CHP's Bekaroğlu Accuses Government Of Sectarianism

Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy and Islamic intellectual Mehmet Bekaroğlu has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK party) of carrying out systematic discrimination against Turkey's Alevi minority, claiming that for the past 12 years, no Alevi citizen has passed the examination for prospective judges and prosecutors.

Bekaroğlu, who was recently elected as a CHP council member with party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's support, despite opposition from the party base, spoke at a press conference organized by the Seferhisar Municipality on Thursday. Bekaroğlu said that if the CHP comes to power in the next elections, discriminatory policies against minority groups in Turkey will be stopped.

“The polarization among society has turned into a serious issue. People who used to live side-by-side now hate each other due to the AK Party's discriminatory policies. The government is trying to sow discord among the public. We should bring together different languages, different cultures and different religions instead of sowing discord among them," Bekaroğlu said.

“What we need to do is convince people that the CHP is nothing like the AK Party. We will not play their game. We do not carry out policies based on ethnicity and identity. We embrace everybody regardless of people's backgrounds. Our policies focus on freedom, the economy and the security of our people. That's why Turkey needs a social-democratic government that bases itself on democratic values. I believe we can manage everything under the auspices of the CHP, and that's why I am here,” he noted.

Bekaroğlu, who ran for the conservative Felicity Party (SP) in Rize in the March 30 local elections, became a member of the CHP on Sept. 3.

Bekaroğlu also gave his evaluation of the current situation in the Middle East and Syria in particular. “I used to consider Damascus as my second home. Ten years ago nobody could have ever foreseen the current situation there. Today there is an unstoppable civil war in which brothers kill each other because of the sectarian and discriminatory policies of the government and other external powers,” Bekaroğlu noted.

Report: Government gives legal status to cemevis

The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government's democratic initiative, launched nearly three years ago, to address the problems faced by Turkey's minority communities is reported to have been revived, as the country's Alevi population has expressed its dissatisfaction with previous reform packages introduced as part of the project.

According to a report in the Hürriyet daily on Friday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and several members of the Cabinet held a secret meeting to prepare a new reform package that will give cemevis, Alevi places of worship, the official status of a "faith and cultural center" to maintain permanent peace between Sunnis and Alevis. According to the daily, the expenses of cemevis, such as electricity and water bills, will be covered by the state, while dedes (Alevi religious leaders) will be paid a salary from the state.

The Alevi community is thought to have between 6 and 12 million adherents in Turkey, which has a population of over 70 million. Alevis have demanded that cemevis be officially recognized by the state.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)