to break the Sunni and Alevi peoples' will.

After the bombing attack that took place May in Hatay's Reyhanlı district and claimed 46 lives, the Alevi and Nusayri residents of the region were blamed. Last year, Alevi homes in several provinces including Erzincan, Adıyaman, Gaziantep and İzmir were defaced with red marks. These incidents can be considered the latest examples of the provocations that aim to create an Alevi-Sunni conflict.

The joint worship place for Sunnis and Alevis that is to be built in Ankara will be a meaningful response to these provocations.

Alevi and Sunni people will worship in the same place, will be able to come together in a conference hall that has a capacity of 350 and discuss their problems and will share their food in the soup kitchen that will be built between the mosque and the cemevi.

This is something that will greatly contribute to the social peace.

Those who make statements in order to protect a dictator from a possible military intervention should pay attention to this project and ask what they can do to contribute to it.

This is a first in the history of the republic and I hope this kind of complex is duplicated across the country. In this way, Sunni and Alevi communities who have been alienated from one another will have an opportunity to know each other while worshiping.

Acting in line with the motto, “Let souls become one,” of Pir Sultan Abdal -- a cherished figure for Alevis—the CEM Foundation and Hacı Bektaş Veli Culture, Education, Health and Research Foundation call on all people to become one and say: "Both the mosque and the cemevi belong to us."

Everyone should lend an ear and heed their call.

Published on Today's Zaman, 05 September 2013, Thursday

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