Erdoğan's successor: Who is he?

UA:SOUTH continues to follow the course of the election campaign in Türkiye. This time we provide some interesting facts about the possible successor of Erdoğan, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

The most discussed topic in Türkiye in the last couple of days was Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's video addressed to the young voters who will elect deputies and the president for the first time. There are 4 million such voters out of 65 million in the country.

In the video, Kılıçdaroğlu recognized himself as both an Alevi and a Muslim.

Yevgeniya Gaber wrote about how in Türkiye it is easier to imagine a Sunni Kurd in the highest position than an Alevi. People with Kurdish roots held the positions of presidents and prime ministers (Ismet Inönü, Turgut Ozal, Bülent Ecevit), they just did not emphasize it. But there were no Alevis in such positions.

Alevis are Turkmen by origin, that is, Turks in their pure form, but they make up 5-10% of the population, and the confrontation with the Sunnis has been going on for more than 300 years.

During the 20th century, they suffered a lot of persecution. The last attack by fanatics on the Madymak Hotel in the city of Sivas was in 1993. Radical Islamists set fire to the venue of the festival. More than 30 Alevis were killed.

Due to the fact that the debate whether Alevism belongs to Islam is still ongoing, during the Republican era they were recorded as Muslims in documents, but Alevis mostly did not go to the mosque. They have their own houses of worship - Cemevi.

Cemevis are still not recognized as religious buildings in Türkiye, unlike mosques, churches, and synagogues.

Rituals in a Cemevi are completely different than in a mosque, with the use of music and dance and the joint participation of women and men.

Thus, in Türkiye, Alevism turned into a mixture of philosophical, mystical, and cultural views on life, and Alevis during the 100 years of the Republic - into the most secular part of the country.

Ratings of two candidates for the position of president of Türkiye from 12 sociological companies on April 12, 2023